The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-08-06
ATTORNEY GENERAL
IS HANDICAPPED BY
ANTITRUST STATUTE
Prosecution of Lumber Com.
bines Unsatisfa Glory Under
Law Barring Witnesses.

Sioux Falls, S. D, Aug. Sit is alto
gether likely that Attorney Genera
Clark will ask the next session Of thu
South Dakota Legislature to pull some
of the fangs OF the states ant1-trus'
law. The difficulty with the statute is
that 1t is too ferocious. 1t frtghtens
the game before the prosecuting of
f1cials have any chance of bagging it.
In the earnestnesS of their desire to
discourage the formation of ~monopolies
within the state, the legislators appear
to have succeeded too we'll.
This is a conclusion suggested by the
experience of the attorney generals Of
fee in trying to carry out the legisla-
lures Instructions to investigate and
run down any lumber %octopuses that
might be found browsing on the pub
lie purse.
The attorney general and his assist
ant. P. w. Dougherty,. of Dell Rapids,
legged lumber trusts. But the people OF
South Dakota need not expect a big
killing when their game bag is opened
in the next session of the legislature.
In the first place the allowance of $500
would not finance a very exhaustive in
vestigation. And, again, the attorney
generals office found itself continually
ippSu NY W aSS raw iNSNAi
After defining what shall be consid-
cred an illegal combination, section
IT'S of the penal code provides:
Statute Conflicting.
ANY person or persons who shall
be a party to any such unlawful corn-
bination, agreement of trust either as
principal, agent, attorney, smploye or
otherwise, shall be deemed guilty of a
felony, and upon conviction thereof,
T. II hn- ,,1 cl,A 49, fr@
ing 1 1000, or imprisonment in the
states prison not exceeding three years.
or both, such fine and imprisonment at
the discretion of the court"
1t viii be observed hat the law
makes every employee of a trust"
equally guilty with the proprietor.
The statute is so sweeping that it takes
hand Information about the formation
or working of any monopoly.
Consequently, whenever the attorney
generals Office in this investigation
you'd ask any employee or agent or. Of
hcer of a lumber company any ques-
ton concerning evidence that it vio-
this law, answer was promptly
on the ground the witness
might be incrininated. At every turn
the attorney general was embarrassed
by the very law he was seeking to en-
force. Special investigation was made
In Moody and Day counties, though
the inquiry was really state wide in
A charge was brought in Day
county, but it remains to be seer
whether the evidence obtained by the
state is regarded as sufficient for a
conviction.
The attorney generals oflce natu-
rally is inclined to take the same lead
as that used by Attorney General
Young, of Minnesota, who claimed to
nave found that price lists, u%nidenti-
fed by any heading or signature, were
to all members of the Northwest
ern Lumber Mems association and that
one member absolutely refused to in
wade the territory of another. however
distant he might be-.
The defect in the South Dakota anti
trust act Is not such as can be easily
remedied. The difficulty might be
avoided by setting up an immunity
bath, but SO far at least it has not been
in good working order. If the law is
be modified it must be done care
fully to put in a loop hole large enough
for the state to get through and OBJ
tain evidence, but no big enuogh for
the real hackers of unlawful combina.
to escape through.