Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1911-12-08

| discretion OF the court 1t must be
limited to accomplish the purpose of u
lawful main contract to which In order
that 1t shall be enforceable at all 1t
must be incidental. IL 1t exceed the
i needs of that contract it is void.
! The test of reasonableness vas never
i applied by the court at comman law
to contracts or combinations or con.
| spiracies In restraint of trade whose
purpose was or whose necessary effect
would be to stiae competition. to con.
troll prices or establish monopolies
! The courts never assumed power to
! say that such contracts or combina-
! tons or conspiracies might be Lawful;
/, If the parties to them were only mod
| crate in the use Of the power thus Sc
/; cured and did not exact from the pub.
lie too great and exorbitant prices It
| is true that many theorists and others
/ engaged in business violating the stat
! ute have hoped that some such line
could be drawn by courts. but no court
Of authority has ever. attempted It
Certainly there Is nothing in the deci-
! sions Of the latest two cases from
which such dangerous theory of ju.
/; Gicial discretion in enforcing this stat
(, ute can derive the slightest sanction
Force and Effectiveness Of Statute q
| Matter Of Growth.
| We have been twenty one years max
ing this statute effective for the pur-
| poses for which 1t was enacted The
+; Knight case was discouraging and
seemed to remit to the states the whole
available power to attack and suppress
| the evils of the trusts. Slowly. howcv.
er. the error Of that judgment was cor
! rected, and only in the last three or
four years has the heavy hand Of the
/ law been laid upon the great Illegal
! combinations that have exercised such
/ an absolute dominion over many of our
industries. Criminal prosecutions have
been brought, and number are pend
| ing. but juries have felt averse to con-
| victing for jail sentences and judges
I have been most reluctant to impose
such sentences on men of respectable
standing in society whose otfense has
! been regarded as merely statutory
Still. as the offense becomes better un-
derstood and the committing of 1t par,
takes more of studied and deliberate
defiance Of the law we can be conf
dent that juries will convict individu-
ais and that Jail sentences will be i'm
posed.
The Remedy In Equity by Dissolution.
! In the Standard Oil case the supreme
and circuit courts found the combina-
ton to be monopoly of the interstate
business of refining. transporting and
marketing petroleum and its products
effected and maintained through thir
ty-seven different corporations. the
stock Of which was held by New Jer
sey company. 1t in effect commanded
the dissolution Of this combination, d.
rected the transfer and pro rata distri
button by the New Jersey company Of
the stock held by it in the thirty seven
corporations to and among its stock
holders. and the corporations and indi
vidual defendants were enjoined from
conspiring or combining to restore
such monopoly, and all agreements be
tween the subsidiary corporations tend
ing to produce or bring about further
violations of the act were enjoined.
In the tobacco case the court found
that the individual defendants. twen-
LYNNE in number, had been engaged
In successful effort to acquire com.
plete dominion over the manufacture.
sale and distribution of tobacco in this
country and abroad and that this had
been done by combinations made with
q purpose and effect to stiae competi-
ton. control prices and establish
monopoly, not only in the manufacture
Of tobacco, but also of tin foil and lie.
orice used In its manufacture and Of
its products Of cigars, cigarettes and
snuffs. The tobacco suit presented
far more complicated and difficult case
than the Standard Oil suit for a decree
which would effectuate the will Of the
court and end the violation Of the stat
ute. There was here no single hold
ing company, as in the case of the
Standard Oil trust. The main company
was the American Tobacco company.
a manufacturing, selling and holding
company. The plan adopted to de-
stroy the combination and restore com,
petition involved the redivision of the
capital and plants Of the whole trust
between some Of the companies con
shutting the trust and new companies
organized for the purposes of the de-
cree and made parties to 1t and mum
boring. new and old. fourteen.
/ Situation After Rsadjustmsnt.
The American Tobacco company
(old), readjusted capital 500 O00.0 600;
the Liggett & Meyers Tobacco company
new. capital SCI. 0O0.O 600; the P. Loril-
lard company new, capital $4,000
600, and the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco
company (old), capital $7,625,O00. are
chiefly engaged in the manufacture
and sale of chewing and smoking to
bacco and cigars. The former one tin
foil company is divided into two, one
Of $s25,OOO capital and the other of
100000 The one snug company is
divided into three companies. one with
4 capital Of $4,000, 900. another with a
capital Of $s,OOOOOO and third with
4 capital of 100000. The licorice
companies are two, one with q capital
of $5,758.300 and another with CAPT.
tai Of $2,O0O,0OO. There ia also the
! British-American Tobacco company,
British corporation. doing business
! abroad with capital Of $26OO0,O 600.
The Porto Rican Tobacco company,
with capital of $1,sOOO0O. and the
| corporation Of United Cigar Stores.
/ with capital Of S9.0OO.0OO