Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1911-12-05

| Oh I0e SIdCuJe. LulS ~ WuOly uhbl us
A reasonable restraint of trade at CON
mon law is well understood and !
clearly defined 1t does not rest in tn
discretion of the court. 1t must b
limited to accomplish the purpose of
lawful main contract to which in Orde
that it shall be enforceable at all i
must be incidental. If it exceed th'
needs of that contract it is void.
The test of reasonableness was nevel
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 stihe competition. to con
troll prices or establish mOnopolies
The courts never assumed power tC
say that such contracts or combina
tions 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. 1t
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 a dangerous theory of ju-
dicial discretion in enforcing this stat
ute can derive the slightest sanction.
Force and Effectiveness of Statute a
Matter of Growth.
! We have been twenty-One years max
ing this statute effective for the pur-
poses for which it 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 howev-
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
have been most reluctant to impose
such sentences on men Of respectable
standing in society whose offense has
been regarded as merely statutory.
Still, as the Offense becomes better un
derstood and the committing Of it par
4 III 10,
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-
tion to be a 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, di-
rected the transfer and pro rata distFi-
button by the New Jersey company of
the stock held by it in the thirty-seven
to and among its stock
holders, and the corporations and indi-
vidual defendants were enjoined from
or combining to restore
such monopoly. and ali 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-
-y-nine in number, had been engaged
N a successful effort to acquire COM
Dlete dominion over the manufacture.
country and abroad and that this had
been done by combinations made with
/ purpose and effect to stifle cOmpeti-
ion, control prices and establish a
not only in the manufacture
If tobacco. but also of tin foil and lie
,rice used in its manufacture and of
is products of cigars, cigarettes and
nuffS. The tobacco suit presented a
ar more complicated and difficult case
han the Standard Oil suit for a decree
which would effectuate the will of the
ourt and end the violation of the stat
tie. There was here no single hold
ng company. as in the case of the
standard Oil trust. The main company
vas the American Tobacco company.
manufacturing. selling and holding ,
ompany. The plan adopted to de-
troy the combination and restore com ,
etition involved the rCdivisiOn of the
apital and plants Of the whole trust ,
etween some of the companies con- &
tituting the trust and new companies
rganized for the purposes Of the de- :
rec and made parties to it and num- !
ering. new sad old. fourteen. !
Situation After Rsadjustment. S
The American Tobacco company 1
old), readjusted capital S92,0O0OO0; '
be Liggett & Meyers Tobacco company I
lewl. capital S67.OO0OOO: the P. Lorll- 7
lrd company new, capital $4,000
90, and the r. ]. Reynolds Tobacco
ompany (old), capital SI,525.OOO. are q
hiefy engaged I'm the manufacture =
nd sale Of chewing and smoking to- >
acco and cigars. The former one tin .
oil company is divided into two, one ;,