The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-05
GOVERNMENT SUES !. 6 RAILROADS AND 3 COAL CONCERNS Charges Restraint of Trade
 and Asks for an
 Injunction
FOUR COAL MINING
 FIELDS AFFECTED
Government Charges Hooking Valley and Subsidiaries Have United With Coal Companies to
 Restrain Commerce

Columbus, O., August 4.-suit was nieu by the United States government in the federal circuit court here today agains, six railroad companies and three coa' mining concerns, charging combination in restraint of trade and asking that the combination be enjoined from continuing business.
 The government charges that the Hook ing Valley railroad amalgamations owner ship of the capital stock of the Toledo and Ohio Central the kanawha and Michigan end the zanesville and Western roads and its connection with the mining concerns named has crushed competitor.
 The defendant companies are:
 Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad.
 Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.
 Hooking Valley railroad.
 Toledo and Ohio Central railroad.
 kanawha and Michigan railroad.
 zanesville and Western railroad.
 Sunday Creek Coal company.
 Continental Coal company.
 Kanawha and Hooking Coal and Coke company.
 The government charges that the de- fendant companies have formed and en- tered into such combinations and coh- epiracies as to restrain trade and com merce. especially in the btuminous coa, industry The government asks that they be enjoined from continuing business along these lines
 The governments petition alleges that the combine thus formed affects four coal mining districts, namely, the Pittsburg the West Virginia, the Kanawha Valley and the Hooking Valley.
 The whole suit hinges upon the Hooking Valley railroad. The officials of this company, it is alleged. were l.laced in offices corresponding to those held in the parent company soon after the Hooking Valley road gained control of the capital stock of its sub sidiaries.i and, according to the peti- tion, were instructed to operate tue roads along the same lines as the par ent company had been managed.
 Formed Monopoly
 The company then, the government charges. set about controlling the larger c.al companies and succeeded in jlacing the Continental Coal company. which owns 2s,O00 acres of coal lands ir the Hooking Valley district. on it's list, along with the Kanawha and Hooking Valley Coal company The sunday Creek Ccal company was formed as a blind, the petition al leges,-to permit the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad and tho 'has 1xa in al u.it "a four Ohio comnanies, to stfle compe- tition by. merging all the railroads and the principal coal companies In the slate Into one corporation, while still retaining their ownF Individuality.
 The majority of the capital of the Sunday Creek company was held by the HocKing Valley company at the time i. was formed, according to the govern nent petition but later was turned over to the Central Trust company O.. New York in order to avoid prosec l- ton under the Hepburn law The con s.deration in this transfer was s1 and q mortgage for the full value of the stock. Another allegation in the peti- ton Is that the directors on the boari tf the Sunday Creek Coal company were merely dummy directors and were in- ftructed how they should vote and con- duet themselves at all meetings of the board.
 Five agreements between the rail- , roads the coal companies and the Gen. tral Trust company of New York, are offered in evidence. One of these agreements, made between the Con- tinental Coal company and the Toledo and Ohio Central railroad, stated that exchange. for the coal company, plae- ing its entire capital stock, with the exception of five shares, in tho hands of J. P. Morgan & Co.,, as guarantee of the good faith and sub ject to the hlif ha To of he Tn ledo and Ohio Central railroad, the rail- road would take block ol the coal company's bonds off its hands and at tend to its support
 In conclusion the government prays the court to adjudge the combination between the railroad companies and the coal companies unlawful and in re- stralnt of trade, and to grant ,.n in- junction forever enjoining them from paying each other dividends on the stock they hold in the companies named as defendants in the suit. The peti- ton also asked that the companies be forever barred from voting the stock they hold in any of the defendant com panies thus putting the control into the hands of individuals owning blocks of stock, no matter how small.
 The suit was filed by Sherman T. McPherson. United States district att torney for the southern district of Ohio. The petition, which contains SS pages. was signed by MT, McPherson George w. WicEersham, Attorney Gen eral of the United States; J. A. Fowler, assistant to the Attorney General, and O. E. Harrison, special assistant to the Attorney General.
 Washington. August 4.-The anti-trust suits brought today in Columbus against the soft coal roads are similar to those brought against the "hard coal roads, now on appeal to the supreme court of the United States. Attorney General Wickersham has been directing the prep aration of the soft coal' cases for sev- eral months. The suits filed today con- stituted the governments first move against the so-called bitimunious coal trust.
 SENATE CONDEMNS