The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-30
Company Given Opportuni- ty to Disintegrate and Re- organize Itself in Ac- ordance With Anti
 Trust Laws
WILL BE DISSOLVED IF REORGANIZATION
 IS CONTRARY TO LAW
Chief Justice White Renders the De- cision, Holding Trust Guilty of In- limitation and Stirling Competi- tion-Sixty-five American and Two English Corporations
 Are Affected

Washington, May 2s.-The govern naent today won a sweeping victory over the so-called tobacco trust" when
 the supreme court of the United States
 held the American Tobacco company and its allied corporations to be oper- atipg in violation of the Sherman anti trust law
 By directing that the combination he forbidden the privilege of inter- state commerce or be placed in the hands of receiver unless 1t disin- tegrates In harmony with the law with in six, or at the most, eight months, the couft is regarded to have dealt with the tobacco corporations more drs tfcally than with the Standard Oil company of New Jersey, whose disso- 1uti F was ordered two weeks ago
 Both the first and second sections of the Sherman antitrust law have been violste.l by the so-called tobacco trust, according to the court. Not only has # restrained wrongfully and unlaw- fully interstate commerce in the eyes of the court, but 1t has attempted to monopolize the tobacco business to the injury of the public and of it's com petttors.
 While the decree was regarded as unusually severe, at the same time . there was a touch of leniency in not making the combination an outlaw now"
 The various elements of the combina- tion are to be given opportunity, under the supervision of the United States circuit court for the Southern district of New York of recreation so that there may be brought about "a new condition which shall be honestly in harmony with and not repugnant to the law"
 The opinion of the court was an- nounced by Chief Justice White. who also delivered the opinion of the court in the Standard oil case. The entire s court agreed that u e tobacco com bina- fiop violated the Sherman antitrust law, but Associate Justice Harlan dis sented from the repeated interpreta- ton of the sherman antitrust law so as to call for the application of the rule of reason" in determining what restraints of trade were forbidden by the act. In th.s respect the division of the court was the same IS in the Standard oil caso
 Tonight it is regarded as settled that the rule of reason" will prevail in the courts of the land and interpreta- ton of the Sherman antitrust law un- til at least the personnel of the su-
 
 Sherman antitrust law is amended.
 In reality the decision was nothing less than a deliberate exemplifcation of the \ applications of the ''rule of reason to undsputed facts. From the date of the organization of the first combination the court found there was purpose to ac- ouire dominion and control of the tobacco trade, not by the mere exerton of the or dinary right to contract and to trade but Inv me trade by driving competitors out of busi- ness. M
 This purpose was carried out ruthlessly according to the court upon the assump- ton that work upon the theory to play upon the cupidity of competitors would make success possible. Such action viewed in the Tight of reason was regarded by the court as volative of the law. On practically every point on which the government appealed from the decision of the lower court it scored victory to- day. In the first place James B. Duke and the 2S other individual defendants were held to be parties to the unlawful com bination instead of being freed from fur ther responsibility in the case as directed by the court below.
 Instead of dismissing the bill as to the Imperial Tobacco company, the so-called British trust and as to the British Amer ican Tobacco company, the creature of the two parent tobacco trusts" these two corporations were held to be CO., operators in the unlawful combination. So, too, was the United Cigar Stores com pany. a retail organization with stores throughout the country.
 The court confessed that great difficult ties had been encountered in the consid- eration of the case because of the many new aspects of the Sherman antitrust law which it presented These difficulties extended to the prep aration of satisfactory decree. In this connection the court expressed itself as solicitous of procuring remedy which would be complete and efficacious and yet result in as little injury as possible both to the public and to the private in terests involved.
 The court believed that putting the matter in the hands of the lower court to work out method of dissolution and recreation with the understanding that l unless the law was compiled with the combination must retire from interstate commerce or go into the hands of a re- ceiver was the best solution of the proh- lem.
 Unlike the Standard Oil company which made no move today for hearing, Will. liam R. Perkins. as counsel for the Amer lean Tobacco company asked the court after the announcement of the decision for leave to present a petition and to stay the issuance of the mandate for 30 days. The request was granted. Shortly afterward the court adjourned until next October. G
 Opinion Dissected Chief Justice Whites opinion may be grouped into three parts. First he gave detailed statement of . the history of the case and dwelt upon what he designated as the. "undisputed facts. lle5
 Next he took up the meaning of the ! Sherman antitrust law and its application / to the case at bar
 Lastly he considered the remedies to be : applied.
 At the outset of his statement of facts / he classified the 65 American corporate L)defendants Into three groups
 The American Tobacco company, be- cause of its dominant relation to the sub ject matter of the controversy, was desie- mated as the primary defendant.'' The American snu6 company. the American