The San Francisco call., 1905-01-10
Attorney General Moody for
the Government Argues
the Case Before Supreme
Court of United States
SHOWS AGREEMENT
TO RESTRAIN TRADE
Maintains the Packers Have
Manipulated the Price
by Means of Agents in
All Parts of the Country

{ WASHINGTON, Jan. 9.-Attorney
General Moody to-day concluded his
argument on behalf of the Govern
ment before the Supreme Court of the
United States in the case of Swift &
Go. VS.. the United States, commonly
known as the beef trust case, begun
last Friday.
!. Moody said none of the agreements
or acts complained of related to manu-
facture or production, but to COM
merce. He said the inquiry is mar
rowed down to only two questions for
the determination of the court:
whether the commerce in the case was
commerce among the States, and II
so, whether the agreements constitute
a monopoly or any part of it. Moody
maintained that the following had
been shown:
States and Territories than those where the
! stockyards are situated were accustomed to
. named for the purpose of sale there. The de-
PENDANTS, who were severaly engaged in the
7 business of buying such live stock for the pur-
pose OF slaughtering and converting 1t into
fresh meat. entered into an agreement with
each other to refrain from bidding against
each other with the purpose and result of
The interstate character of the
transaction, he said, where an owner
of a commodity living in one State
ships it to another, continues from the
beginning of the shipment to and in
Guiding the sale of the commodity If
it has not lost its identity by the
breaking of the original package. In
speaking of the packers contract,
Moody said:
II ind
pendent persons will result in the control
ling or limiting of production, the suppression
.tit .ii' A'A. lespNe -. "a = -. =.
territories or customers. the destruction OF
competition of others outside the combination
and the creation by such means of monopoly
:, in the modern sense OF the word. Such con-
: tracts these, IL not universally have by the
great mass of authorities been held to be
against public policy and unlawful in the sense
( of being unenforcibie between the parties.
Controlling so per cent of the fresh meat in
dustry of the whole country. the packers sit
down at their slaughtering and packing estab-
lishments and. and, with the aid of the tele-
graph. through the instrumentality of count
& less agents and attorneys spread throughout
the country clothing their transactions and
sheltering their misconduct by ciphers and
secret codes. lower or raise and when thus
lowered or raised, fix and maintain absolutely.
as among themselves. the price of every pound
of one of the great necessities of life it
enters. and follows the channels of interstate
Z commerce This is an unlawfui restraint OF
/. commerce among the States and de-
clared in the Eddystone pipe case from which
all the ingenuity of counsel cannot distinguish
4 the case at bar.
| Continuing, Moody said:
From this it appears that the defendants are
all engaged in the common effort to obtain :
5 lawful rates. which they subsequently share or
pool among themselves. and that their scheme
oontemplates not only the pooling of these un-
lawful rates, but the exclusion of all outside
competitors from obtaining them.
No combination long endure against
those who secretly and in defiance of the
law enjoying rates for the transportation OF
hair in ipfa afafa xxyhf
constitute preference all others in the
same business. No more fruitful source of
monopoly be found than the enjoyment of
preferential rates The history of the country
& demonstrates this.
In pursuance of the conspiracy among them
selves their agents bid up the price of live
stock at certain selected times to abnormal
point. This naturally induces the Shipment
from other States of live stock to the points
where the price is bid up in quantities much
larger than under normal conditions. Then.
) taking advantage of this congestion of the
markets, they refrain from bidding against
each other in the purchase of livestock, with
the result that the producers and owners of
the stock forced to sell at ruinous prices.
Thus the unlawful conspiracy to refrain from
bidding against each other is undoubtedly
profitable. and the great profits that will come
from the transaction in turn increase the power
of the combination and tend to fasten upon the
people monopoly. The conspiracy in this case
I is ancilary to the conspiracy to refrain from
! bidding and to the creation OF the monopoly
which this whole case discloses.
In conclusion the Attorney General
argued:
They cannot be permitted to ngenuously sep
arate the various steps of their undertaking
and deal with them that they cannot be
regarded Interstate transactions. The court
met and answered such device as this in the
case of Montague & Co. VS.. Lowry. There ii
was truly claimed that the sales of unset tiles
! in San Francisco by the local dealers were con-
sidered by themselves interstate transactions.
I The court held that the sale should be sepa-
Z rated from the main purpose of the combfna-
/ ton which was to fix and maintain uniform
prices for goods which were the subject OF
interstate commerce
! Moody was followed by Miller, who
| closed the case for the packers.
Miller took up the charge Of re-
! bates. and said the facts must be set
UP in some way before the court could
/ take cognizance of them. ~
Suppose" said Judge Harlan, "the
/ combinations alleged were confined to
domestic commerce in the State OF
| Illinois, would YOU consider it q re-
! straint of trader"
Miller replied in the negative.
Justice Harlan asked how 1t would
| be if there was a combination by coal
miners to control the price Of coal.
| Miller replied that it would largely
| depend on the extent of the combina-
! tion and also upon whether there were
| State antitrust laws. Taking up an
/ other line, he said no commerce be-
| tween the States was involved.
Justice White asked a question as
! to the effect of an agreement to fix
the price of meat In another State,
but Miller contended that the charge
! in the pending case did not go so far
| as that.