The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-04-12
MANY DEFENDANTS IN Case
AGAINST TOBACCO TRUST
Governments Suit Against Amer
lean Tobacco Co. and IS
Allied Concerns.
HISTORY OF The LONG FIGHT


governments proceeding against the
so-cailed tobacco trust, started in the
United States circuit court, ,subse-
quently appealed to the U. S. supreme
court and yesterday ordered rear
gued because of the death of
the late Justice Brewer. was
against the American Tobacco COM
pany and So allied concerns and their
officers, all of them were charged with
forming and maintaining a trust. The
suit was based on allegations of viola
tions of the Sherman antitrust law
and also of some of the provisions of
the Wilson German tariff law. The
purpose of the government was to
force the dissolution of the combina-
| tion and the destruction of what was
declared to be monopoly of the to-
bacco business in restraint of COM
merce, not only i'm the United STATES.
but throughout a large part of the
tobacco using world.
Four judges sat in the hearing Of
the cese in the trial court. and while
lthree of them ultimately found COM
mon ground for a verdict, they were
so divided in their respective lines of
reasoning that each propounded an
opinion of his own.
In general terms the verdict was a
declaration of guilt for a majority of
the corporations on the ground that
they constituted a combination con-
trary to the law. and while an injunc-
tion against these combinations was
granted there was no pronouncement
on the subject of monopoly, which the
government had especially sought to
obtain.
The bill as to the United Cigar
Stores company, a domestic corpora
ton, was dismissed. as were also the
bills against the Imperial and British
American companies, English corpor-
ations, and their subordinate Ameri-
can concerns, notwithstanding the con-
tention by the government that the
Cigar Stores company was the retail
instrument of the trust in this coun-
try and the English companies, the for
eign division of ii.
Cigar Stores company was due to
failure on the part of the Circuit
Court to find that there had been any
exercise OF control over it by the
trust restricting the freedom Of trade,
and in the cause of the two foreign
corporations to the circumstance that
the contract for the distribution of
forcing business was made in England.
Disregarding the plea OF the govern
ment on the point of monopoly, the
circuit court adjudged the American
Tobacco company and many of the
subordinate general companies to be
parties to an unlawful combination; to
be each in itself an unlawrul Sombin-
alton, and each to be a holder of shares
in other companies. They were en-
Joined generally from continuing in
combination or from doing anything in
furtherance of it; from engaging in
interstate and foreign commerce, and
from acquiring the plants or business
or exercising control over issuing COM
panies. The issuing companies also
were enjoined against permitting such
contr1l. The bills against the officials
of the various companies who were in
cluded in the original complaint were
dismissed
Both the government and the to-
bacco companies appealed the case to
the Supreme Court-the former be-
cause OF the failure to Include all the
defendants in the prohibiticn and also
because of the limited scope of the
verdict as to the others, and the
companies, on the general ground that
there should have been no verdict AT
all against them.
The argument of the case i'm the
Supreme Court consumed three times
as much time as is ordinarily allowed
for the presentation OF cases. The gov
ernment. which was represented in the
hearing by Attorney General Wicker
sham and Special Assistant Attorney
General McReynolds. made the most
sweeping charges concerning the COM
bination. They sought especially to
have the exempted organizations in
cluded in the prohibition, declaring
that the Imperial company and the
British American company had been
so manipulated as to provide for a
complete monopoly and division of the