The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-16
TRUST QUESTIONS
 ATTRACT NOTICE
Decision on American Tobacco
 Company Is Notable
INTERPRETATION OF LAW
General Tendency is Shown in Court Decisions Toward a Broader and More Liberal Construction of
 Statutes As To Trusts.

New York, November 15.-The sweeping
 character of the recent decision of the United States circuit court in declaring the American Tobacco company to be a combination in restraint of trade is at traeting widespread attention in business circles and among members of the legal
 profession who have given special atten- tion to the trust question, not so much for it's immediate effect on the allied to-
 baeco interests, but more particularly for it's scope and effect upon all classes Of industrial combinations engaged in inter-
 state traffic An appeal of this decis-
 ion to the United States supreme court is now in active process of preparation by counsel in the case.
 There has been a series of judicial in-
 terpretations of the Sherman act both 1 in the federal circuit court and In the
 United States supreme court, but the con census of opinion is that the recent de- i cision in the tobacco case gives def l initeness and scope of interpretation far beyond any judicial utterances heretofore
 made. The full text of the decision dis
 
 ] the gradual development of judicial in-
 depreciation of the law up to the present
 time, Judge Coxe. one of the concurring
 judges, stating that since the Knight i case (against the sugar refneres) the l tendency has been constantly toward a
 wider scope of the statutes"
 The Knight Case. ,dar
 the Sherman act to reach the supreme i court It was decided in January. 1895.
 and held in substance that the combina- l tion of a number of refineries to manu- facture sugar was not within the act
 because manufacture alone Is not com
 merce and therefore not within control of Congress.
 l An examination of the numerous de-
 cisions since the Knight case leads to the conclusion, Judge coxe says, that there has been a general tendency to- ward broader and more liberal construc- tion of the statutes. In the Northern Securities case the opinion reviews all the
 prior decisions, and formulates certain propositions. Some of these were as fol- lows:
 "The antitrust act embraces and de- cares to be illegal every contract, com bination or conspiracy, in whatever form,
 of whatever nature and whoever may be the parties to it, which directly or neces l sarily operates in restraint of interstate
 or international trade or commerce The 1 act is not limited to unreasonable re- straint but embraces all direct restraints '
 The "Hat" Case. l In the case of Loew vs Lawler, the
 United States supreme court held the i sherman act applicable to members of labor organization who, by means of boy
 colt, were endeavoring to destroy the bus mess of a manufacturer of hats. Comparing the foregoing trust decisions with that recently given In the tobacco case shows the development which has oc- cured in the application of the Sherman act. Judge Lacombe in his majority opin- ion defines the status of the law today as follows:
 "Disregarding various dicta and fol- lowing the several propositions which have been approved by successive ma jority of the supreme court, this language Sherman act) is to be con strued as prohibiting any contractor combination whose direct effect is to prevent the free play of competition and thus tend to deprive the country of the services of any number of in- dependent dealers, however small. As thus construed the statute is revolu- | tionary. By this it Is not intended to l imply that the construction is incor- ra ha In tionary because, before it's passage. the | courts had recognized a restraint of | trade, which was held not to be unfair. but permissible although it operated in some measure to restrain competition. Tendency to Combine. By insensible degrees. under the operation of many causes, business, manufacturing and trading alike, have more and more developed q tendency toward larger and larger aggregations of capital and more extensive combina- tions of individual enterprise. It is contended that under existing condi- tions in that way only can production be increased and cheapened, new mar kets opened and developed, stability in reasonable prices secured and industrial progress assured. But every aggrega- tion of individuals or corporations, formerly independent, immediately upon its formation terminates an existing competition, whether or not some other competition may subsequently, arise.
 "The act as above constructed pro- hibits every contract or combine in re- straint of competition. Size Is not made the test; two individuals who have been driving rival express wagons between villages in two contiguous states, who enter into combine to join forces and operate a single line restrain an existing competition and 1t would seem to make little difference whether they make such combine more effective by forming a partnership or not.
 Benefits of Combine.
 What benefits may have come from it is not material to inquire, nor need subsequent business methods be con sidered or production or prices" The advance of judicial interpretation of the Sherman act was also dealt with by Judge Moves, who concurred with Judge Lacombe in the tobacco decision. Speaking of the momentous character of present trust litigation Judge Moves says:
 Tt is of much importance to many people at the present time whether the defendants have entered into an un- lawful combine. It is of the most mo- mentous importance to all the people for all time whether the national gov combinations across state lines, Con-