The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-12-14

conducted the case for thedepartment
Of Justice. Tho court granted permls-
ion to the prosecuting attorneys to-
submit their ideas Of what the decree
should be, the opinion Of the court
having been filed. Attorney General
Wickersham examined the decree be-
fore it was submitted, and gave 1t his
sanction.
Therefore. the far-reaching and
drastic. order whereby the various
defendaass named as combining the
sevef1f.cuncerns of the Standard Oil
company are enjoined and prohibited
from engaging In commerce between
the several states appears to have had
the full sanction of the government. q,
Should It prove true that an at
tempt was made to make the decree
rs severe as possible, in order to DEM
onstrate graphically to congress the
need OF amendment to the Sherman
law, whereby combinations which
were not operating unreasonably or
against public policy should not be
drawn into its nav. it probably will
be decided that the legal offers Of the
government have made Mr.. Taft's
embarrassment greater at this time
than need be-
Limit of Trust Law.
It is generally conceded among
lawyers that the Standard Oil decis-
ion and decree put the Sherman anti
trust law into effect to its limit. They
assert that IL the supreme court
should sustain the American Tobacco
case and the Standard Oil case such
big business combinations as the
Amalgamated Copper company. the
General Electric company, and the
beef trust may we'll look to their in
terests and decide to disunite their
various subsidiary companies, even
though they may happen to be oper-
ating entirely in the interests Of the
public. and not in any degree prac-
ticing unlawful restraint Of trade.
With this state of affairs before
him and with perhaps few of the
bad" trusts still in need of correct
ion and punishment, it is said to be
annoying to the president to find that
he must make no move for the alter
alton of the law until 1t has worked
its course on the companies which the
government has brought into the
In some respects. so 1t appears to
supporters of the administration, the
amendment Of the Sherman antitrust
law is now discovered to have, been
put OF too long. They say that the
good trust" and bad trust" doctrine
which was enunciated during the
Roosevelt administration might we'll
have been taken more seriously
= 1t is we'll known that he words of
Associate Justice Brewer. in his
opinion on the Northern Securities
case. in which he held dissenting
views, although concurring in the de-
cision Of his fellow justices, appealed
both to President Roosevelt and Mr.:
Txh u portraying q mission which a
an&titYssst=-3ew-sheuld perform.
70; intention Of Congress.
+ fn this opinion Justice Brewer said
that congress did not intend to reach
out and destroy the minor contracts
in partial restraint Of trade, which
the long course Of decisions at COM
mon law had affirmed were reason
able and ought to be upheld.
THE purpose" said Justice Brewer,
"was to place q statutory prohibition
with prescribed penalties and rene
dies upon those contracts which were
in direct restraint of trade. unreason-
able. and against public policy"
It was asserted yesterday by one Of
the presidents close advisers that
many things are in his mind in con-
nection with the plan which he will
eventually outline to congress con-
cerning the amendment of the anti
trust law and the simultaneous bring
ing about of f1rmer control of cor
porations.
The project Of nationally incorpo-
rating all interstate trade combina-
tions Is one of the means he Is con-
sidering. The attorney general has
outlined proposed law whereby busi-
ness charters will be granted by the
government, and 1t is now before the
president. It is reliably reported that
1t will not escape discussion in his
antitrust message. when 1t is written.