The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-06-29
MAY AFFECT LOCAL BUILDING
Trust Not Expected to Take Any
Further Action in Regard to the
Pleasant Prairie Plant Until the
Fight in Court Ends.


NeMours Powder company in regard
to the rebuilding of the big plant re-
Gently destroyed at Pleasant Prairie
may be considerably affected by the
decision of the United States district
court for the state of Delaware which
on Wednesday handed down a decl-
sion holding that the big powder MAX
ing company was a corporation In re-
straint of trade and ordering the dis
solution of the Company. As result
| of the order of the. court it is not
| probable that the big trust will do
anything in regard to the rebuilding
| of the plant in this county until after
some final decision as to it's legal
status is made by the supreme court
of the United States. AS the wheels
of the courts move very slowly in the
decision of such cases it is probable
that the people of Kenosha county
will have long respite from powder
company named IS member of the
illegal combination is the Latin Rand
Powder company which formerly con-
trolled the big plant at Pleasant Prai-
RE before it was merged into the So
called powder trust. Of course the
management of the Pleasant Prairie
plant will be only a small part to be
considered i'll the business of the great
company and it is probable that re-
organization can be effected to make
possible the operation of the plant,
but all of this work will take a lot
of time and it is certain that it will
be months and possibly years before
| the directors of the company will be
able to reach the place where the plans
for the future of this plant will be
taken up. Before the Latin, Rand
company went into the trust the plant
at Pleasant Prairie was the largest
in the holdings Of that company.
The decision, written by Judge w.
M. tanning and concurred in by Judges
George Gray and Joseph Burlington,
goes into the history of interstate com
merce in gunpowder and explosives
as far back as 1872. when the govern
ment charged, the first trade agree
ment of manufacturers was entered
into. It finds that when the suit was
begun the Du Point company, organized
in 1902, controlled in the United States
the trade in: Black blasting powder,
GA per cent; salt peter blasting pow
der, 72 per cent; dynamite, 72 per
cent; black sporting powder, 70 per
cent; smoheless sporting powder, Ga
per cent; smokeless military and ordi-
nance powder, exclusive of what the
United States government itself made,
100 per cent.
| The court also finds the Du Point
company of 1903 and the Eastern Dyn-
amite company, controlled by the Du
Points, had acquired control of sixty
four different corporations between
April, 1904, and September, 1907, and
caused them to be dissolved. 1t then
/ discusses whether the combination
found to exist is obnoxious to the pro-
visions of the antitrust act.
Citing the recent decision in the
Standard Oil company and tobacco
| cases interpreting the Sherman act,
the court comes to this conclusion:
| 'FIt matters not whether the COM
| bination be in the form of trade as
sociation or a corporation, if it ar
bitrarily uses its power to force weak
er competitors out Of business or to
coerce them into sale to or union
with the combination, it puts re-
straint upon interstate commerce and
monopoizes or attempts to monopolize
a part of that commerce in a sense
that violates the antitrust act
Concerning the final decree to be is
sued the court says:
| 'HTo stop the business of the com
bination immediately might be attend
ed with disastrous consequences. The
defendants, or some of them, for ex-
ample, furnish military and ordnance
powder to the United States govern
men. We understand, also, they furn-
ish explosives used in the construction
of the Panama canal. Their ability
to continue SO to do should not be de-
stroyed before the expiration of a rea-
sonable time for adjusting their bust
ness to the changed conditions.