The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-12-23
JUDGE LuRTON
WILL Be AGAINST
STANDARD OIL
Opinions Rendered While OF
Lower Bench Indicates His
Construction Of Law
TAFT NAY HAVE HAD THESE N
M|NO WHEN he MADE SELECTION
Not Seeking Judges Hostile to Any
Particular Concern, But Would Ger.
tainly Not Select One Who Would be
Likely to Overthrow Policy.

| AAAoy " VVoEtnFOW fOuCys
Washington. Dec. 23.-The confir-
mation or Horace H. Lurton. former
~ Judge of the Sixth federal circuit,
10 be an associate justice of the su-
-preme court of the United States last
Monday, will enable him to take his
seat on the bench so as to sit in judg-
ment upon the cases involving the
dissolution of the American Tobacco
company and the Standard Oil COM
pany, popularity known as the tobacco
trust and the oil trust. These two
cases are up on appeal from the lower
courts, and no one is more interested
IN the ultimate success Of the govern
ment than President Taft. Under the
circumstances 1t seems inconceivable
! that the president should select a
! man for supreme court justice whose
record is such as to foreshadow his
holding adversely to the government
in these vitality important prosecu-
tions.
Not Appointing Reactionaries.
Not that the president is appointing
judges who are clearly prejudiced
against any particular corporation
per Sc. but it would be astonishing If
he purposely selected man whose
decisions up to this time indicated
that he would hold in favor of the
1.-TWO great combinations whose oper-
atoms have been declared by the
lower courts to be contrary to the
general public good. And yet one of
the arguments of those who have OBJ
Jected to Lurton's promotion and
would like to see his confirmation
| rejected by the senate, has been that
his elevation to the supreme court
| would have the effect of retarding the
administrations forts to preserve the
4ytrilatysa or the law sss-a aew on the
statute books. relating to the proper
control of interstate corporations.
IT, of course, cannot be asserted
with any semblance of the truth that
the president himself is not in favor
OF the rigid enforcement of the Sher-
man antitrust law, the interstate
commerce law, and such laws as were
enacted for the general benefit of the
working classes. The improvement
and Strengthening of ali sucn acts
are to be the subject of special mes
sages to congress early in the new
year. Therefore, 1t is absurd to sup
pose that the president is, picking men
Tor the supreme court, or any other
branch of the federal judiciary, who
he knows or has reason to believe
entertains views at wide variance to
his own or of decidedly reactionary
| character.
Judge Lurton's Record.
Reference to various numbers of the
rI,
| Lurton has participated In more i'm
I,portant cases arising under the Sher-
man law than most judges now on
the bench, with the execution. of
course, of the supreme court Judges.
The first great decision Interpreting
the antitrust act was written by Mr..
Taft himself when he was judge of
the circuit court. This was in the
!. Addystone Pipe company case. which
was heard in Cincinnati. Judge Lur-
ton, who was on the bench with MIR.
Taft, concurred in the opinion, after.
ward affirmed by the supreme court.
and Its effect was the immediate dis
solution of one of the original COM
bnations In the restraint of trade. The
decision of the circuit court, by the
way, was a reversal of the decree of
the court below, which had been un-
favorable to the government.
Judge Lurton's next construction of
the antitrust law was In the case of
the city of Atlanta vs.. the Chatta-
.nooga Foundr yand Pipe Works COM
pany. This was an action brought
by Atlanta to recover treble damages
under the Sherman act against one of
the parties to the Addyston combin-,
81
that opinion, and held that the city
was entitled to sue for, damages, and
in doing 80 he reversed the trial court,
|Just as had been done In the Addyston
case. Singularly enough, when this
case came up to the supreme court
for review, Justice Peckham, whose
place Judge Lurton is to take, dis
sented from the majority of the court,
Lurton's decree.
Far.Reaching Decision.
The next opportunity Lurton had of
constituting the antitrust act was in
the case of the Continental Wall Pa
per company VS.. Voight & Sons, a Gin
cinnati firm. Here, again, the Judge
upheld the federal law and reversed
the trial court. He held as unlawful
and contrary to the public good a
Fcombination formed to control the
output of most OF the wall paper mills
of the country, which had made con-
tracts to sell the product at an agreed
price to the parent trust, the output
later to be sold at arbitrary prices to
wholesalers who were compelled, In
selling the goods to retailers, to fol-
low specific schedules of rates. This