State of Minnesota v. Northern Securities Company

• Decision Date: 24 February 1902
• Citation: 46 L.Ed. 499,184 U.S. 199,22 S.Ct. 308
• Parties: STATE OF MINNESOTA, Complainant , v. NORTHERN SECURITIES COMPANY, Defendant . No. ___, Original
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

184 U.S. 199

22 S.Ct. 308

46 L.Ed. 499

STATE OF MINNESOTA, Complainant,

v NORTHERN SECURITIES COMPANY, Defendant.

No. ___, Original.

Argued January 27, 1902.

Decided February 24, 1902.

On the 7th day of January, 1902, came the state of Minnesota, by Wallace B. Douglas, its attorney general, and moved the court for leave to file a bill of complaint against the Northern Securities Company, a corporation of the state of New Jersey. Thereupon the court directed that notice of such application should be given to the defendant, and set the motion for argument on January 27, 1902, when it was duly heard.

The bill proposed to be filed was in the following terms:

To the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States of America:

Your oratrix, the State of Minnesota, complainant, by Wallace B. Douglas, attorney general thereof, brings this its bill of complaint against the Northern Securities Company, a corporation organized under and by virtue of the laws of the state of New Jersey, and alleges:

I.

That by an act of Congress, entitled 'An Act for the Admission of Minnesota into the Union,' approved May 11, A. D. 1858 (11 Stat. at L. 285, chap. 31), the said state of Minnesota was admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original states.

II.

That said Northern Securities Company is a corporation organized as hereinafter alleged, under and by virtue of the laws of the state of New Jersey, and is a citizen of the state of New Jersey.

III.

A.

That by an act of the Congress of the United States, of March 12, 1860 (12 Stat. at L. 3, chap. 5), extending to the state of Minnesota the swamp-lands grant theretofore made to the state of Arkansas, and by various subsequent acts, the Congress of the United States donated to the state of Minnesota from the public domain large quantities of lands situated within the state of Minnesota, and of the value of several millions of dollars. That the state of Minnesota now has left and undisposed of more than 3,000,000 acres of said lands, of the value of more than $15,000,000, much of which said land is located in the territory traversed by the railroads of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies, as hereinafter alleged. That the value of said land, and the salability thereof, depends in very large measure upon having free, uninterrupted, and open competition in passenger and freight rates over the lines of railway owned and operated by said Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies.

That many of said lands are vacant and unsettled and located in regions not at present reached by railway lines, and depend for settlement upon the construction of lines in the future; that it has heretofore been the practice of said Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies, respectively, to extend spur lines into territory adjacent to each of said roads as well as into new territory for the purpose of developing such territory, as well as to obtain traffic therefrom; that such new lines have been built in the past very largely by reason of the rivalry heretofore existing between said companies, for existing, as well as new, business; that under the consolidation and unity of control hereinafter set forth such rivalry will cease, and many of the lands now owned by the state of Minnesota will not be reached by railroads for years to come, if at all, owing to such combination and consolidation removing all rivalry and competition between said companies; that the settlement and occupation of said lands will add very much to their value, and such occupation will depend entirely upon the accessibility of railway lines and transportation facilities for marketing the products raised thereon; that if said lands are sold and become occupied they will add very largely to the taxable value of the property of the state, and that said lands cannot be sold or the income of the state increased thereby without the construction of railroad lines to, or adjacent to, the same.

B.

That the state of Minnesota is now and for many years past has been the owner of, and continuously maintained, an educational institution for the benefit of its citizens, known as the University of Minnesota; also a large number of hospitals for the insane, within its territorial limits; also five normal schools for the education of teachers within the state; also a state training school for boys and girls; also several state schools for the education, care, and maintenance of the deaf, dumb blind, and feebleminded; also a state school for indigent and homeless children; also a state penitentiary and reformatory.

That for many years past the state of Minnesota has continuously maintained and supported each of said institutions, and in the care, maintenance, and management thereof has been compelled to and in the future, of necessity, will annually purchase large quantities of supplies for said institutions, including provisions, clothing, and fuel, a great portion of which the state of Minnesota is compelled to ship over the different lines of railway owned and operated by the Northern Pacific Railway Company and the Great Northern Railway Company.

That the state of Minnesota is compelled to expend annually more than $700,000 in the operation and maintenance of said public institutions, most of which sum is raised by general taxation upon the lands and other property of the citizens of the state of Minnesota, and situated therein. That the amount of taxes which said state of Minnesota can collect, and the successful maintenance of its said public institutions, as well as the performance of its governmental functions and affairs, depends largely upon the value of the real and personal property situated within its territorial limits, and the general prosperity and business success of its citizens. That the value of said real and personal property of the citizens of the state of Minnesota, as well as their business success and general prosperity, depend very largely upon maintaining in said state free, open, and unrestricted competition between the railway lines of said Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies, respectively, within said state.

C.

That it has been the settled policy and practice of the state of Minnesota, since its organization as a territory, to develop the resources of the state by encouraging railroad building therein; and in furtherance of this policy the territory of Minnesota, by an act thereof under the date of May 22, 1857, granted to the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company a charter, and in consideration of the construction and maintenance of a line of railway in Minnesota by said company said territory do- nated to it out of its public domain about 700,000 acres of land. That said Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company thereafter became insolvent, and all its property was placed in the hands of a receiver; that such proceedings were thereafter had that all the property of the last-named company, including said land, was duly sold and conveyed to the St. Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba Railway Company, hereinafter mentioned.

That the state of Minnesota, by an act of its legislature, and in consideration of the construction and maintenance of a line of railway by the Great Northern Railway Company, hereinafter referred to, between St. Cloud and Hinckley, a distance of 84 miles, donated and conveyed to said last-named company upwards of 400,000 acres of land then owned by and situated in the state of Minnesota, which said land was then worth more than $1,000,000. That in carrying out said policy, and in aid of the building of railways within the state of Minnesota, there has been granted out of the public domain within the limits of the state of Minnesota upwards of 10,500,000 acres of land, nearly all of which has been granted to said Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies, and the subsidiary companies owned and controlled by them.

D.

That by an act of the legislature of the state of Minnesota, approved March 3, 1881, entitled 'An Act Granting Swamp Lands to Aid in the Construction of the Main Line of the Road of the Little Falls & Dakota Railway Company,' and which now is a part of the Northern Pacific Railway Company system, hereinafter referred to, the state of Minnesota donated to said Little Falls & Dakota Railway Company two hundred forty-three thousand five hundred and ninety-one (243,591) acres of land situated in and then belonging to said state, in consideration of the construction and maintenance by said last-named railway company of a line of railway extending from Little Falls to Morris, in the state of Minnesota.

IV.

Your oratrix further alleges that immense quantities of wheat and other products are shipped annually from East Grand Forks, Crookston, Moorhead, Fergus Falls, and other competitive points within the state of Minnesota, and all on the lines of railway of the said Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railway companies, hereinafter referred to, to the cities of Duluth, St. Paul, and Minneapolis, within the state of Minnesota. That nearly all of the shipment of such products made from the above-named initial points are consigned to various citizens at either the city of Duluth, St. Paul, or Minneapolis over one or the other of said lines of railroad last-above named. That enormous quantities of merchandise have been and will continue to be shipped annually over said lines of railway, between the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and various other cities and villages along said lines of railway situated within the state of Minnesota, and which are purchased and used entirely by the people of said state. That the competition in both freight and passenger traffic to and from said places has always been sharp and active between said railway companies, and has secured to the residents of said cities, as well as the state of Minnesota, and to the state of Minnesota itself, much lower rates for both freight and...