“ Is the motive with which a forbidden combination or conspiracy was formed at all material when it appears that the necessary tendency of the particular combination or conspiracy in question is to restrict or suppress free competition between competing railroads engaged in commerce among the states? Does the act of Congress prescribe, as a rule for interstate or international commerce, that the operation of the natural laws of competition between those engaged in such commerce shall not be restricted or interfered with by any contract, combination, or conspiracy? ”

“ Indeed, if the contentions of the defendants are sound, why may not all the railway companies in the United States, that are engaged, under state charters, in interstate and international commerce, enter into a combination such as the one here in question, and, by the device of a holding corporation, obtain the absolute control throughout the entire country of rates for passengers and freight, beyond the power of Congress to protect the public against their exactions? ”

“ Harm, and only harm, can come from the failure of the courts to recognize this fundamental principle of constitutional construction. To depart from it because of the circumstances of special cases, or because the rule, in its operation, may possibly affect the interests of business, is to endanger the safety and integrity of our institutions and make the Constitution mean not what it says, but what interested parties wish it to mean at a particular time and under particular circumstances. The supremacy of the law is the foundation rock upon which our institutions rest. ”

“ If the power to regulate interstate commerce applied to all the incidents to which said commerce might give rise, and to all contracts which might be made in the course of its transaction, that power would embrace the entire sphere of mercantile activity in any way connected with trade between the states, and would exclude state control over many contracts purely domestic in their nature. ”

“ All that has been done, even as contended by the government, has been to concentrate the ownership of a majority of the shares of the two companies into one hand, the owner being a corporation controlled by the same men who would own and control a majority of the capital stock of both railroad companies if the holding company had not been formed.
The companies remain distinct; the stockholders are not the corporation; each company is just as much subject to all the requirements of the law as though its stock-holders were entirely different. ”

“ The mere fact that a contract has the effect of restraining trade or suppressing competition in some degree does not render it injurious to the public welfare, and thus bring it within the police power. ”

“ To prove that a combination or monopoly exists within the meaning of the act, it is not necessary to show that the immediate effect of the acts complained of is to suppress competition or to create a complete monopoly. ”

“ Will it be said that Congress can meet such emergencies by prescribing the rates by which interstate carriers shall be governed in the transportation of freight and passengers? If Congress has the power to fix such rates-and upon that question we express no opinion-it does not choose to exercise its power in that way or to that extent. It has, all will agree, a large discretion as to the means to be employed in the exercise of any power granted to it. ”

“ Whether the free operation of the normal laws of competition is a wise and wholesome rule for trade and commerce is an exonomic question which this court need not consider or determine. Undoubtedly, there are those who think that the general business interests and prosperity of the country will be best promoted if the rule of competition is not applied. ”

“ In the division of authority with respect to interstate railways, Congress reserves to itself the superior right to control their commerce and forbid interference therewith, while to the states remains the power to create and to regulate the instruments of such commerce, so far as necessary to the conservation of the public interests. ”

“ So far as the Constitution of the United States is concerned, a state may, indeed, create a corporation, define its powers, prescribe the amount of its stock and the mode in which it may be transferred. ”

“ The power exists in each state, by appropriate enactments not forbidden by its own or the Federal Constitution, to regulate the relative rights and duties of all persons and corporations within its jurisdiction, so as to provide for the public convenience and the public good. State legislation relating to commerce is not to be deemed a regulation of interstate commerce simply because it may, to some extent or under some circumstances, affect such commerce. ”

“ Even if a natural person could lawfully have done what the Securities Company has done, that would be no argument to prove that the Securities Company, in so doing, has not violated the law against monopolies. ”

“ At common law a cessation or diminution of competition, springing from a unity of ownership,-as, where one competitor sold his business to another, or both sold out to a third person, etc., was never regarded as a restraint of trade; such cessation or diminution being incident to the union of property or business in one ownership, and not a restraint imposed by contract. ”

“ If buying and voting the stock restrains interstate commerce, it is illegal. If it does not restrain interstate commerce, it is legal; and the conspiracy behind the formation of the company was a conspiracy to do a lawful thing. ”

“ The commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States does not take away from the several states the right to authorize the formation of corporations, define their business, fix the amount of their capital or purchasing power, and regulate the issue, sale, and ownership of their capital stock. ”

“ The power of Congress to regulate commerce does not confer upon it a right to prescribe the persons who may engage therein, or to regulate or control the ownership of shares of stock of corporations which engage therein. ”

“ The interstate commerce power of Congress justifies only such regulations as act upon that commerce directly, and does not authorize regulations abridging the police powers of the states or the personal rights and privileges of individuals, if they affect that commerce only indirectly, remotely, incidentally, and collaterally. ”