The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1911-05-18

II
special counsel for the government
who has conducted the great fight
against the Standard Oil company,
None of the brilliant array Of coun-
Sci for the corporation, or individual
defendants were present in the court
during Its reading of it's opinion.
Stock Gamblers Disappointed.
Yesterday, as on previous decis-
Ion days for months past, rival brok-
er agents, with messengers in l.ne
to various telegraph and telephone
instruments throughout the capital,
were on hand, but to their dismay
the announcement of the decision
was not begun until an hour after
the closing of the stock market.
Many expected that the decision on
the dissolution suit against the to-
bacco corporation would be handed
down at once, after the decision in
the Standard Oil case. This was not
done, however, but the decision is
expected on May 20, the last decis-
ion day of the court before next Oc-
tober.
The opinion of the court was con-
strued to mean that the tobacco case
like every other case in which re-
straint Of trade is charged, must be
subjected to the new test of reason-
ableness of the restraint as laid
down in the Standard Oil decision.
By far the greater opinion Of the
chief Justice was devoted to the JUS
tification of the court in requiring
that the "rule of reason, be applied
to restraint of trade before 1t is held
to violation of the Sherman anti
trust 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 law was passed. In short
the court held that the technical
words of the statute were to give
the meaning which those words had
in the common law and at the time
of the enactment. This meaning of
the words, according to the court,
calls for the exercise of reason in
determining what restraints on trade
are prohibitive.
The suit which called forth
today's decision was instituted in,
1906 in the United States circuit
court for the Eastern District of
Missouri.
The government claimed that two
sections of the Sherman antitrust
law had been violated. The first
section reads as follows:
Every contract, combination in
the form of trust or otherwise, or
conspiracy, in restraint of trade or
commerce among the several states,
or with foreign nations is hereby de-
clared to be illegal"
The second section reads:
Every person (Which subsequent
ly was explained in the statute to in
clude corporations) who shall mon
opolize or attempt to monopolize or
combine or conspire with any other
persons to moEopolize, any part of
trade or commerce among the sew
eral states, or with foreign nation
shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor."
Taft Won't Comment Now.
Washington, D. C.-President
Taft and his cabinet at the regular
session today, will take up the solu-
tion Of the trust" ffuestion, brought
before them by the Standard Oil de-
cision. Officials of the administra-
tion knew absolutely nothing as to
how the supreme court would deter
mine the case, but decision in IA
vor of the government was not un-
looked for, especially by the presi-
dent, Attorney General Wickersham.
Secretary Knox and the other law
yers in the cabinet.
Mr.. Wickershams Federal Incor-
poration bill,' designed to permit the
existence of legitimate combinations
of capital, but SO worded as to pro-
hibit monopolies and subbjecting cor
porations to supervision, may now
be reinforced in congress, 1t is said.
The president had nothing to say
about the decision. He wished, he
told his callers, to read 1t carefully,
to discuss 1t with Mr.. Mickersham.
Until these things have been done he
had no opinion to voice.
HISTORY OF GREAT CASE
WON BY THE GOVERNMENT
Washington, d. C.-The decision
rendered today directly affects the
biggest business combine in the
United States, and. indirectly, near
ly hundred other business COM
bines, modelled on the same lines.
It is the elimination of legal bat
tie which has been fought all over
the country for four and half years.
Attorney General Wickersham de-
clared 1t to be perhaps the most Inn
portant case ever taken before the
Highest Court.
The case had It's inception in the
filing of bill of omplaint in Novem-
Der, 1906, before the Circuit Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri,
against 143 corporations and seven
on the ground that they
were a combination in restraint Of
trade" and therefore violating the
Sherman antitrust law. John d.
Rockefeller, VIM. G.. Rockefeller,
Henry H. Rogers, Henry NJ. Flagler,
Oliver H. Payne and Charles NJ.
Pratt were among the individuals
made defendants by the suit.
For nearly two years prior to the
filing of the suit Government agents
had been gathering evidence all ov-
er the country. The bill Of COM
plant embodies much Of this evil
dence. It covered 220 closely print
ed pages. and purported to give .
history of the growth Of the ''oil
trust" from its inception In 1876.
$1,000 . Day Lawyer.
The issues In the case were OF