The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

THE MERGER DECISION
talistic combinations whicli arc in restraint of trade. The
Northern Securities Company was the plan devised l)y the
brightest minds of the country to circumvent the law and pro-
vide a legal way of building a strong wall about the securities
of merger companies, where they could be without fear of the
water oozing out of them, and without fear of any one inter-
ested playing with his interest and thereby breaking the com-
bination. It affords a safe means of unloading the burdensome
and placing them in a receptacle where they could be dealt
out to the public when public demand was most favorable.
The decision was hailed as a triumph of law and as a victory
for the people, which strengthened their confidence in the
administration of the law as well as a welcome check upon
corporate aggression.
MADE ROOSEVELT'S NOMINATION A CERTAINTY
The friends of President Roosevelt, in their enthusiasm,
were of the opinion that the merger decision made his nomi-
nation and reelection a certainty; in their opinion the masses
of the American people would give the President much credit
for his successful efforts to curb monopoly, and to make him
virtually invincible in the political field. There was also con-
siderable comment upon the fact that the administration's
greatest success in the trust-prosecuting line was won by an
official who had been accused of being a trust-lawyer.
IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE
The Northern Securities Company was organized under
!he laws of New Jersey for the purpose of taking over and
iiolding the stocks of the Northern Pacific and Great North-
ern Railroad companies. This was deemed by the Govern-
ment to be in restraint of interstate trade, and suit was
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