For once E. H. Harriman has found himself blocked. The laws of Texas
protect investors by prohibiting mergers with large systems, and Texas
laws further require that all railroads within her borders shall be
owned and operated by local corporations. Every State in the Union
could have protected its citizens by such laws and prevented gigantic
mergers of Harriman, Hill et al.
The anti-corporation wave that is sweeping over the Lone Star State
will not quickly subside and if Harriman thinks that he can re-arrange
the laws of Texas to suit his convenience he fails to realize that he
must reckon with a people who are not owned by monopoly.
The Espee does not select the Governor of Texas at a dinner in New York
a year in advance of the election, neither does it control the Railroad
Commission, the Legislature or the Courts of that State. It is one
of the chief beneficiaries of the system of centralism that has been
fastened upon some of the States, notably California and Nevada.
It is gratifying to know that there is one State strong enough to check
the octopus and prevent a combine of the railroad lines within its
borders to the injury of the many and the benefit of the few.—The San
Bernardina (Cal.) Free Press.
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