The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-12-07

a
manufacture and sale Of chewing and
smoking tobacco and cigars. The
former one tin-foil company Is di
| vided into two, one OF as25,000 cap
! ital and the other Of 100000. The
one snuff company is divided into
three companies, one with capita
of $1s,000,000; another with a cap
ital Of sS.000,000 and a third with q
capital Of 100000. The licorioe
companies are two, one with cap
'ital Of $5,75S,00 and another with Q
capital OF 100000. There Is, also
the British-American Tobacco com.
pRny, a British corporation, doing
business abroad with a. capital Of
$26,oo0,o0o. the Porto. Rican Tobac
CO company with capital OF
$l;S00,000, and the corporation Of
United Cigar Stores, with a capital
of 100000. Under this arrange
ment each Of the different kinds Of
business will be distributed between
two or more companies, with a d.
vision of the prominent brands in the
same tobacco products, so as to make
competition not only possible but
necessary. Thus the smoking tobac
CO business of the country Is divided
SO that the present Independent com
panies have 21.39 per cent, while the
American Tobacco company will have
33.OS per cent, the Liggett and
Meyers 20.05 per cent, the Lorillard
company 22.S2 per cent, and the
Reynolds company 2.66 per cent. The
stock Of the other thirteen companies
both preferred and common, has been
taken from the defendant American
Tobacco company and has been dis
tributed among its stockholders. All
covenants restricting competition have
been declared null and further per
Torrance Of them has been enjoined
The preferred stock of the different
companies has now been given vot
Ing power which was denied It under
the old organization. The ratio OF
the preferred stock to the common
was as rs. to 40. This constitutes a
very decided change in the character
OF the ownership and control oil
each company.
In the original suit there were TWEEN.
ty-nine defendants who were charged
with being the conspirators through
whom the illegal combination acquired
and exercised its unlawful dominion.
Under the decree these defendants
will hold amounts of stock in the va
rtous Distribute companies ranging
from Al per cent. as a maximum TO
2sh per cent. as a minimum. except
In the case Of one small company, the
Porto Rican Tobacco company, in
which they will hold As per cent. The
Twenty-Five individual defendants are
any stock except from each other
and the group is thus prevented from
extending its control during that pc.
Rod. All parties to the suit, and the
new companies who are made parties,
are enjoined perpetually from in any
way effecting any combination be-
tween any Of the companies in viola.
ton of the statute by way of resump
ton of the old trust. Each of the
fourteen companies is enjoined from
acquiring stock In any of the others
All these companies are enjoined from
having common 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 In.
dependent tobacco companies that this
settlement was unjust because 1t left
companies with very large capital In
active business, and that the settle
on an equality would be division OF
the capital and plant OF the trust into
small factions in amount more nearly
equal to that Of each of the independ,
ent companies. This contention re,
suits from misunderstanding Of the
antitrust law aud its purpose. 1t is
not intended thereby to prevent the
accumulation Of large capital In bust
ness enterprises in which such a com.
bination can secure reduced cost OF
production. sale and distribution. 1t
is directed against such an aggrega,
tion of capital only when Its purpose
is that Of stifing competition, enhanc.
ing or controlling prices and estab,
fishing monopoly. If We shall have
by the decree defeated these purposes
and restored competition between the
large units into which the capital and
plant have been divided, We shall have
accomplished the useful purpose OF
! the statute. ..
confseation Not the Purpose Of the
Statute.
1t ia not the purpose Of the statute
to con6scste the property aud capital
Of the offending trusts: Methods OF
punishment by fine or Imprisonment
Of the individual offenders. by fine OF
the corporation or by forfeiture OF Its
goods in transportation, are provided
but The proceeding In equity is a spe,
cific remedy to stop the operation OF
the trust by Injunction and prevent
the future use OF the plant and capital
in violation OF the statute, % ......
49, Effectiveness Of Decree. ,.
| I venture to say that not In the his,
tory OF American law has a decree
more effective for such purpose
| been entered by court than that
| AGAINST the Tobacco trust As Circuit