Rates to be made public.

Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, in the State of Texas, their present rate of 28 cents per 100 pounds.

It is further ordered, That said defendants be and they are hereby, notified and required to establish and put in force, on or before said. 1st day of September, a rate of not more than 22 cents per 100 pounds and apply that rate to the transportation of wheat, in carloads, over their respective lines of railway, from said Oklahoma City to said Fort Worth, during a period of at least two years from and after the said 1st day of September.

And it is further ordered, That said defendants be and they are hereby, authorized to make said 20-cent rate and said 22-cent rate effective upon three days' notice to the public and the Interstate Commerce Commission, given in the manner required by law. The tariff containing such rates should bear the notation that it is issued under the authority hereby granted.

148. The Anti-Trust Act of 1890

Under its general power to regulate interstate commerce, Congress has passed many laws, such as the Safety Appliance Act, the Arbitration Act, the Pure Food Law, and the Employers' Liability Law, but the most famous of them all is the Anti-trust Law of 1890, the important clauses of which are given here:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Sec. 1. Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 2. Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any person or persons, to

monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 3. Every contract, combination in form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce in any Territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or in restraint of trade or commerce between any such Territory and another, or between any such Territory or Territories and any State or States or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any State or States or foreign nations, is hereby declared illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 4. The several Circuit Courts of the United States are hereby invested with jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of this act.

Sec. 6. Any property owned under any contract or by any combination, or pursuant to any conspiracy (and being the subject thereof) mentioned in section one of this act, and being in the course of transportation from one State to another, or to a foreign country, shall be forfeited to the United States, and may be seized and condemned by like proceedings as those provided by law for the forfeiture, seizure and condemnation of property imported into the United States contrary to law.

Sec. 7. Any person who shall be injured in his business or property by any other person or corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared to be unlawful by this act, may sue therefor in any Circuit Court of the United States in the district in which the defendant resides or is found, without respect to the

amount in controversy, and shall recover threefold the damages by him sustained, and the costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee.

Sec. 8. That the word "person," or "persons," whenever used in this act shall be deemed to include corporations and associations existing under or authorized by the laws of either the United States, the laws of any of the Territories, the laws of any State, or the laws of any foreign country.

Approved, July 2, 1890.

CHAPTER XX

NATIONAL RESOURCES

149. The Governors' Conference, 1908

DURING the past century, the federal government granted away to private persons millions of acres of forest, mineral, and arable lands for the purpose of securing the settlement of the great West and stimulating the development of industries and transportation facilities. The unexpected rapidity, however, with which our industries have drawn upon our natural resources has brought us within recent years to a keen realization of the fact that this lavish recklessness cannot go on indefinitely. Wide publicity was given. to the problem of conserving our resources by the action of President Roosevelt in calling a conference of the governors of all the states to take the question into serious consideration. The conference met at Washington in May, 1908, and after a few days' deliberation issued the following declaration of principles:

resources the foundation

We, the Governors of the States and Territories of the United Material States of America, in conference assembled, do hereby declare the conviction that the great prosperity of the country rests upon the abundant resources of the land chosen by our forefathers for their prosperity. homes and where they laid the foundation of this great nation.

We look upon these resources as a heritage to be made use of in establishing and promoting the comfort, prosperity and happiness of the American people, but not to be wasted, deteriorated or needlessly destroyed.

We agree that our country's future is involved in this: that the great natural resources supply the material basis upon which our civilization must continue to depend and upon which the perpetuity of the nation itself rests.

We agree, in the light of facts brought to our knowledge and

of our

Resources threatened with exhaustion.

What are our

resources?

What should be done.

from information received from sources which we cannot doubt, that this material basis is threatened with exhaustion. Even as each succeeding generation from the birth of the nation has performed its part in promoting the progress and development of the republic, so do we in this generation recognize it as a high duty to perform our part, and this duty in large degree lies in the adoption of measures for the conservation of the natural wealth of the country.

We declare our firm conviction that this conservation of our natural resources is a subject of transcendent importance which should engage unremittingly the attention of the nation, the States and the people in earnest co-operation. These natural resources include the land on which we live and which yields our food; the waters, which fertilize the soil, supply power and form great avenues of commerce; the forests, which yield the materials for our homes, prevent erosion of the soil and conserve the navigation and other uses of our streams, and the minerals, which form the basis of our industrial life and supply us with heat, light and power.

We agree that the land should be so used that erosion and soil wash should cease, that there should be reclamation of arid and semi-arid regions by means of irrigation and of swamp and overflowed regions by means of drainage; that the waters should be so conserved and used as to promote navigation, to enable the arid regions to be reclaimed by irrigation, and to develop power in the interests of the people; that the forests, which regulate our rivers, support our industries and promote the fertility and productiveness of the soil, should be preserved and perpetuated; that the minerals found so abundantly beneath the surface, should be so used as to prolong their utility, that the beauty, healthfulness and habitability of our country should be preserved and increased; that the sources. of national wealth exist for the benefit of all the people and that the monopoly thereof should not be tolerated.

We commend the wise forethought of the President in sounding the note of warning as to the waste and exhaustion of the natural