This was a bomb shell in Wall Street and the beginning of the active hostility of the large financial interests to Theodore Roosevelt, who directed the course of his AttorneyGeneral. Knox knew the ground well, as before McKinley had drawn him from the active practice of his profession, he was a corporation lawyer. He began suit in the United States Circuit Court in St. Paul on March 10, 1902; and on April 9, 1903, a decision was rendered by four Circuit judges sitting in St. Louis. This tribunal "decreed that, as the combination known as the Northern Securities Company violated the Anti-Trust Act of 1890, that Company is enjoined from attempting to acquire further stock of the Northern Pacific or Great Northern Railways; it is further enjoined from voting the stock already acquired or attempting to exercise any control whatsoever. The Northern Pacific and Great Northern are enjoined from permitting any such action on the part of the Securities Company and from paying to that Company any dividends on stock which it now claims to own." 1

The case went to the United States Supreme Court, the majority opinion of which was written by Justice Harlan (March 14, 1904) which took the ground that the merger was opposed to the Anti-Trust Act of 1890 and therefore illegal; the decree of the lower Court was affirmed. It was given out that the Court had decided in favor of the Government by 5: 4 but Justice Brewer, in stating his agreement in the main with the four others, differed in some degree, so that it was jocularly said that

193 U. S. Reports, 255.

This opinion was concurred in by Justices Brown, McKenna and Day. 193 U. S. Reports, 198, 317.

the Government had won by 45 to 4%. Many were vitally interested in the decision and the gossip of the day put Justice Holmes, who was appointed by Roosevelt, on the side of the Government. It was a great surprise therefore that when the decision was known, he should be found on the other side, giving the grounds of his judgment.1 Gossip of the day was also concerned with two other judges who were counted against the Government, but as matter of fact concurred with Harlan in his opinion. This gossip redounded to the majesty of the Court.

Hill's opinion soon after Knox's announcement was given in a private letter. "It really seems hard," he wrote, "when we look back on what we have done and know that we have led all Western companies in opening the country and carrying at the lowest rates, that we should be compelled to fight for our lives against the political adventurers who have never done anything but pose and draw a salary." But when the Supreme Court decision, which he thought would be favorable to his enterprise, was rendered, he said, "We must all bow to the law of the land," and steps were taken to undo the work of combination. Through the decisions of the Courts, no property was sacrificed, but shares, which had been transferred to the Securities Company, were returned to their original owners; but any such holding company as the Northern Securities was forbidden.

No one who has read carefully the life of Hill can do otherwise than feel sympathy with the man when one of

1 Both Justices Holmes and White delivered dissenting opinions; with them concurred Chief Justice Fuller and Justice Peckham. 193 U. S. Reports, 364, 400.

'March, 1902. Life of Hill, Pyle, ii. 171. 'Ibid., 175.

ah yes

his darling projects was defeated, but as we look at it now, President Roosevelt was right and the decision of the Court was sound. While this combination as directed by Hill may not have been against the public good, the mischief lay in the precedent, for, were this merger approved, a few men by successive steps might have controlled the railroad system of the country. Hill, Morgan and a few of their associates holding the majority of stock or representing it in the Northern Securities Company, would have controlled the business of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads; and by the same token a few men might have controlled the railroad system of the country. Roosevelt's idea of the Knight case, which had been decided by the United States Supreme Court in January, 1895, with but one dissenting voice,' was that such a merger as that involved in the Northern Securities case could be reached only by the action of the States themselves; but by the decision of the same court in the actual (i. e. the Northern Securities) case the nation might act and for this Roosevelt contended. He thus wrote: "By a vote of five to four the Supreme Court reversed its decision in the Knight case, and in the Northern Securities case sustained the Government. The power to deal with industrial monopoly and suppress it and to control and regulate combinations, of which the Knight case had deprived the Federal Government, was thus restored to it by the Northern Securities case.” 2

1 Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the Court. Justice Harlan dissented. 156 U. S. Reports, 1. The decision was on the 21st. 'Autobiography, 469. I have been much indebted to Meyer's account, ante.

From the day of Knox's statement, the line was drawn between Roosevelt and the large financial interests of the country. A goodly part of the history of his administration is due to that conflict, and as Roosevelt was effective as a fighter, he was ready to throw down the gauntlet.

"The Northern Securities Suit," he wrote during August, 1904, "is one of the great achievements of my administration. I look back upon it with great pride for through it we emphasized in signal fashion, as in no other way could be emphasized, the fact that the most powerful men in this country were held to accountability before the law." 1

Roosevelt had been in the White House only a little over a month when he set tongues to wagging both South and North, among negroes and whites, by having Booker Washington to dinner. His own account of the incident, written in a private letter of November 8, 1901, is an accurate relation: "When I asked Booker T. Washington to dinner I did not devote very much thought to the matter one way or the other. I respect him greatly and believe in the work he has done. I have consulted so much with him it seemed to me that it was natural to ask him to dinner to talk over the work, and the very fact that I felt a moment's qualm on inviting him because of his color made me ashamed of myself and made me hasten to send the invitation. I did not think of its bearing one way or the other, either on my own future or on anything else." 2 Roosevelt was exceedingly hospitable and it was entirely natural for him to invite a man with whom he

1 Bishop, i. 325.

2 Bishop, i. 166.

had business to break bread and eat salt. Washington indeed from his clear comprehension and unselfish advocacy made you forget his color. A North Carolinian, then editor of the Atlantic Monthly, had a similar experience. Not having completed his business when luncheon time came, he naturally asked Washington to go along with him and was only reminded of the fact that his guest was a man of color from the attitude of the waiters and the gaze of other patrons in the public restaurant.

Washington was thoroughly tactful, and did his best to avoid having any public mention of the honor which was paid to him, and in fact throughout the whole affair, with one exception, acted the part which his well-wishers might have desired. The dinner incident was on October 18. Five days afterwards Roosevelt and Washington, attending the Bi-Centennial of Yale University, met in the Hyperion theatre at New Haven, the President on the platform where he was to receive the degree of Doctor of Laws and Washington in the body of the theatre as delegate from the Tuskegee Institute. Justice Brewer, an old Yale graduate, delivered the oration and during it said, "Thank God, there have always been in this country college men able to recognize a true Washington whether his first name was George or Booker." Booker was immensely popular in the North. Andrew Carnegie expressed a dominant opinion when he wrote, "We should all take our hats off to the man who not only raised himself from slavery but helped raise millions [?] of his race to a higher stage of civilization."2 Echoing Justice

1 Yale Alumni Weekly.

Autobiography, 276.