The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1911-12-06


A reasonable restraint of trade at COM
mon law is well understood and Is
clearly defined. 1t does not rest In the
discretion OF the court. 1t must be
limited to accomplish the purpose of
lawful main contract to which In order
that 1t shall be enforceable at all 1t
must be incidental, If 1t exceed the
needs of that contract 1t is void
The test of reasonableness was never
applied by the court at cOmman law
to contracts or combinations or con.
spiracies In restraint of trade whose
purpose was or whose necessary effect
would be to stifle competition. to con.
troll prices or establish monopolies.
The courts never assumed power to
say that such contracts or combina-
tions or conspiracies might be lawful
If the parties to them were only mod
crate In the Use Of the power thus sc.
cured and did not exact from the pub
lie too great and exorbtant prices. 1t
is true that many theorists and others
engaged In business violating the stat
ute have hoped that some such line
of authority has ever attempted it
Certainly there is nothing In the deci-
sions of the latest two cases from
which such dangerous theory Of ju.
dicial discretion In enforcing this stat
ute can derive the slightest sanction
Force and Effectiveness of Statute q
Matter Of Growth.
We have been twenty one years max
ing this statute effective for the pur-
poses for which 1t was enacted. The
knight case was discouraging and
seemed to remit to the states the whole
available power to attack and suppress
the evils of the trusts. Slowly. howev-
er. the error Of that Judgment was cor
rected. and only in the last three or
four years has the heavy hand of the
law been laid upon the great Illegal
combinations that have exercised such
an absolute dominion over many Of our
Industries. Criminal prosecutions have
been brought. and number are pend
ing, but juries have felt averse to con
victing for Jail sentences and judges
have been most reluctant to impose
such sentences on men of respectable
standing In society whose offense has
been regarded as merely statutory
Still. as the offense becomes better un-
derstood and the committing of 1t par
takes more of studied and deliberate
defiance of the law we can be conf
dent that juries will convict lndividu-
ais and that Jail sentences will be i'm
posed
The Remedy In Equity by Dissolution.
In the Standard Oil case the supreme
and circuit courts found the combina
tion to be a monopoly of the interstate
business of refining. transporting and
marketing petroleum and its products,
effected and maintained through thir
ty-seven different corporations, the
stock of which was held by>a New Jer-
sey company. 1t In effect commanded
the dissolution of this combination, di-
rected the transfer and pro rata distri-
button by the New Jersey company of
the stock held by 1t in the thirty y-seven
corporations to and among its stock
holders. and the corporations and indi-
vidual defendants were enjoined from
conspiring or combining to restore
such monopoly, and all agreements be-
tween the subsidiary corporations tend
IL. hrip fnrfhAr
violations of the act were enjoined.
In the tobacco case the court found
that the individual defendants. twen-
ty-nine in number, had been engaged
in a successful effort to acquire com
plete dominion over the manufacture.
sale and distribution of tobacco in this
country and abroad and that this had
been done by combinations made with
q purpose and effect to stifle competi-.
ton. control prices and establish
! monopoly. not only in the manufacture
of tobacco, but also of tin foil and lic-
orice used in its manufacture and Of
its products of cigars, cigarettes and
sRuffs. The tobacco suit presented
far more complicated and difficult case
than the Standard Oil suit for decree
which would effectuate the will of the
court and end the violation of the stat
ute. There was here no single hold
ing company, as In the case of the
Standard Oil trust. The main company
was the American Tobacco company.
q manufacturing. selling and holding
company. The plan adopted to de-
stroy the combination and restore com
petition involved. the redivision of the
capita, and plants of the whole trust
between some of the companies con
stituting the trust and new companies
organized for the purposes of the de-
cree and made parties to it and num-
berlng, new and old. fourteen.
Situation After Readjustment.
The American Tobacco company
. (old), readjusted capital S92000,00O;
the Liggett & Meyers Tobacco company
new. capital 100000; the P. Loril
lard company new, capital $4,000,
900. and the r. j. Reynolds Tobacco
company (old), capital $7,525.0O0, are
chiefly engaged In the manufacture
and sale of chewing and smoking to
bacco and cigars. The former one tin
foil company is divided into two, one
of $S25,000 capital and the other of
100000. The one snuff company Is
divided into three companies, one with
q capital of $15,000,000. another with
capital Of $S,OO0000 and a third with
a capital of $S000000 The icorice
companies are two one with capital
Of $5.75S.300 and another with CAPT
tai of $2,000,000 There is also the
Brltish-Amerlcan Tobacco company.
British corporation. doing business