HARRIMAN BLOCKED.
For once E. H. Harriman has found himself blocked. The laws of Texas protect investors by prohibiting mergers with large systems, and Texas laws further require that all railroads within her borders shall be owned and operated by local corporations. Every State in the Union could have protected its citizens by such laws and prevented gigantic mergers of Harriman, Hill et al.
The anti-corporation wave that is sweeping over the Lone Star State will not quickly subside and if Harriman thinks that he can re-arrange the laws of Texas to suit his convenience he fails to realize that he must reckon with a people who are not owned by monopoly.
The Espee does not select the Governor of Texas at a dinner in New York a year in advance of the election, neither does it control the Railroad Commission, the Legislature or the Courts of that State. It is one of the chief beneficiaries of the system of centralism that has been fastened upon some of the States, notably California and Nevada.
It is gratifying to know that there is one State strong enough to check the octopus and prevent a combine of the railroad lines within its borders to the injury of the many and the benefit of the few.—The San Bernardina (Cal.) Free Press.