Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-12-06

depen0ent companiea have. mn pr
sent. while the American Tobecco com
pany win have 8S.0S per ceni. the Liz
gett 4 Meyers 20.O6 per cent, the Ioril-
lard company 22.62 per cent and the
Reynolds company 2.08 per cent. The
stock Of the other thirteen companies.
both preferred and common. has been
taken from the defendant American
Tobacco company and has been dis
trfbuted among ita stock ho,deEs4 All
covenants restricting competition have
been declared null and further per
formance Of them has been eu1oined.
The preferred stock Of the different
companies has now been given voting
power which was deuied Il under the
old organization. The ratio of the pre-
ferred stock to the common was q Is
to o. This constitutes . very decided
change In the character OF the owner
ship and control Of each company.
In the original suit there were TWEEN.
ty-nine defendants. who were charged
with being the conspirators through
whom the Illegal combination acquired
and exercised tts unia wful dominion.
Under the decree these defendants win
hold amounts Of stock In the various
distributes companies ranging from Al
per cent a. q maximum to 2Sh per
cent ~ minimum. except IN the case
. Of one small company. the Porto Rican
tobacco company. In which they win
hold - per cent. The twenty -utne In
dividual defendants are enjoined for
three years from buying any stock ex.
cept from each other. and the group ID
thus prevented from extending In con.
troll during that period. All parties to
the suit and the new companies who
are made parties are enjoined perpet-
ually from In any way eeIecting any
combination between any OF the com
panies In violation Of the statute by
way Of resumption Of the old trust
Each e the fourteen companies - en-
joined from acquiring stock in any Of
the others. All these companies are
enjoined from having common direc-
tors or ofhcers. or common buying or
selling agents. or common oclceq. or
lending money 90 each other.
Size Of New cempsnisaS
Objection was made By certain In
! dependent tobacco companies that this
settlement was unjust because Il left
companies with very large capital in
active business and that the settle
ment thar would be effective to ppt all
on an equality would Nbe division Of
the capital and plant .of the trust into
small fractions in amount more near
~ equal to that Of each Of the indie
pendent companies This contention
results from q misundersta nding OF
the antitrust law and its purpose. It
b not intended thereby to prevent the
accumulation of large capital In busi-
ness enterprises II which such a COM
bination can secure reduced cost Of
production. sale and distribution. It
Is directed against such an aggrega-
ton Of capital only when its purpose
b that Of Sliding competition. enhanc-
ing or controlling prices and establish.
ing q monopoly. II we shall have by
the decree defeated these purposes
and restored competition between the
large units into which the capital and
plant have been divided We shall have
accomplished the useful purpose Of
the statute.
csnHsestien Net the Purposes Of siss
Statute.
II b not the purpose Of the statute
e connscate the property and capital
Of the offending trusta Methods Of
punishment BY nne or Imprisonment
Of the individual offenders. BY ins Of
the corporation or BY forfeiture Of IL
goods In transportation ars provided.
but the proceeding in, equity II a spe.
ciDc remedy to stop the operation Of
the trust BY injunction and proven,
the future use Of the plant and capital
In violation Of the statuta
Effectiveness u oserss.
venture to say that not In the his
tory Of American Law has = decree
moro effective for such q purpose been
entered by 4 court than that against
the tobacco trust A. Circuit Judgs
Noyes slid in his Judgment approving
the decree:
The extent to which It has been
necessary to tear apart this combina-
ton and force 1t into new forms with
the attendant burdens ought to demon.
strate that the federal antitrust statute
Il : drastic statute which accomplishea
effective results. which % long al Il
stands on tho statute books must be
obeyed and which cannot BE- disobey'
ed without mourning farreaching pen
altieA And. on the other hand. thu
succeasful reconstruction Of this Or
ganixation should teach that the effect
Of enforcing this statute u not to Dc
stroy. but to reconstruct: not to do
moiish, but to recreate In accordance