The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-21
Supreme Court Decisions Establish Far-Reach-
 ing Principles
PASSES UNLAWFUL
 FOR PASSENGERS
Railroad Cannot Escape Interstate Regulations Because Part of It Is Wharfage Company.
 Bucks Boycott Case

a
 Washington. February 2O.--Not for years have so many far reaching prin- ciples relating to interstate commencs been approved by the supreme court of the United States as were established in its decisions today as the unques- tioned law of the land Decisions on a number of other difficult questions were announced.
 Among the questions of interstate commerce decided were these: That the passenger has no right to buy tickets with services. advertising, releases of property. nor can the rail- road company buy services. advertising releases property for transportation. The state law regulating the size of crews on trains within the state is not an obstruction to interstate commerce but Is rather enacted in aid of inter state commerce, and may be passed by state for the public safety. That the supreme court will review l the validity of an order of the inter- state commerce commission even though the two-year limitation on the life of the order has expired. That a railway system may not es- cape regulations as an instrument of | interstate commerce because one of it's constituent parts is a wharfage com pany and its dominating power over | the wharfage company rests in the fact | that 1t is a holding company. Opinion on Rates The interstate commerce commission does not possess the power to reduce l<r merely because the rate is inequfa a,yree g | under some circumstances as increases
 where railroads induce shippers to en- l ter a field by offering rates as low
 as to be unremunerative and later in | crease the rates.
 l The court furthermore decided as | constitutional state statute providing 1 that no contract of relief. benefit or in- surance should be bar to the right of I a railroad employe engaged in the op- eration of a railroal to sue the en- ployer for damages resulting from in- iuries received in the course of his em.
 ployment.
 The mayor and several councilmen of Clay Center. Kansas. were held in contempt. but excused from punishment | with the payment of costs. because they | destroyed the subject matter of a litiga- | ton before the supreme court after its | decision was announced. but before It's
 mandate had been issued or time given | for a motion for rehearing.
 The famous boycott case brought in | the local court by the Bucks Stove and l Range company of St. Louis, against | the American Federation of Labor was formally dismissed.
 Review Naval Stores Case I Picio Io oP tba pany were granted a review of their conviction of alleged violations of tho | Sherman antitrust law. l Of the men concerned in the courts | action Sponsor c. Potter, chairman of
 the board of directors of the company, | is under sentence to serve three months | in Jail and to pay fine of $5000, while
 J. F. Cooper Myers. vice president, Is | under sentence to serve the same length | of time in jail and to pay a fine of $2500. | Edmund s. Nash, president, was fined | 5000; George Meade Boardman, treas
 urer. s2ooo and Carl Moeler, manager
 of the Jacksonville, Fla, branch of the | company, s5O0o.
 The decision of the court to review the | decision Is step in one of the most l spectacular prosecutions known under l the Sherman antitrust law. For the | first time men have come before the | court to have set aside sentences of im- l
 antitrust law. The American Naval Stores company. whose officials were | concerned In the action of the court to- | day, has been referred to as the "turpen- | tine and rosin trust" As distributer
 and exporter of what is claimed to be more than 50 per cent of the turpentine | and rosin obtained from the long-leaf yellow pine of the Carolinas, Georgia, | Florida Alabama. Mississippi. Louis. | jana and Texas, the company long has been a prominent figure In tho trade nf the world.
 Case Started in 1908
 Todays action was the outcome of a prosecution begun in 1908 in the United | States circuit court of Georgia against | the company, It's officials and others for | violation of the sherman antitrust law | against conspiracy in restraint of trade. | It had been preceded by other prosecu-
 tions. l In one of these Sponsor c. Potter. | whose activities as chairman of the | board of directors has made him proh-
 ably the most prominent figure in tho | company, was found guilty of violating l the interstate commerce laws and fined. | In another he was found guilty of vio- lating the sherman antitrust law and fined. In the case before the court to- day he had been sentenced to prison f,r | alleged violation of the antitrust lANA l in addition to payment of 8 fine.
 | The governments claim of conspiracy l among the defendants was based partly , on the peculiar system of markets for turpentine and rosin. It was said by the government that the only open or quota ton market In the United States for the sale of naval stores was Savannah. Ga At all the other ports and markets, it
 was claimed. the prices were based on the closing prices at Savannah.
 Charges Conspiracy
 This being the case. the government claims the defendants conspired to stay out of the Savannah market In the early
 part of 1908 in order to depress that mar lket. and during that time to make largo purchases at closed markets. where the
 prices would be depressed because of the depression at Savannah. Evidence was produced by the government In an en@ deavor to show that so successful was 1.-the conspiracy that the defendants | bought naval stores for loss than the cost of production. The defendants denied
 they had any part in the manipulation of | the market .tN The government presented testimony in support of the claim that barrels of rosfn
 in the control of the American Naval
 Stores company were graded up'' with- -<S-~---xx<s<