Washington Herald
Judge Noyes, who agreed with Judge Lacombe, says, in addition: “It is of much importance to many people at the present time whether the defendants have entered into an unlawful combination. It is OF THE MOST MOMENTOUS IMPORTANCE TO ALL THE PEOPLE FOR ALL THE TIME WHETHER THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HAS POWER TO REACH INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS DEALING ACROSS STATE LINES.”
In his dissenting opinion, Judge Ward took the position that the purposes of the defendants “should not be made to depend upon occasional illegal or oppressive acts, but must be collected on their conduct as a whole.” That they strove “to increase their business and that their great success is a natural growth resulting from industry, intelligence and economy, doubtless largely helped by the volume of business and the great capital at command.”
What view will the Supreme Court take? That “restraint of trade” is “restraint of trade” or that that it is not “restraint of trade” if only a few laws are broken, only a few competitors hurt and if defendants are not suffering for want of money?
Haytian Revolution
Amid a fanfare of banjos, a rattling of “de bones” and the patting of the Juba, General Simon entered the Presidential Palace at Port-au-Prince, capitol and chief city of Hayti, early in December, thus triumphantly concluding a decisive rebellion during which Nord Alexis, recent dictator, was forced to flee for refuge to a French vessel. Simon’s election to the Presidency by the National Assembly will follow, as a matter of mere detail, providing neither General Firman, General Fouchard nor other “General” of opposing armies which contain no privates at all, pulls off another revolution before breakfast. This is a fearsome possibility, though, inasmuch as the countries to which these heroes may be induced to repair as ministers are limited; and the aspirants for the dictatorship are unlimited; besides, there may be a crop of the deposed ministers wending their way homeward to hatch up more plots—and how may all be pacified? Moreover, it had been six long, weary years since Hayti had any revolution to speak of and the appetite of the Black Republic for such diversions is not easily appeased. Serpent worship may pall and the charm of Voodoo rites wax monotonous. A chance to burn and pillage now and then helps amazingly to relieve the dulness of the island.
Hayti continues an object lesson in the progress that civilization makes when left to the care of the brother in black. It is a chunk of “Darkest Africa” left festering on the seas. The conditions there being so terrible, even in non-revolutionary periods, there are almost no white residents whose presence, in larger numbers, would force other governments to a summary clean-up of the nauseous spot. U. S. cruiser Tacoma has been dispatched to St. Marc and Gonaives to extend protection to those who may be in distress and to quell further threatened rioting.
The Virginia Decision
How far practice had departed from the equitable principle that all remedy in the State Courts must be exhausted before complainants might appeal their case to the United States Courts, is emphasized by the impression amounting almost to a sensation, produced by the decision, on November 30th last by the Supreme Court covering the Virginia railway rate case, wherein an injunction had first been obtained by the corporation from a lower Federal Court, preventing the enforcement of the two-cent rate prescribed by the Railway Commission of the State. This restraining order was passed May 14, 1907, and the effect thereof was to prevent the exercise of the Railway Commission’s legitimate control over the passenger traffic of their State until now. The rebuke to Federal Judge Pritchard, who granted the injunction, in the reversal of his findings in favor of the railroad comes from a source which the American people have desired to esteem as their highest source of justice, and will have admirable effect. Not only will it do much to allay the irritation and the distrust which has been growing for many years against this tribunal, but it will have most salutary effect upon insolent Federal Judges and ruthless corporations. The injunction has been their sword and buckler. Ignoring the State Courts, they have rushed to obtain injunctions against the enforcement of any measure they happened to dislike. Armed with the premature mandate of a Federal officer, they have defied public opinion and the sovereign authority which created and nurtured them. A firm check on the abuse of the injunction, had become a crying necessity, if the public were to respect wise injunctions and uphold the law.