[Illustration: JOHN SHERMAN, A STATESMAN WHO SERVED THE GOVERNMENT FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS, AS SENATOR, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, AND SECRETARY OF STATE. BETWEEN 1888 AND 1890 HE INTRODUCED SIX SEPARATE BILLS FOR THE REGULATION OF TRUSTS, AND OUT OF THESE GREW THE MEASURE WHICH NOW BEARS HIS NAME] Meanwhile, in the first twelve years after the passage of the Anti-trust Act, and in the teeth of it, some of the largest monopolistic corporations were formed. Many persons have maintained that the Sherman Law, far from forestalling these corporations, has actually precipitated them. Their point is that, since this act clearly outlawed trade agreements among independent corporations, these corporations, in order to get control of the situation, have been compelled to amalgamate themselves under one ownership. The Sherman Act made illegal, for example, rate agreements among railroads; as a consequence, in order to control railroad policy, the owners of the great trunk lines have purchased large blocks of stock in each other's property--on what is popularly known as the "community of interest" idea. President Roosevelt, however, has succeeded in applying the Sherman Act to the trusts, as that word is popularly understood. The famous Northern Securities case is his greatest victory along that line. In this instance, Mr. J. J. Hill and J. Pierpont Morgan formed a new corporation, the Northern Securities Company, which acquired the actual stock ownership of nine-tenths of the stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad and three-fourths of that of the Great Northern. The Northern Securities Company thus obtained a virtual monopoly of railroad transportation from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean in the northern section of the United States. The Roosevelt administration, relying solely upon the Sherman Act, destroyed this corporation. The administration has followed up this victory by instituting suits against the Standard Oil Company, the American Tobacco Company, and other powerful monopolies. [Illustration: GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM 1877 TO 1904, AND ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THE SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT] _Labor Unions, as Such, Not Prohibited_