The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-01
ARGUMENTS ENDED AGAINST PLAN 0F
 TOBACCO TRUST
Judges Take Matter Under Advisement and Decree
 Is Expected Shortly
WICKERSHAM MAKES
 SEVERAL OBJECTIONS
As a Whole He Approves of the Plans But Offers Amendments Which Bring Forth Wig
 erous Protests

erous Protests
 New York, .AT,N 81-The end was
 reached lat S,S, in the arguments
 Lefore the o>- States circuit court
 for and -av.ahs-plan. of. dissolution
 filed P .sS Q American Tobacco com pany X SS es Lacombe Moves, Cox and We % !. the case under advisement. 4 is expected within a few days H ming whether the much dis
 GUS, d plan in accordance with the su- preme court of the United States which
 held the American Tobacco to be an illegal combination in restraint of trade
 and ordered that the trust be disin- | tegrated.
 Interest in arguments today centered chiefly in the appearance of Attorney General Wickersham. He stated that
 he approved generally of the plan. but at the same time made recommeEda- tions which met vigorous protest \ n
 the part of the stock and bonds hold CTS of American Tobacco company. MT. Wiokersham insisted that the court by injunction to prevail from to years. reserve to the government the right to
 appeal to the court at any time 1t should appear that the dissolution of
 the trust had not resulted in conditions in harmony with the antitrust law.
 Choate Protests
 Joseph H. Choate, counsel for the 6 per cent bondholders of the corporation who are to surrender their bonds for
 stock in the new segregated companies, protested against this amendment. He was supported in this by Lewis Cass of | counsel for the American Tobacco com pany. Both of them declared the in- | corporation of such clause in the re- organization decree would upset the
 disintegration plan.
 l The Attorney General made no reply
 to these protests. MT. Wickersham
 also was criticised by counsel for the American Tobacco company for sug- l gesting that the court revise the disso- lution scheme insofar as 1t relates tc the United Cigar Stores company 1 CAara cterizing the alliance of the stores l lfnpss,r5 anu lfe tTtlsI as ols or tht chief sources of complaint from the in dependent tobacco trade and as the l trusts's arm to harrass the retail trade
 of the country, the Attorney General urged that the stores company be segregated entirely from the tobacco trust alliance through the sale of its
 stock controlled by trust holders to l outside investors.
 1 The Attorney General declared he
 had sought earnestly to bring about a plan of reorganization without resort l to a receivership which would be dis l astrous and in outlining the govern ments attitude in trust prosecutions he quoted from President Tafts messages 1 to Congress on the subject expressing desire 10 conserve the legitimate in- terests of property.
 "The guiding principle which the government has pursued in connec- | tion with this proposed disintegration, said MT Wickersham, "has been wheth- CT or not the division is made into parts of less magnitude as to offer any possibility of the continuance of the monopoly now possessed and exercised and yet to restrain the activities Of 1 the various corporations among which l the business is to be distributed within I the bounds of legitimate and useful business.
 l -"Of course, there Is difference be- | tween a case where a combination is brought before the court for it's de- | termination as to whether or not 1t constitutes an unlawful combination | and a case where it stands before the l bar of the court condemned as such | and your honors are examining a pro- 1 posed disintegration for the purpose of bringing 1t into compliance with the | law. In the latter case any reasonab ble doubt should properly be resolved against the proponents and the court should be very clear that the proposed division will re-establish that lawful condition which is the object of the ds- | cree to attack" .f .1 Concerning the division of tobacco brands under the proposed reorganiza | tion the attorney General found no grounds for objections made by the ih- | laependent manufacturers. Concerning 1 that point he said:
 .The commissioners of the depart | ment of commerce and labor placed at the disposal of one of their experts. l indeed the principal expert in tnis to- bacco business. who himself prepared very largely, if not entirely, the re- mort on the tobacco industry which was | recently published by that bureau I am going to file that report with the court. It strongly confirms the i.ssPres- s!aa that i mad as to firmness and dis tribution industries in the plan and cit | effectually answers the suggestion
 
 | and dealsrs."
 1 .t-pon this whole case'' the Attorney General concluded. giving 1t the utmost | consideration of which have been capa- ble. and with a deep sense of the tre- mendous and unprecedented responsibility devolving upon the chief law officer of | this government, and upon this court. I am of the opinion that. with the provi- sions and notifications suggested in our answer, your honors will be justified in approving this plan should you be so advised"
 M:coll Replies
 Charging that independent tobacco dealers who protest against the plan for disintegration of the tobacco company for the purpose of picking up It's prop erty on the auction block" Delaney Ni- coll replied to attacks upon the reorgan-
 ization proposal.
 The independent tobacco company and Independent cigar manufacturers who op- posed the plan Mir. Nicol declared, rep esented a combination doing business valued at more than $350. 100000 a year "These are the poor. downtrodden and suffering persons continued Mir Nicoll whom Mir. Brandeis. MT. Yerkes and others described to this court yesterday. These interests one firm alone nanufact- uring more than 400,00a.000 cigars year. are the oppressed and starvation com petitors whom you have been urged to protect"
 MT. Nicoll assatled the motives of the attorneys general of Virginia. the Caro- linas. Kentucky, Wisconsin and New