River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-05-18
u. s. SUPREME BENCH DECLARES
CORPORATION ILLEGAL COM
BINATIoN, MoNoPoLIZING
INTERSTATE COMMERCE.
GUILTY OF VIOLATING
SHERMAN ANTITRUST LAW
Tremendous Struggles by the Govern
ment Ends in Great Victory
Six Months Given De-
PENDANTS to
Act
SUMMARY OF DECISION.

0Om MAH1 OF DGGl0IStNs
In the Standard Oil Decision, the
supreme court holds:
That the Standard Oil Com ;
pany is monopoly in restraint of =
trade.
That this giant corporation must y
be dissolved within six months.
Corporations whose contracts "
are mot professionally restrictive" "
of competition are not affected.
Other great corporations whose y
acts may be called into question =
will be dealt with according to "
the merits oftheir particular cases. y
4
Washington, D. c. = The Standard
Oil company Of New Jersey and it's 10
subsidiary companies were declared by
the supreme court Of the United States
to be a conspiracy and combination in
restraint of trade. They also were
held to be monopolizing interstate
commerce in violation Of the Sherman
antitrust law The dissolution of the
combination was ordered to take place
within six months.
Thus ended the tremendous struggle
on the part of the government to put
down by authority of law combina-
ton which it asserted was menace.
At the same time the court inter
preted the Sherman antitrust law so
as to limit its application to acts Of
undue" restraint Of trade and not
sOning of the court in arriving at it's
this point that the only discordant
note was heard in the court.
Justice HarIan's Contention.
Justice Harlan dissented, asserting
that cases already decided by the
court had determined once for all that
the words undue" or unreasonable"
and similar words, were not in the
statute He declared that the rea-
soning fthe court in arriving at It's
finding was in effect legislation that
belonged in every instance to con-
gress and not to the courts.
The opinion of the court was an
nounced by Chief Justice White In
printed form, it contained more than
10000 words.
Distinguished Audience Present.
Before him sat a distinguished au-
dience of the most famous men of the
country. Senators and representatives
left their respective chambers in the
capitol to listen to the epOch-making
decision of the court. Most eager to
hear were Attorney General Wicker
sham and Frank B. Kellogg, special
Df Il
conducted the great fight against the
Standard Oil. None of the brilliant
array of counsel for the corporation or
individual defendants were present.
BY far the greater portion of the
opinion of the chief justice was de-
voted to the justification of the court
in requiring that the rule of rea-
son" be applied to restraints of trade
before they were held to be violations
OF the Sherman antitrust law. The
court found this Justification in the
common law of the forefathers and
in the general law of the country at
the time the Sherman antitrust law
was passed. This meaning of the
words, according to the court, called
tor exercise of reasoning in determin-
ing what restraint on trade were pro-
hibited.
Chief Justice Reviews Proceedings.
Chief Justice White in his opinion
first reviewed the preliminary pro-
ceedings in the case in the circuit
court of the United States for the
Eastern district Of Missouri. He re-
stated the essential points in the bill
Of the government asking for the dis
solution of the Standard Oil and the
answer questioning the jurisdiction of
the court and denying the claims of
the government
He then came to the arguments as
to the law and tho facts in the case.
saying that out of the "jungles" of
law and facts both sides were engaged
only in one thing and that was that
the determination of the controversy
rested upon the proper construction
and application of the first and second
sections of the antitrust acts. The
views of the two sides, as to the law,
the chief justice said, were as wide
apart as the poles. The same he said.
was true as to the facts.
ENGLISH LUTHERANISM PASSES.