The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-02-05
CONFESSED TRUST
CAN NOT COLLECT
ACCOUNTS OWING IT
SUPREME COURT DECIDES CASE
AGAINST THE WALL PAPER
COMBINE.
ADMITTED VIOLATION OF LAW
Justice Harlan Delivers Opinion Of
High Court And Very Heavily
Scores Attempt of Trust to Use The
Court as . Debt Collector.

IWASHlNGION, FEB. 1.-The cal
of the Continental Wall Paper Cor
pany VS.. Lewis Voight & Sons,
Cincinnati, was today decided by th
Supreme Court of the United State
in Voight's favor. The suit wa
brought by the company on a debt @
$4,000, the payment of which was re
sisted on the ground that the pape
company is trust. In effect the de
cision holds that an admitted trus
organized contrary to the Sherman
antitrust law can not use the court tc
collect debts.
Justice Harlan's opinion dealt in de-
tail with various phases of the case.
1t was based on the third defense Of
Voight that the company is part Of
a trust. He started out with the
proposition that the Continental Com
pany is within the prohibitions of the
Sherman act, which, he said, is clear
from the facts set forth in it's defense.
He then went on to show that this cor
poration is the representative of
combination which would have the
effect not only Of restraining but Of
monOpolizing the sale and manufac-
ture of paper.
The Continental Wall Paper Com
pany," he said, "seeks in legal effect
the aid of the court to enforce a con.
tract for the sale and purchase of
goods which it is admitted by the de. !
murrer was in fact and was intended {
by the parties to be based upon agree
ments that were and are essential I
parts of an illegal scheme We state T
the matter in this way because the v
plaintiff, by it's demurrer, admits for t
the purposes of this case the truth of d
all the facts alleged in the third de. n
fense." te
Futher along, Justice Harlan said: 81
"The present suit is not based upon in
an implied contract of the defendant
company to pay for goods that it pur.
chased, but in fact is based upon the he
agreements to which both the plain. fri
suant to which the accounts sued on M
were made out and which had for their SUI
object, and which it is admitted, had phi
he effect to accomplish the illegal Mr.
'nds for which the Continental Wall ry
PAPER Company was organized. II GOO
Judgment be given for the plaintiff,
he result will be to give the aid of n,
ne court in making effective the IL III
'gal agreements that constituted the
)rbidden combination.
THE question is whether the plain
company can have judgment for
le amount of an account which, 1t is TAI
United by demurrer, was made up n,
18th the knowledge of both seller and
Eyer with direct reference to and in
ecution of certain agreements, un- -,
r which an illegal combination, rep a.,
sented by the seller, was organized"
Saying that judgment in favor Of ~,
company would give effect to
,,h,,o.,o, Y..a.,. vile,
We ho1d 49, -. -, opera
no an.oa -. 80 o"n is COZ
us A4oA come
~ Mis-
urno,ioa T, while
,.s ala =, nv first s
rao1;no ~ 81. York
oh annoor. - - - e., ,n high
y, aItho-h a. -. day o
mo- r,,lo 1ppi' this CT
~ daso,a 70 " with
:. g. riage.
10 ,..h. ''-'i INV ter hel
IN he is unwilling to pay" 60.
conclusion, Justice Harlan said:
lpon the whole case without fur
citation OF authority, we adjudge
the admitted facts that the com. -,
ion represented by the plaintiff -
us case was illegal under the an
st act of 1890, Is to be taken as
IN tandod -, -, ried pr
,root d,roo.,,. A"' sailing.
Lii. anu German
police trade among the several
$ and with foreign States. and
The plaintiff can not have a judg. FAR
for the amount of the account =
In because such a Judgment
In effect be in aid of execution
reements constituting that ille- LITTI
ohoin"''oh we consequently Arkansa
hat the Circuit Court of Appeals nanv mn
Fly sustained the third defense sas IN a
case and rightly dismissed the olutions
lar ware
case was decided against the ton OF IN
ny by majority OF only one. similar
Holmes delivered dissenting raising g
and In doing so stated that tatiyes G
Is Brewer White and Peckham the stat,
red with him. NATHAN
Ice Holmes undertook to show :
le illegality Of the general CON. suI