Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-12-06

clearly defined. 1t does not rest In tn,
discretion Of the court. It must b.
limited to accomplish the purpose Of
lawful main contract to which in orde
that 1t shall be enforceable at all 4
must be incidental II It exceed tn,
needs Of that contract 1t Is void.
The test Of reasonab bleness was neve
applied by the court at comman Law
to contracts or combinations or con
spiracies in restraint Of trade who's,
purpose was or whose necessary effec
would be to sti6e competition, to con
troll prices or establish mOnopolies
The courts never assumed power Il
say that such contracts or combina
tions or conspiracies might be Lawful
II 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. II
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
dicial 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 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
In society whose offense has
been regarded as merely statutory.
STILL as the offense becomes better un-
derstood and the committing Of it 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-
tion to be monopoly of the interstate
business of refining, transporting and
petroleum and its products.
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 distli-
button by the New Jersey company of
the stock held by 1t In the thirty-seven
corporations to and among its stock
and the corporations and indi-
vidual defendants were enjoined from
or combining to restore
such monopoly, and all agreements be
tween the subsidiary corporations tend
ing to produce or bring about further
Of the act were enjoined
In the tobacco case the court found
hat the individual defendants, twen-
.y-nine in number, had been engaged
n n successful effort to acquire COM
)lebe dominion over the manufacture,
sale and distribution Of tobacco in this
country and abroad and that this had
Ieen 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 elfectuate the will of the
ourt aud end the violation of the stat
tie There was here no single hold
ny 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 cOmpanie.
rganiGed for the purposes of the de
rec and made parties to it and mum
erlng, new and old, fourteen.
Situation After Resdjustmsnt.
The American Tobacco company
old, readiusted capital So2OO00O0;
he Liggett x Meyers Tobacco company
lew), capital $670O0OOO; the r. Lorll-
lrd company new, capital $4,000.
90, and the r. j Reynolds Tobacco
ompany (oldl capital $L5250OO, are
hiehy engaged in the manufacture
nd sale of chewing and smoking to-
acco and cigars The former one tin
oil company is divided into two. one
I $S25,O00 capital and the other of
100000 The one snuff company Is
ivided into three companies. one with
capital OF S15.0OO,0OO another with a
npital of $S000,0O0 and third with
capital of SS,0O00O0 The licorice
are two, one with a capital
$5,I5S,300 and another with capt.
Il OF 50 oNnM NNN Thnrn N nlsn thu