Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1911-12-07
TRUST PROBLEM
IS lAFTS TOPIC
Message to Congress Devoted
to This One Matter.
DECISIONS ARE DEFENDED
Dissolution Plans Of STANDARD oil and
-
DECISIONS ARE DEFENDED
Dissolution Plan. Of STANDARD oil and
Tobacco Explalned-Federai In
corporation and Commission
Recommended.

Washington-Presid Taft,s annual
message, which was read in both houses
OF congress Tuesday. deals exclusively
With the antitrust statute, The message
In part Is as follows:
To the Senate and House Of Represent
atives: This message is the nrst Of sew
eral which ] shall send TO congress during
the interval between the opening Of its
regular session and it's 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 1t i'm
possible to include in one message of
reasonable length discussion of the top
les that ought to be- brought to the at
tention Of the national legislature at its
nrst- regular session.
Decisions Of Supreme Court.
In May last the Supreme court handed
down decisions in the suits In equity
brought by the United States to enjoin
the further maintenance of the Standard
OIL trust and of the American Tobacco
trust, and to secure their dissolution. The
decisions are experimenting and serve to
advise the business world authoritatively
OF the scope and operation efLthe- 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 a
useful precedent as 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 It
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.
It has been said that the court. by in
Producing into the construction of the
statute common law distinctions, has
emasculated it. This Is obviously untrue.
BY Its judgment every contract and COM
binatfon in restraint of Interstate trade
made with the purpose, or necessary eff
feet of controlling prices by sitting COM
petition. or of establishing in whole or in
part a monopoly of such trade. Is con-
demned by the statute. The most ex-
trene critics cannot instance a case that
ought to be condemned under the statute
which IL 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 of 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
NJ n To- vfI n n VUh n
order that 1t shall be enforceable at all.
It 1nust be incidental. If 1t exceeds the
needs Of that contract 1t Is void
Methods Of Dissolution.
In the Standard Oil case the Supreme
and circuit courts found the combination
to be 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 enjoned.
In the Tobacco case sthe court found
that the Individual defendants, twenty
nine In number, had been engaged in a
successful effort to acquire complete do
minion over the manufacture. sale, and
distribution of tobacco in this country
and abroad, and that this had been done
by combinations made with a purpose
and effect to stifle competitions; control
nd a a OOf-
only in the manufacture of tobacco, but
also of tin-foil and lcorice, used in its
manufacture and of Its products of eli
gars, cigarettes and snuffs 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 as 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- 4
tition involved the redivision 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 1t. and numbering. new and old.
fourteen.
Purpose Not Confiscatlon.
1t is not the purpose OF the statute to
confiscate the property and 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 transported
ton. are provided. but the, proceeding In
equity Is a specific 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.
venture to say that not In the history