Henderson gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1911-19??, 1911-11-23
Attorney General Wickersham
Satisfied That Dissolution De-
cree VIII Terminate the Monop-
DIV of the Tobacco Trust.


oily of the Tobacco Trust.
Satisfied that the decree en-
tered in the circuit court at New
York providing for the disinte-
grafton OF the American Tobacco
Company into fourteen corpora
tons will terminate a monopoly
and substitute actual competition
instead. Attorney General Wick
ersham will not appeal the case
to the Supreme Court Of the
United States. He will accept
the circuit courts decision, al
though the government possesses
the right to carry the plan Of dis
solution TO the highest tribunal
at any time within a year. The
governments approval Of the
plan was made known by the At
torney General in an official
statement.
The sizes Of some Of the corpo-
rations into which the company
will be separated constitutes no
valid objection to the courts de-
cree, in the Judgment Of the At
t0rney General.
The public at large will be
more apt to benefit" he de
clared, from competition be-
/ tween d number of large, SOL
vent, we'll organized companies
in strong hands, than from the
general decentralization of bust
ness which would ensue were
the business to be distributed be-
tween a large number Of small,
weak organizations with insult
ficient capital to maintain them
selves in active competition.
Some of the representatives
of the so-called independent re-
tailers' associations, urged the
distribution of the business
among seventy corporations in
stead of fourteen. The sugges-
ton might as we'll have been
fifty or two hundred. For the
government to have supported
any such contention would have
undoubtedly resulted in a receiv-
ership and enormous and wide
spread injury to the general bus
mess conditions of the country"
Regarding the contention which
he said had been advanced that
the size of some of the compa-
MES was greater than that Of
any of the existing independents
, the Attorney General says:
Nothing in the law requires, OF
in the opinion Of the Attorney
General, would Justify the gov
; eminent IN taking the position
that to reduce q mOnopoIisti(
combination to legal size, no one
: Of the Distribute concerns
. should be larger than the largest
existing independent concern.
The objections TO the Gissolu
ton scheme on the ground tha-
the same body Of shareholder,
= would substantially control eaci
, Of the separated companies are
met, the Attorney General says
g first, by comforting voting rights
which now are vested in the
r common stock alone, to the pre-
= ferred stockholders also; anC
e / secondly, by the restrictions up
on the actions Of the respective
corporations.
o The Attorney General be
lieves," continues the statement
i that this plan, with the re
strictive provisions embodied il
o the decree, will accomplish a re
d creation Of lawful condition ant
being so convinced, he has op
posed the efforts of outsiders t.
inject themselves into the situa
, ton, and to delay or prevent tn
Y carrying out Of the plan"
Under the impression that tn,
;, meaning of the opinion Of tn,
court had been beclouded by tn
various discussions Of it and wa
: not generally understood, tn
, Attorney General embodied il
! his statement a synopsis of tn
terms of the decree. He said
contained substantially all of tn
requests made by the govern
ment except the enforced sal
and distribution to outsiders O
the United Cigar Stores Com
pany and an authorization to tn
government at any time with
five years to apply to the cour
for relief based upon a shown
- that competitive conditions hav
not actually resulted from tn
= operation of the plan.