New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-07-10
BIG TRUST COMPLAINT.
MANY COMPANIES NAMED.
One Hundred or More Defendants
in Governments Tobacco Suit.

ststes Circuit Court in the action Of the govern
nent against the Tobacco Trust charging that it
is 2 monopoly in restraint of trade, and as such Is
constantly violating the provisions the Sherman
antitrust law. AT the head Of this big list Will be
the names of the American Tobacco Company and
the Continental Tobacco Company. They will be
followed by the Of about sixty subsidiary
corporations. In which included the American
Cigar Company the American SnuH Company and
the United Cigar Stores Company.
Others OF the corporations that named in the
bill Of complaint are the Imperial Tobacco Com
pany OF G.eat Britain and the British-Ameri2an
Tobacco Company, the concerns which control The
tobacco industry in the British Isles and many If
the English dependencies. Among the other de
PENDANTS are the MacAndrews & Forbes Company.
Of this city. and the j. S. Young Company. ~
Baltimore importers of lcoTice root. the essential
component of hcoTice paste. which in turn IS gen
orally used in the manufacture of chewing tobacco
These two corporations convicted and fined
last January by Judge Hough for maintaining q
monopoly of the icorice paste business in this
country. They appealed from the sentence and
the appeal has now been perfected and is await
Ing hearing before the United States Supreme
Court.
In addition to the corporations some forty-odd
individuals. who are officers or directors Of the
various subsidiary concerns. will be named in the
complaint.
Among the individual defendants Will be James
3. Duke president of the American Tobacco Com
pany, Benjamin N. Duke. Robert r Dula. Caleb
c. Dula. Percival s. Hill. Anthony y. Brady
Pierre Lorillard Thomas F. Ryan and Peter a 3.
Nldener
The complaint will be a bulky document and will
present an exhaustive statement of the results Of
the investigation the government has been making
into the workings Of the tobacco industry for Il
year
In the complaint itself. in which the court will
be asked enioin the defendants from pursuing
will be embodied 2 history OF the formation the
Tobacco Trust from its beginnings and a detailed
statement Of the workings Of the trust in acquiring
control Of companies and properties needed for
the development of its business will be given.
There viii also be considerable light shed, it is
FaId, upon the course pursued by the ruling pow
ers in the tobacco world toward competitors and
independents who refused 10 accept the offers or
olc1auon OF the trust, ana upon the ways IN when
refractory opposing interests forced 70 dis
continue business or sell out TO the
James c. McReynolds. of the Department Of
Justice. who appointed a Special Assistant At
torney General last January. when Henry ". Taft
resigned after he had obtained the conviction Of
the 'Ncorice paste trust here has been actively
~ work for the last four five months finishing
the investigation Of the Tobacco Trust in all its
branches and ramihcations and has been in
slant touch with the department at Washington.
Associated with him in the investigation which
has been centred during the last few months in
this city. IS Edwin ?. Grosyenor, who aided Mr..
Taft in The preparation Of the aaginst the
Lcorice paste companies.
NJ McReynolds confirmed YESTERDAY the truth
az the report from Washington that the govern
ment contemplated step in its plans in
sure proper regulation Of the trusts by asking for
e receiyership for the American Tobacco Company.
After reciting the many acts II the American
Tobacco Company and its subsidiary corporations
in direct violation OF the Sherman law. the com
plant VIII ask that the defendants be enjoined
from committing such infractions future II Is
in connection with this petition that the request
for receiver for the trust will be made as an
alternative in case the governments attorneys are
able h prove 10 the satisfaction OF the federal
judges that such injunction would be Intellectual
in preventing further violations Of the law The
complaint alone fills more than ninety printed
pages Attached TO il exhibits showing the
side workings Of the trust in It's schemes to obtain
a monopoly Of the industry in this country which
VIII fill about ff1V
M McReynolds would say whether or not
he expected the federal courts here 10 grant
The petition for q receiver he gave the impress
sion Of believing that this radical step the anti
tryst campaign might prove to be well worth the
tIia!
The inception Of the idea Of a receivership
Tor the trusts to counterfeit eectuay the tendency
Of the day toward combination and the wiping out
q TtaI competition IS credited 70 the mind Of Mr..
McReynolds working in collaboration with that Of
Milton Purdy, Assistant Attorney General. Mr.
McReynolds simply smiled when asked about il last
tobacco trust. with the investigation Of which he
has been particularly identified that has been Sc
lected the dog which the government will try
is newest experiment .n the antitrust campaign.
Mr. McReynolds has already had good deal Of eX-
i,erence in lighting the trusts before the United
States Supreme Court and he is present repre-
fenling the government in two revenue cases. one
in Ohio and another In California in each OF which
millions Of dollars stake.
Although the officials Of the tobacco company
nave been aware that the investigation going
on ana nave been expecting something to drop ali
along. there good deal Of genuine surprise
manifested yesterday the offices when the
porters tried to find out where the company stood
on the question Of the rumored prosecution FOR
monopoly.
The dispatches from Washington printed in yester-
Gay mornings papers, II said the first init
nation that the company had received OF the govern
Inent's When the investigation started.
u was said, the company had done everything TO
facilitate the work of the governments officers and
mad given them free rein IN the investigation OF its
books and properties.
In this connection It may be worth noting that
Nc fte
me federal grand jury in this city into the forma-
ron and workings Of the licorice paste trust Edwin
= Hale. OF the officials of the MacAndrews &
F'roes Company, declined to produce the books or
mat COMPANY and the courts were called upon 70
compel him 70 do so. The MacAndfews & Forbes
Company was the first OF the licorice paste COM
Iafles acquired by the American Tobacco Com
psny. and through II the tobacco company was
ehle 70 obtain control OF the other leading com
kenies in the trade and get practical monopoly or
eF.e business in this company.
Sae Tobacco Trust onlcials carried the case TO
- United States Supreme Court on the ground
nat NJ Hale could not be compelled TO produce
the con1panys books such action might tend
10 incrminate him. 1t the general opinion OF
lawyers at the time that the governments attor-
Ieys would not he sustained but the Supreme
Court by Of 10 2. ordered Hale to pro-
d1ce the books required for the Investigation.
Instead Of helping the government officials since
ien IN their investigation Of the trust, the tobacco
company officials have contested every step OF the
gfound ana have produced no witnesses. letters or
oocuments except when compelled 10 do so by
subpoena from the court.
AS was SAID by one of the governments attorneys
IT the time Of the prosecution Of the lcorice paste
trust; That subpoena of the United States Supreme
1ooft 10 Hale has been the open door, but the only
c0or 20 any investigation OF the Tobacco Trust that
re government might wish to undertake
Jnec- the provisions Of the Sherman law the
agamen- the petition OF the government for
nc Injunction and receivership for the tobacco
u23t viii be heard before three OF the judges OF
'ae United States Circuit Court Heretofore all
Proceedings that been brought in this district
!or violation Of the antitrust law have been heard
K % liz Ss-I,