The Springfield herald. (Springfield, Baca County, Colo.) 1887-1919, 1911-12-08

Of congress Tuesday. deals exclusively
with the antitrust statute. The message
| in part II as follows: .5..
To the Senate and House of Represent
atives: This message 10 the nrst Of sew
eral which I shall send to congress during
the interval between the opening OF its
regular session and Its Adjournment for
the Christmas holidays. The amount OF
Information to be communicated as to
| the operations of the government. the
number of important subjects calling FOR
comment by the executive. and the trans
| mission to congress of exhaustive re-
ports by special commissions. make It i'm
possible to include in one message of
reasonable length a discussion of the top
les that ought to be brought to the at
tention OF the national Legislature at Its
| nrst regular session.
The Antitrust Law-The Supreme
Court Decisions.
In May last the Supreme court handed
down decisions in the suits in equity
| brought by the United States to en1oin
| the further maintenance of the Standard
| OIL trust and of the American Tobacco
| trust. and to secure their dissolution The
decisions are epoch making and serve to
advise the business world authortatively
| Of the scope and operation of the anti
| trust law of 1890 The decisions do not
| depart in any substantial way from the
| previous decisions of the court In constru-
ing and applying this important statute.
but they clarity those important decisions
| by further defining the already admitted
exceptions to the literal construction of
the act. By the DEGREES. they furnish
| useful precedent to the proper method
| of dealing with the capital and property
| of Illegal trusts These decisions sug-
gest the need and wisdom Of additional
| or supplemental legislation to make 1t
| easier for the entire business community
to square with the rule of action and
| legality thus finally established and to
| preserve the benefit. freedom and spur
| of reasonable competition without loss of
real efficiency or progress.
No Change in the Rule Of Decision
Merely In Form Of Expression.
The statute in Its first section declares
to be Illegal every contract. combination
in the form of trust or otherwise. or con-
| spiracy. In restraint of trade or COM
| merce among the several states or with
| foreign nations" and in the second. de-
| clares guilty of a misdemeanor every per-
son who shall monopolize or attempt to
| monopolize or combine or conspire with
| any other person to monopolize any part
| of the trade or commerce of the several
states or with foreign nations"
In two early cases. where the statute
was invoked to enjoin transportation
agreement between interstate railroad
companies. II was held that It was no de-
| Tense to show that the agreement as to
rates complained of was reasonal at COM
mon law. because It was said that the
| Dtatute WIS directed d6hiust All Soh-
tracts and combinations In restraint of
| trade whether reasonal at. common law
or not. 1t was plain from the record.
| however. that the contracts complained
| of in those cases would not have been
| deemed reasonable at common law.
II has been said that the court. by In
| PRODUCING into the construction of the
| statute common law distinctions. has
| emasculated It, This 10 obviously untrue.
| BY Its Judgment every contract and COM
l linn tInp In rpR intpTStnte trade
made with the purpose. or necessary eff
| feet of controlling prices by Sitting COM
petition. or of establishing in whole or In
part monopoly OF such trade is con-
demned by the statute. The most ex-
treme critics cannot instance case that
| ought to be condemned under the statute
| which Is not brought within Its terms as
| thus construed.
The suggestion is also made that the Su-
preme court by Its decisions in the last
| two cases has committed to the court the
| underlined and unlimited discretion to de-
| termine whether case or restraint OF
trade is within the terms OF the statute.
| This Is wholly untrue. A reasonable re-
| straint of trade at common 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 a lawful main contract to which. In
order that It shall be enforceable at all.
| II must be Incidental. II 1t exceeds the
needs of that contract 1t Is void.
The Remedy In Equity by Dissolution.
In the Standard Oil case the Supreme
and circuit courts found the combination
| to be a monopoly of the interstate busi-
| ness of refining. transporting. and mar
keting petroleum and Its products. effect
| ed and maintained through thirty-seven
different corporations. the stock OF which
was held by New Jersey company. 1t
In effect commanded the dissolution of
this combination. directed the transfer
and pro-rata distribution by the New Jer-
sey company of the stock held by 1t in
the thirty-seven corporations to and
among Its stockholders. and the corpora
lions and Individual defendants were en-
Joined from conspiring or combining to
restore such monopoly: and all agree
ments between the subsidiary corporations
| tending to produce or bring about further
violations OF the act were enJoined.
In the Tobacco case. the court found
that the Individual defendants. twenty
nine In number. had been engaged in
successful effort to acquire complete do
minlon over the manufacture sale. and
distribution of tobacco in this country
and abroad. and that this had been done
by combinations made with purpose
and effect to stHe competition. control
prices and establish monopoly. not
only In the manufacture of tobacco. but
also of tin-foil and licorice. used In Its
manufacture and of its products of ci-
CARS cigarettes and snufrs. The tobacco
suit presentend a far more complicated
and difficult case than the Standard OIL
suit for decree which would effectuate
the will OF the court and end the viola
ton of the statute There was here no
single holding company rs In the case
of the Standard Oil trust The main COM
pany was the American Tobacco COM
pany a manufacturing. selling and hold
ing company. The plan adopted to de-
stroy the combination and restore compe-
tition Involved the redvision of the capt.
tai and plants of the whole trust between
some of the companies constituting the
trust and new companies organized for
the purposes of the decree and made par
ties to II. and numbering. new and old,
fourteen.
In the original suit there were twenty
nine defendants who were charged with
being the conspirators through whom the
Illegal combination acquired and exercised