The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-22
Court Holds It Illegal
and Orders It's Dis
solution
GIVEN 4 IME FOR
REIMBURSEMENT
Government Wins Decisive Vic.
tory in Its Fight Against Com
bination Controlled by Du
Ponts-Court Follows De-
crees Issued in Standard
Oil and Tobacco Cases.

| w llniEBtGn, Dol. Juno 21.-The
United States Circuit Court for the
District OF Delaware to-day handed
down decision declaring that the
alleged powder trust. which Is doml-
mated by the E. /. Du Pont, De Ne
mours &c Co.. Is combination In re-
straint of interstate commerce In pow
DER and other explosives in violation
OF section of the Sherman anti
trust law; that 1t attempted TO monop-
olze and has monopolized part Of
such commerce in violation of section
| 2 of the same law, and decreeing that
the combination shall be enjoined from
| continuing this violation and that 1t
shall be dissolved.
The action against the powder trust
was begun by the government in 1907.
and was directed against forty three
corporate and Individual defendants
The suit as to fifteen of the defend
ants was dismissed because some OF
| the concerns are out of existence or
it was not shown that they were
| parties to the combination.
Given Until, October To-
The court, in an interlocutory de-
cree, fixed October Is as the date to hear
both sides in the action as to the ma
ture of the injunction to be granted.
and consider a plan for dlssolving
| said combination. which shall be sub
mitted BY the petitioner and the de-
PENDANT or any of them, to the end
that this court may ascertain and de-
ternhne upon plan or method for
| such dissolution which will not de-
| prive the defendants of the oppor
tunity to e-crcatc out of the elements
/ now composing said combination a new
/ condition which shall be honestly in
/ harmony with and not repugnant to
the law"
This follows to some extent the de-
.crees issued by the United States Su-
| preme Court in the Standard Oil and
Tobacco cases. stsii5
! r There are thirteen corporato--apd
fifteen individual defendants declared
| to be In the illegal combination. A
| majority of the individual defendants
are members of the Du Pont family
| all OF whom, except Edmond G. Buck
| ner. are either directors OF the Du
Pont Company. organized in 1902. and
the Du Pont Company. organized in
| 1908. or of one of them. Thomas Cole
man Du Pont Is also president of both
| OF them. Buckner is an active direc-
tor of the Interna tional Smokeless
Powder and Chemical Company
/ The corporate defendants are The
| Hazard Powder Company. Latin &
| Rand Powder Company. Eastern Dyna-
y
pany Internatio Smokeless Pow
dor and Chemical Company. hudson
| Dynamite and Powder Company, Della
| ware Securities Company, Delaware
/ Investment Company. California In
| vestment Company. z. I. Du Pont De
Memours & Company, of Pennsylvania:
Du Pont International Powder Com
pany. z. L. Du Pont De Nemours Pod
der Company. E. l. Du Pont De Ne
| mours & COMPANY
senator Not Concerned.
| 81 7 he only member OF the Du Pont
| family mentioned In the suit who Is
not included among those found to be
violating the law Is Henry A. Du
Pont, one of the United States Sena !
tors from Delaware In his case the
court found that in June 1906. a year
before the suit was begun. che re-
signed all his official positions In the
defendant corporations, and that since
that time he has had neither real nor
nominal connection with the manage
ment OF any of the defendant corpora
4 tons" s
The decision. written BY Judge w.
NJ. Lannins. and concurred in by Judge
George Gray and Joseph Burlington,
| goes into the history OF interstate
commerce in gnnpowder and other ex-
! plosives back as far MS 1872 when. the
| government charged, the first trade
agreement of manufacturers was en-
tered into. The court reviewed the
! evidence In the case, and found when
the suit was begun that the Du Pont
| Company, organized IN 1902, controlled
In the United States the trade in black
blasting powder. 81 per cent: saltpeter
| blasting powder ~ per cent: dyna-
mite. - per cent: black sporting pow
der. 73 per cent; smokeless sporting
| powder 81 per cent; smokeless Mill
tary and ordnance powder exclusive
4 of what the United States govern
ment itself made. 100 per cent
The court also found that the Du
Font Company of 1893 and tho Eastern
4 Dynamite Company, controlled by the
Du Points. had acquired control of six
ty-four different corporations between
April 1908. and September. 9o7. and
caused them to he dissolved
Obnoxious to Law
The court summarizes the numerous
companies controlled by the Du Pont
Company. organized in 1902 and tho
| Dr Pont Company, organized In 1903
| and then discusses whether the com
bination it found to exist was obnos-
ious to the provisions OF the sherman
| anti trust act. AMI comes to this con-
| clnse rs
sit matters not whether the combi-
nation be the form of trade associa-
ton or corporation. III It arbitrarily
uses it's power to force weaker COM
petitors out of business or to coerce
them into a sale or union OF combt-
nation. 1t puts restraint upon inter-
state commerce and monopollzes or at
tempts to monopolize n part OF that
commerce in sense that Violates the
| antitrust act" ti
hand is obnoxious to the antitrust
| la NJ n v1H ~ ha n ~