Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-19
ENJOINS BEEF TRUST
Judge Grooscup Grants a
 Temporary Order.
HAVE UNTIL MARCH 4 TO ANSWER
It Is Held That the Averments Made Are True and Form
 Case Under the Sher-


 Made Are True and Form .
 Case Under the sher-
 man Act.
 CHICAGO, Feb. 1o.-The so called "beef trust" case has been disposed Of by Judge Erosscup in the United States circuit court, the demurrer of the pack CTS being overruled and a temporary injunction granted. The attorneys for the packers made no announcement or their intentions. They have until March to discuss the matter with their principals. If they deny the facts upon which Judge Grosscup based his decision, the matter will go before master in chancery, who will hear the evidence, and the case will again be argued before Judge Grosscup. An ap- peal may be taken in order to hasten the final adjudication of the case. It is not believed likely that the pack CTS will let the matter go by default. thus making the injunction permanent.
 Commerce" said Judge Grosscup in his decision, ''is the sale or exchange of commodities. But that which the law looks upon as the body of com merce is not restricted to specific acts of sale or exchange. It includes the in- tercourse, all the initiatory and inter- vening acts, instrumentalities and deal- ings which directly bring about the sale or exchange. Thus, though the sale or exchange is commercial act, so |, also is the solicitation of the drummer, whose occupation 1t is to bring about the sale or exchange. The whole trans sri+ %r only m ofi fc commerce.
 "When commerce, thus broadly de- fined, is between parties dealing from different states to be effected so far. as the immediate act of exchange goes by transportation from state to state, 1t is commerce between the states within the meaning of the constitution and the statute known as the sherman act But 1t is not the transportation that makes the transaction interstate commerce. That is an adjunct only, es- sential to commerce, but not the test. The underlying test is that the transac- tion as an entirety, including each part calculated to bring about the result, reaches into two or more states, and that the parties dealing with refer ence thereto deal from different states.
 For the purpose of clear exposition the facts set forth in the petition should be separated into two groups
 those that are intended to bring the transaction within the body of inter state commerce and those that are tn- tended to fix upon such transaction the character of unlawful combination and conspiracy"
 The judge then outlines the mode of operations as conducted by the various packing companies and rehearses the averments made in the application for a restraining order.
 "No one can doubt" says Judge Grosscup, ssthat these averments state, case of combination. Whether the combination be unlawful or not de- pends on whether 1t is in restraint of the trade.
 '"rhe general meaning of that term is no longer open to inquiry. 1t has been passed upon carefully by the supreme l court in the Freight association case and in the traffic case. It is clear from , them that restraint of trade is not de- 1 pendent upon any consideration of rea- condolences or unreasonableness in the l combination averred, nor is it to be ! tested by the prices that result from | the combination. Indeed combination I that leads directly to lower prices to l the consumer may within the doctrine of these cases, even as against the con- sumer, be restraint of trade. and com | bination that leads directly to higher l prices may, as against the producer, be | -g,~4 q .l~ <vxA< 4l,.r l interpreted, has no concern with prices, but looks solely to competition and to l giving competition full play by making | illegal any effort at restriction upon competition. Whatever combination 1 has the direct and necessary effect of I restricting competition is, within the | meaning of the Sherman act as now in. I terpreted, restraint of trade.
 1 "Thus defined, there can be no doubt that the agreement of the defendants l to refrain from bidding against each l other in the purchase of cattle is com
 bination in restraint of trade, so also their agreement to bid up prices to stimulate shipments, intending to cease
 from bidding when the shipments have
 arrived. Such agreements can be noth- I ing less than restrictions upon compe. tition and, therefore, combination in
 restraint of trade; and thus viewed the l petition, as an entirety, makes out 8
 case under the Sherman act
 "The demurrer is overruled and the
 motion for preliminary injunction | granted"
 Death Followed Exposure.
 MALONE, N. Y., Feb 19.-William | La ha rua a lnoa1 uinlinist xuas cn hadlu