The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-10
BEEF TRUST ARGUMENT
MOODY AND MILLER BEFORE THE
 SUPREME COURT.
Attorney-General Claims that the Pack ers' Combine Operates in Re strnint of Trade aud Con-
 trols Price of Products.

I
 Washington, Jan. .9--Attorney-GeiS eral Moody today made his argument before the United States Supreme Court in the beef trust case. In col cluding. Mir. Moody said
 These defendants are engaged In h. terstate commerce. The petition shots typical case of interstate commerie. If the business which they do, exch- sive of manufacture, Is not interstlte commerce. there can be no such thing outside of transportation. They Iuy their raw material which is gath efed together from all the raising States and Territories of the Union ind sent to the great livestock marketi of the country. After they have trms- formed that material into the fniAed product. they sell 1t throughout the United States.
 "The combination which they lave entered into is designed to restraii all their business transactions, exclusive of manufacture, by tho suppression of all competition therein, both In their purchases and their sales. by the fxing and maintaining of uniform prices for their raw material and by obtaining such unlawful advantages as teid to create a monopoly in Il necessity of life. They cannot be permitted ir gen. eral courtesy to separate the virious steps of their undertaking ana S, deal with them that they cannot be r.gard- ed as interstate transactions" MT. Moody concluded at 3 o'clock and was followed by MT. Miller, wh, clos ed the case for the packers. Mir. Miller said that necessarily the presentation of the case must be con- fined within the limits of the bill of complaint, and that epithets could not be appealed to, as attempted by the Attorney General, to make the case | complete. In all other cases of like character there had been a distinct agreement. but here. he said, the l charges were all general and the speci- | fications indefinite to conclusions of law or epithets.
 MT. Miller took up the charge of re- ! bates and said the facts must be sei up in some way before the court could l take cognizance of them. There wer, | no specifications and as a consequenct
 the defendants could properly respond | only by demurrer
 Suppose asked Justice Harlan, 'th. commissions alleged were confined t, | domestic commerce in the State of Hi nois would you consider it q restraint of trader"
 Mir. Miller replied in the negative. Justice Harlan asked how it woult be if there was a commission by coa
 mine owners to control the price O coal.
 MT. Miller replied that 1t would de
 pend largely on the extent of the com
 mission and also upon whether ther, | were State antitrust laws. The pre- | sent case, he argued, presents Il,
 analogy to the Addyston pipe case fol in that case there was a division o territory among manufacturers. N such attempt was made in the case O | the packers.
 Taking up another line, he said tn l cattle remain in the yards until sol, | and accordingly were the property O
 the State for taxation and other State
 purposes. Hence the purchase mus
 be considered an act of domestic com l merce. No commerce between tn
 States was involved.
 Justice White asked a question as t
 the effect of an agreement 0 fix tn | price of meat in another State but Mi
 Miller contended that the charge in tn
 pending case did not go so far as tha l With reference to the charge tha
 the packers bid up prices at certai 1 places in order to cause increased ship
 ments, MT. Miller said if this was tru
 it was evident that cattle grower
 would send to more desirable market
 and thus cheat the packers of the en l sought.
 In conclusion, MT. Miller contende
 for the right of the packers to deflnit | specifications. The purpose of tn
 sherman bill was. he said, to encourag
 trade and not to shackle it, but if in
 functions are to be granted on sue pleas as that before the court, the
 the end sought surely would not be at
 tained. He concluded as he had be gun by declaring that the method c
 proceedings was without precedent.