Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-12-07
TRUST PROBLEM
IS 1AFT'S TOPIC
Message to Congress Devoted
to This One Matter.
DECISIONS ARE DEFENDED
Dissolution Plans OF Standard Oh and
Tobacco Explained-Federal In.
corporation and Commission
Recommended.

Recommended.
WashinE Taft's annual
message, which was read in both houses
Of congress Tuesday. deals exclusively
With the antitrust statute. The message
Ia part IL a. follow:
To the Senate and House of Represent
Atives: This message 10 the hrst Of SOW
oral which ! shall send to congress during
She interval between the opening Of its
regular session and it, adjournment foe
ehe Christmas holidays. The amount q
Information to BE- communicated a. -
1he operations Of tho government, tho
Number Of important subjects calling for
comment by the executive, and the trans
mission to congress OF exhaustive r.
ports by special commissions, make 1t I'M
bossible to include In one message OF .
reasonable lon9th . discussion OF the top
ics that ought to be brought to tho 1T
4ent1on Of the national Legislature at itD
0rst regular session.
Decisions Of Supreme Court
IN May last the Supreme court handed
Down decisions in the suits in equity
brought by the United States to entoi4
the further maintenance Of the STANDARD
OIL trust and of the American Tobacco
trust, and to secure their dissolution. The
OoC1S4OuS dIc 9pOCIl-m0hlNS 11IO 6SA w -
advise the business world authorttatively
Of the scope apd operation Of the anti
trust law Of 1890. The decisions do noa
depart in any substantial way from the
previous decisions Of the court in constru-
1ng and applying this important statute,
but they clarity those important decisionq
by further defining the already admitted
exceptions to the literal construction OF
the act. BY the DEGREES, they furnish .
useful precedent as to the proper method
Of dealing with the capital and property
Of illegal trusts. These decisions sug-
cost the need and wisdom of additional
OF supplemental legislation to make, Il
easier for the entire business community
to square with the rule Of action ana
preserve the benefit freedom and spur
OF reasonable competition without loss %
real efficiency or progress.
1t has been said that the court, by in
Producing Into the construction Of tho
statute common law distinctions, has
emasculated it. This 10 obviously untrue
BY its Judgment every contract and COM
bination in restraint of interstate trade
made with the purpose, or necessary e1-
feet Of controlling prices by sitting COM
petition or Of establishing in whole or In
part q monopoly of such trade, Is con-
demned by the statute. The most ex-
treme critics cannot instance case that
ought to be condemned under the statute
which is not brought within Its terms as
thus construed.
The suggestion is also made that the Su-
preme court by its decisions in the last
two cases has committed to the court tho
underlined and unlimited discretion to de-
termine whether case Of restraint Of
trade is within the terms of the statute
This is wholly untrue. reasonable re-
straint of trade at common law is we'll
understood and is clearly defined. 1t does
not rest in the discretion of the court. 1t
must be limited to accomplish the purpose
of lawful main contract to which, in
order that it shall be enforceable at all,
1t ,nust be incidental. If it exceeds the
needs of that contract it is void.
Methods of Dissolution.
In the Standard Oil case the Supreme
and circuit courts found the combination
to be monopoly Of the Interstate bust
ness of refining, transporting, and mar
keting petroleum and it's products, effect
Cd and maintained through thirty seven
different corporations, the stock OF which
was held by New Jersey company. It
In effect commanded the dissolution OF
this combination, directed the transfer
and pro-rata distribution by the New Jer-
sey company Of the stock held by 1t in
the thirty-seven corporations to and
among it's stockholders, and the corpora
fions and individual defendants were en-
Joined from conspiring or combining to
restore such monopoly: and all agree
ments between the subsidiary corporations
tending to produce or bring about further
violations of the act were enjoined.
In the Tobacco case, the court found
that the individual defendants. twenty
nine In number, had been engaged in .
successful effort to acquire complete do
1ninion over the manufacture, sale and
distribution Of tobacco in this country
l., bo1
by combinations made with a purpose
and effect to stif1e competition, control
prices, and establish a monopoly, not
only in the manufacture of tobacco, but
also of tin-foil and licorice, used in tn
manufacture and of it's products of Cd
CARS cigarettes and snuffs The tobacco
suit presentend far more complicated
and difficult case than the Standard OIL
suit for decree which would effectuats
the will Of the court and end the VIOLA
ton of the statute. There was here no
single holding company as in the case
of the Standard Oil trust. The main COM
pany was the American Tobacco COM
pany, manufacturing, selling and hold
ing company. The plan adopted to de-
Stroy the combination and restore compe-
htion involved the redivislon of the CAPT.
tai and plants of the whole trust between
some Of the companies constituting the
trust and new companies organized for
the purposes of the decree and made par
ties to it, and numbering, new and Old,
fourteen.
Purpose Not Confiscation.
1t is not the purpose Of the statute 10
oonfiscate the property and capital Of the
offending trusts. Methods Of punishment
by fine or imprisonment Of the Individual
offenders, by nne OF the corporation o1
by forfeiture Of its goods in Transported
ton, are provided. but the proceeding IN
equity is specific remedy stoi stop tho
operation Of the trust by Injunction ana
prevent the future use Of the plant and
capital in violation of the statute.
venture to say that not in the history
|w0~~~~~~
Did 40 He Was Told.
A young 1rishman from remote