The Washington herald., 1911-07-07
ANTITRUST LAW
BARS" bad" TRUSTS
Honest MonopoIies Not Al
fected by Sherman Act.

Battle Creek. Mich, July 6.-Attorney
General Wickersham. speaking before th'
Michigan State Bar Association here to
day. outlined for the first time his views
on the application Of the Sherman anti
trust law recently as interpreted by the
! Supreme Court to business conditions II
| this country.
He acknowledges that ordinary agree,
| ments Of purchase and sale and OF part
nership are now outside the pale of the
| law. He contends, however. that any
| contract or combination the effect OF
which is to control prices or restrict out.
put, Is in violation OF the act. The At.
| torney General regards the decisions in
both the Standard Oil and the tobacco
trust cases as insuring the destruction OF
the monopolistic character of these con-
Germs. He says. among other things:
Summing up the results OF these late
decisions. it will be seen that the area
of uncertainty in the law has been
greatly narrowed, and that its scope and
effect have been pretty clearly defined,
the school of literal Interpretation has
been repudIated, and the application of
clared. There will be always, Of course,
a field Of uncertainty so far as an in
vestigation OF facts-particularly when
intent becomes a necessary considera-
tion-is required. But this much may sure
ly be said to be now beyond controversy
that ordinary agreements OF purchase
and sale of partnership. or OF corporate
organization, do not violate the first sec
tion Of the Sherman act, even though
incidentally and to a limited degree they
may operate to restrain competition in
interstate or foreign commerce between
the parties to such agreements.
size alone does not constitute monop-
oily. The attainment of a dominant posi-
ton in business acquired as the result
Of honest enterprise and normal methods
OF business development is not a viola
ton of the law. But unfair methods Of
trade, by destroying and excluding COM
petitors by means OF intercorporate stock
holding or by means of agreements be-
tween actual or potential competitors,
whereby the control of commerce among
the States or with foreign countries in
any particular line OF industry is secured
or threatened, exposed those who are
concerned in such efforts to the penalties
prescribed in the second section of the
act, because they are engaged in monop-
olizing or attempting to monopolize such
commerce.
Those who have thoughtlessly yielded
to the superficial conclusion resulting
from the application by the Chief JUS
tice Of the rule OF reason to the inter-
probation OF the Sherman law can find
but little to Justify the idea that the
Sherman law has been rendered inefrec-
tive by those two decisions, the tobacco
trust and Standard Dill, for precisely the
contrary is clearly established by these
great judgments. The most cursory ex-
Of the decree in the tobacco
case. the most casual consideration Of
the drastic and far-reaching remedy i'm
posed, makes It perfectly apparent that
the Sherman law, perhaps for the first
time, has been demonstrated to be an
actual effective weapon to the accom-
plishment Of the purpose for which It
vas primarily enacted, namely, the de-
Of the great combinations
Familiarity known as trusts"