Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1911-12-07

In part Is as follows:
To the Senate and House of Represent
stives: This message Is the first Of sew
eral which 1 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 10 congress- of exhaustive re-
ports by special commissions, make 1t i'm
possible TO include in one message Of a
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 enjoin
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 authoritatively
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-
ang 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 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-
0piracy, 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 of the several
states or with foreign nations"
In two early cases, where the statute
was invoked to enjoin a transportation
agreement between interstate railroad
companies, It was held that it was no de-
tense to show that the agreement as tc
rates complained Of was reasonal at com;
mon law, because 1t was said that the
statute was directed against all con-
tracts and combinations in restraint Of
trade whether reasonal at common law
or not. It was plain from the record
however. that the contracts complained
Of in those cases would not have beer
deemed reasonable at common law.
1t has been said that the court, by In
Producing into the construction OF the
statute common law distinctions, has
emasculated 1t. This is obviously untrue
BY its judgment every contract and com
bination in restraint Of interstate trade
made with the purpose, or necessary ef
feet Of controlling prices by sitting com
petition. or of establishing in whole or II
part a monopoly of such trade, Is con
demned by the statute. The most eX
IRENE critics cannot instance a case tina
ought to be condemned under the statute
which is not brought within its terms al
thus construed.
The suggestion is aIso made that the Su
preme court by its decisions in the las
two cases has committed tn the court tn
underlined and unlimited discretion to de
termine whether a case OF restraint o
trade is within the terms OF the statute
This is wholly untrue. A reasonable re
straint OF trade at common law Is wei
understood and is clearly defined. 1t doe
NOT rest in the discretion of the court. l
must be limited to accomplish the purpos
of a lawful main contract to which, !
order that 1t shall be enforceable at al
It must be incidental. If 1t exceeds tn
needs Of that contract 1t Is void,
The Remedy In Equity by Dissolution
In the Standard Oil case the suprem
and circuit courts found the combinatiO
10 be a monopoly of the interstate busI
ness of refining, transporting, and mai
keting petroleum and Its products, effect
ed and maintained through thirty-seve
different corporations, the stock of whic
was held by a New Jersey company.
in effect commanded the dissolution {
this combination, directed the transfe
and pro-rata distribution by the New Jel
sey company Of the stock held by 1t l
the thirty-seven corporations to an
among its stockholders, and the corpora
tions and Individual defendants were er
1Olne0 from COlSpllllb VI NOiiibihAhb
restore such monopoly; and all agree
meuts between the subsidiary corporation
tending to produce or bring about furthe
violations of the act were enjoined.
In the Tobacco case, the court foun
that the Individual defendants, twenty
nine in number, had been engaged in
successful effort to acquire complete d(
mInion over the manufacture, sale, an
distribution Of tobacco in this countr
and abroad, and that this had been dor
bv combinations made with a purpo'
and effect to stihe competition. contr,
Drices. and establish a monopoly, nj
only in the manufacture of tobacco, b.
also of tin-foiI and ncorice, used In i
manufacture and of its products OF c
rars. cigarettes and snuffs. The tobacC
Suit presentend a far more complicate
and difficult case than the Standard Q
al1it for a decree which would effectua'
The will of the court and end the violi
ton of the statute. There was here !
single holding company as In the cal
OF the Standard Oil trust. The main cor
many was the American Tobacco con
many a manufacturing, selling and holt
Ing company. The plan adopted to d
atroy the combination and restore comp
tition involved the redivision OF the cap
tai ard plants Of the whole trust betwet
some OF the companies constituting Il
trust and new companies organized Il
the purposes Of the decree and made pa
Ties to il, and numbering, new and oil
fourteen.
Tn the original suit there were twent
nine defendants who were charged WI
being the conspirators through whom Il
Nlegai combination acquired and exercise