Arizona republican., 1899-05-16
PHGNIX, MAY 16. 1899.
ANTITRUST LEGISLATION.

The Missouri court of appeals ha:
 just rendered decision of consider
 able importance regarding the settle
 ment of trust accounts in that state
 There is Missouri law which de
 clares that debts due to trusts are in-
 valid and need net be paid by citizens
 of dhis state If such a law can be en-
 forced, of course it will drive all trusts
 out of the state. The opinion has
 been expressed that probably the
 trusts would try to dodge it by sell
 ing directly tci consumers and for cash
 on delivery, thus avoiding the quss-
 ton of the collectibility of accounts.
 It appears that their first line Of de-
 fense, however, is not that, but "a
 more technical one, involving ques-
 Itions of interpretation Of ths law. Re
 lying utpcn the apparent right given
 by the statute a St. Louis paint firm
 refused to pay for a consignment of
 goods bought of the so-called lead
 trust; and the latter brought suit, per
 haps with an amicable under standing
 with the local firm that the validity Cf
 the Jaw was to be tested.
 The result is that the court has de-
 cfded that the law is vali1 and that the trust cannot collect the debt in
 question The decision is obviously one of considerable importance to all trusts and combinations in the ccun- try. St. Louis is the chief distributing point for the whole southwest. Large quantities of all the goods handled by trusts pass through I1ha hands of job bers in that city. What are these combinations going to do if they are likely to have their drafts on St. Louis customers repudialted at a.1y time and to have no redress in the state courts? All the technical arguments in their behalf seem Ito have been exhausted in this case. It was argued, for example, that lHhe goods purchased were bought not of a trust, but of a corporation; to which the court replied, and prcp- erly, that that made no difference, that the corporation was a constituent part of the trust and represented it and was for all pra ,tical purposes the trust itself It was also argued that the trust was organized before the enactment of the Missouri law, which could net have 8 retroactive effect. This contention also was overruled by the court, as we'll as all other argu- ments put forward in the plainlLiff behalf
 Of course an appeal to the federal l courts may result in a declaration that the Missouri law is unccnstitu- tional, but for the presen; it is made 1 impossible for any trust to do a safe i business of the ordinary sort with | their regular and most natural Mis- | souri customers. Perhaps, they will | devise some safer method of distrib uting their g'ccds in that state; but | the restrictions under which they must | operate there must cause them some trouble and probably reduce their profits. On the other hand, must nos khe pressnt condition also hurt the business of the Missouri jobbers? This is a point which has apparently not entered into the calculations of the more violent opponents of trusts in any western state. In Arkansas, for instance, the discovery las just been made that the local antitrust 1egisla- tion has been carried so far that the citizens are about to be deprived cf opportunities to get insurance. The law in that state, as construed by the general, debars almost all the leading insurance companies from operating there because they have an agreement among thsn- selves regarding salaries paid and other details of their business.
 Presumably it was not the intention to drive the insurance companies Cat of the state any more than it vas foreseen in Missouri 1hat one effect of its antitrust law would be L. di.. minish the business of IccaI firms and The fact of inc matter IS that efforts to hurt trusts must be 1in- dertaken with great care and ci"clas- spection. Th-re is scarcely any con- mon article of commerce whtc is not these days more cr less under the con- trol of some s-rt Of monopolistic combination. Attacks upon the latter arc likely to be fa1 ther reaching than and to cause injuries in uli- quarters. The people Of the vest sh2uld move slcw-y and cautious Iy in their antitrust agitation.