Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-12-14
PRESIDENT SENDS HIS
MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
convict individuals and that Jail ser
fences will be imposed.
Remedy Rv Dissolution.

and circuit courts found the combination
10 be a monopoly of the Interstate bust
ing petroleum ard its different products.
erected and maintained through 81 diff
ierent corporations. tho stock OF which
was held by q New Jersey II
IN effect. the dissolution Of
this combination. directed the transfer
;..is E:o iata distribution by the New
the ~ corporations to and among it's
s~tockholders; and the corporations and
Individual defendants were enjoined from
monopoly; and all agreements between
the subsidiary corporations tending to
produce or bring about further violations
In the Tobacco case. the court found
that the individual defendants, % in num-
Der. had been engaged in a successful
effort to ACQUIRE complete dominion over
the manufactIre. sale and distribution
OF tobacco In this country and abroad,
and thai this had been done by combina-
ions made with q purpose and effect to
stite competition. control prices and es-
tablish a monopoly. not only In the manu-.
aac &c OF tobacco, but also Of tin foil
OF Its products of cigars, cigarets and
snuffs. The tobacco suit presented q far
more eomplicated and difficult case than
and and the Violation Of the statute
p mneye as wa Is t here ca ne sing Sse lsS ana com on
trust. The main company was the Amer
lean Tobacco company, q manufacturing,
adopted 10 destroy the combination and
restore. competition involved tho redlvi-
sion OF the capital and plants of the
MES constituting the trust and new com
panies organiZed for the purposes of the
decree and made parties to it, and num-
berlng, new and old, IA.
Situation After Reimbursement.
The American Tobacco company (old),
\ read ;llctC1 c3Yital eco mn CG1. +bo T.inuatt
6 Meyers Tobacco company (newl, capi-
tai. S67, oG0, 600: tho T. Iorillard company
mew), capital, s47. 600. GEO; and the r. j.
Reynolds Tobacco company (old), capital.
$1,525,0 600, are chiefly engaged i'll the man
ufacturc, and sale of chewing and smok-
ing tobacco and cigars. The former one
tin foil company is divided into two, one
OF sS2o,oo0 capital and the other of $1,000
three companies, one with q capital Of
~ 5000 900, another with Il capital OF s.. 0C0,-
wv. and a third with a capital of $1,000, 600.
The ~licorice companies arc two. one with
a capital of %, 75s, 200, and another with q
capita! Of $o.GO0.G COO. There is, also, the
British-American Tobacco company. a
British corporation, doing business abroad
with d capital Of $22G. 600. COO; the Porto
l.ican Tobacco company, with y capital
of 81. s0o.00, and the corporation of United
Cigar stores, with a capital OF s., 0C0, 600.
Under this arrangement, each OF the
different kinds of business will be dis
tri6uted betweon two or more companies
with. q division of the prominent brands
in the same tobacco products, SO as to
make competition not only possible but
business of the country is divided so that
the present independent companies have
sl,ss per cent. w. While the !, ! A u Tobac-
GO company WIN nave :, S3.W per cent. the
Lorillard COMPANY 2s.s2 per cent, and
the Reynolds 2.e6 per cent: The
stock of the other 10 companies, both pre-
ferred and common. has been taken from
the defendant American Tobacco company
and has been distributed among it's stock
tition have been declared null and further
performance of them has been enjoined.
The. preferred stock of the different COM
panies has now been given voting power
Which was denied it under the old or
ganization. The ratio OF the preferred
stock. to the common was as 10 to 40. This
constitutes a very decided change in the
character OF the ownership and control of
each company.
In tho original suit there were 90 de-
PENDANTS who were charged. with being
the conspirators through whom the II
legal combinations acquired and exercised
it's unlawful dominion. Under the decree
these defendants will hold amounts of
panies ranging from Al per cent as a max
imum to 2Sla Per cent as d minimum, ex-
cept in the case of one small company,
the Porto Rican Tobacco company. in
which they will hold % per cent. The %
Individual defendants are enjoined for
three years from buying any stock except
from each other, and the group is thus
ing. that period. All parties to the suit.
and the new companies who are made
parties. are enjoiaed pe~rpetually from In
tween any of the companies in violation Of
the statute by way of resumption Of the
old trust. Each Of the IA companies is
enjoined from acquiring stock in any of
the others. All these companies are en-
Joined from having omtnon directors or
officers. or common buying or selling
agents. or common Offices, or lending
money to each other.
Size Of New Companies.
Objection was made by certain iadepen-
dent tobacco companies that this settle
nlent was unjust because it left COM
pan-es with very large capital in active
would be effective to put all on an equal
ity would be a division of the capital
plant of the trust into small frac-
lions In amount more nearly qua to
that OF each of the Independent companies.
This contention results from a misunder-
standing of the antitrust law and it's pur-
pose. 1t is not intended thereby to pre-
vent the accumulation of large capital in
business enterprises In which such a COM
bination can secure reduced cost of pro-
duction. sale. and distribution. 1t is di-
capital only when its purpose is that Of
stiHtng. competition, enhancing ca controll-
ing prices, and establishing a monopoly.
these purposes and restored Competition apetaien
between the large units into which the
capital and plant ave been divided, we
shall have accomplished the useful pur-
pose of the statute.
confiseation Not Purpose.
1t is not the purpose Of the statute to
contiscate the property and capital OF the
offending trusts. Methods of punishment
by. fine or Imprisonment Of the individual
0ffenders. by fine OF the corporation or by
forfeiture OF its goods in transportation
are provided. but the proceeding in equity