Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-07

/
laws.
Sherman Antitrust Act.
The increased capital of a business
| for the purpose of reducing the cost of
production and effecting economy in
! the management has become as essen.
/ tial in modern progress as the change
| from the hand tool to the machine.
| When. therefore, we come to construe
/ the object of congress in adopting the
| so-called Sherman Antitrust act" in
| 1890, whereby in the first section
| every contract and combination in the
| form of trust or conspiracy in re-
straint of interstate or foreign trade or
! commerce is condemned as unlawful
| and made subject to indictment and re-
straint by injunction and whereby in
| the second section every monopoly or
attempt to monopolize. and every com.
bination or conspiracy with other per-
sons to nfononoplize any part of inter
state trade or commerce is denounced
as illegal and made subject to similar
punishment or restraint We must in
fer that the evil aimed at was not tbs
mere business of the enterprise, but was
the aggregation of capital and plants
with intent to restrain interstate or for
eign commerce or to monopolize in
whole or in part. A mere incidental
restraint of trade and competition is
not within the Inhibition of the act
1t is possible for the owners of a
business of manufacturing and selling
useful articles of merchandise so TO
conduct their business so as not to vio-
late the inhibitions of the antitrust
In fn RI
the benefit of the economies of man.
agement and of production due to the
concentration under one control of
large capital and many plants If they
use no other inducement than the con-
slant low price Of their product and its
good quality to attract custom and
their business is a profitable one, they
violate no law. But if they attempt by
a use of their preponderating capital
and by a sale of their goods tenn
porarily at unduly low prices to drive
out of business their competitors, or If
they attempt by exclusive contracts
with their patrons and threats of nom
dealing except upon such contracts
or by other methods of a similar char.
acter use the largness of their re-
sources and the extent of their output
compared with the total output as a
means Of compelling custom and fright
ening off competition. then they dis
close purpose to restrain trade and to
establish monopoly and violate the
act.
Economy Not Only Effect of Blgness.
l wish to make this distinction as
emphatic as possible, because l con-
ceive that nothing could happen more
destructive to the prosperity of this
country than the loss of that great
economy in production which has been
and will be effected in all manufactur.
ing lines by the employment of large
capital under one management. I do
not mean to say that there is not a
limit beyond which the economy of
management by the enlargement of
plant ceases, and where this happens
and combination continues beyond this
point the very fact shows intent to
monopolize and not to economize The
antitrust statue was passed in 1890,
and prosecutions were soon begun
under it In the case of the United
States VS.. knight, known as the Sugar
Trust Case because of the narrow
scope of the pleadings, the combination
sought to be enjoined was held not TO
be included within the prohibition of
the act, because the averments did not
go beyond the mere acquisition of
manufacturing plants for the refining
of sugar and did not include that of a
direct and intended restraint upon
trade and commerce in the sale and
delivery Of sugar across state boun-
diaries and in foreign trade The re-
happy in that it gave other companies
and combinations seeking a similar
method of making profit by establish
ing an absolute control and monopoly
in particular line of manufacture a
sense of immunity against prosecu-
tons in the federal Jurisdiction and
where that jurisdiction is barred in
respect to a business which is neces-
sarily commensurate with the bound /
aries Of the country no state prosecu- /
ton is able to supply the needed MAJ
chinery for adequate restraint or pun
ishment.
Following the sugar trust decision,
however, there have come along in the /
slow but certain course of judicial dis
position, cases involving a construction /
of the Antitrust statute and its appli- /
cation, until now they seem to embrace f.
every phase of that law which can be /
practically presented to the American
public and to the government for
action. They show that the Antitrust /
act has wide scope and applies to
many combinations in actual opera
ton, rendering them unlawful and sub
ject to indictment and restraint
All Restraints Forbidden.
The supreme court in several of It's
cisions has declined to read into the
: tatute the word unreasonable" before
Restraint of Trade" on the ground
that the statute applies to all restraints
and does not intend to leave to the
court its dicretion to determine what
is reasonable restraint of trade The
expression Restraint of Trade" comes
from the common law, and at common
law there were certain covenants Incl