The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-31
ATTo GENERAL FILES BRIEF DENOUNCING METHODS As INIQUIToUs AND INHEBrf-
 ED BY CIVILIZED CONSCIENCE.

ED BG CIVILIZED CONSCIENCE
 Washington. Dec. G-In printed brief of eeS pages Attorney General George W. Wtckershan1 and his spe- cial assistant. J. C. MeReynoIds. have presented to the Supreme Court of the United States the case Of the Govern ment in the famous Tobacco Trust cases. which will be argued next week in that court. The cases were tried in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. which after disTnissing the petition as to foreign tobacco companies and some of the subordinate American compan- ies. adjudged the others to be parties to an unlawful conspiracy. and .enjoin- ed them from continuing their opera dons and from engaging in inter-State commerce.
 The Attorney General takes the po- sition that these findings, sweeping as they seem to have been. were not broad enough. and he asked the Su- prcme Court so to extend them. as to widen their scope to take in the for eign companies and some individuals who were relieved from the operation of the verdict. Many other exten- sions of the judgment are also re- quested.
 After showing that in 1890 competi- ton was free the various coalitions are traced in the document. and facts are given to show that the combina- ton has grown until its combined as- sets amount to S400 000. 900. It is as serted that the combination manufac- lures all of the cigarettes for export. and almost three-fourths of the smok- ing tobacco and of the cigarettes for domestic sale. more than three-fourths of the plug. twist and fine cut to- hacco. and almost all of the snuf and little cigars that are made. It is de- clared that the defendants have per sistentiy exercised tluress. have prac- ticed wicked and unfair methods. and ways Further. it is asserted that they have been actUated by a fixed purpose to destroy competition and ob tain monopolies- Competitors have gradually disappeared. and the cornbi- nation. now strongly entrenched. un- duly restricts the business of those in the trade and prevents others from entering
 feet of the sherman antitrust law. under which the suit was brought. it is contended that the combination un- der the name of the American Tobacco Company was illegal when it was en- tered into in 1890. because it was con- t-ary to the common law. Contending for the right of Congress to enact anti trust legislation 1t is asserted that the essential purpose of the Sherman law is to prevent injury. not merely to re- verse a course of conduct The At torney General also lays down the gen. eral proposition that the right freely to buy. sell. and transfer property Is not a fundamental civil right to be exercised without limitation as inter ested parties may detfrmine. and he adds the assertion thst- it ssubor- dinate to public policy and the law fully expressed will of Congress"
 Coming to specific instances relative to the operations of the trust 1t is de- clared that substantially all estab- lished .jobbers in-New .England were induced to throw out independent pro ducts. as were those of Philadelphia, New York. and many other specified places$ It Is asserted that independ- ent jobbing in New York was destroy ed by the organization of the Metro politan Tobacco Company. which re- ceived an exclusive agency for the sale of tine trust goods It is also asserted that 'bushwhacking" methods were re- sorted to in the use of the union la bels. and the method in this proceed ing is denounced as "iniquitous'' and one such as inhibited by a civilized conscience. Indeed. it is declared that '.the record contains much evil dence and a vast deal of correspond ence concerning the operations of these bushwhacking companies. which dis close amazing depravity and show with clearness how these sinister agencies were effectively utilized
 The advertising methods of the trust are referred to as a means of inf1u- encing both business and public senti- ment. and it is said that not less than s10. .O00. 900 was expended in this way in the single year Of 1906.
 The Attorney General interprets the complaint as not merely directed to the acquisition and ownership of stocks or other property. but as against the company's operations in commerce.. ''Competition has been persistently destroyed. scares of con tracts have retired skilled men from the trade. many have been forced out. and the necessary result of the plan long followed has been to give defend ants power to exclude others and ex- ercise monopoly.v
 Mir. Wickersham seems inclined to the view that a receiver should be ap- pointed for the business of the parties to the combination. and he adds:
 The very existence of certain de fendants is criminal and certainly they cannot rightfufiy complain be- cause restrained from carrying out the unlawful purposes of their creation; they are willfuliy in positions where every act is a transgression."