The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-01-02
BIC TRUST CASES
TO Be TAKEN Up
STANDARD OIL AND TOBACCO
COMB NATIONS IN u. S. su-
.-REME COURT.
MEANING Of 5 WORDS
VIII be Principal Subject Of co1tro-
versy by contending Attorneys
Right ct Government
Control Involved.


Nashingter, Jan | -Pro-eautions
by the government, designed TO Az,
conplisl the dissolution of STANDARD
OH ard spf the An elican Tobacco or
ganf2atons eubcdying the greatest
"antitruFt" fight of the generation,
viii be taken UP for the second time
by The supreme court of the United
States at the beginning of its work
fof the New fenr. Continuing its
consideration OF affairs Of governnes t
the court VIII Immediately afterwards
give it's attention TO the constitution
ality of the corporation tax provisions
OF the Payne-Aldrich tariff act.
Although the tobacco case is to be
argued first, the Standard OIL srit has
attracted moe attention. Attorney
General Wickersham has referred 10
the Standard OH case as probably The
most important that ever came hefo !.
the court
104 Oil Companies in Trust.
The Standara oil suit was insll-
tuted in 1926 in the circuit 70 rt OF
:he United states for tie eastern ~
vision OF he eastern judicial ,listr CT
Of Misscuri. The federal government
was the comrlaining rarty. 1t claim
ed that the Stardard OIL Company of
New jersey, as holding company,
ACQUIRED since 1899 and hell by d.
rec stock ownership, 65 companies.
TNes7 65, It was alleged, owned the
stock cf 40 other oanpa1ies. ~ II
ing total of IA cornan,es .
governments asFel that this or a.
tien be dissolved uhcer the 81 r i j
antitrust law,
A year was taken hy the fhtr iuJ,
gas iu the clrcnft court of appeals to
pass on the case. Nv unanimous
agreement, a decree was entered by
the court 1issolving the organization
both becarse 1t was in restraint OF
interstate commerce" and because il
was "atten~tir~ 10 mouoro'izn" Re
fore the decree became effective an
appeal carried tho case to the SUI
prone court
The tobacco case was instituted in
1907 in the circuit court of the United
States for the southern district oil
New York. The government here. too,
was the complaining party Allies ii
the various branches of the tobacco
business, with combined assets oil
more than $4o0,000,Oo0, constituted
the organization which the govern
ment sought to have the court dis.
solve.
Meaning of 3 Big Words,
The application of the Sherman
antitrust law TO these two organiza
tioEs, involves not only an investiga
tion into the facts, but ilclu 'es an
Interpretation OF the law itself. The
principal uncertainties in regard tC
the law cluster around three words In
the statute. These words form the
basis of three urestions: What is
"commerce?'' What is restraint
of trade or covr-orce? and what II
IL to "moncTol'2o?"
Around "WhRt is ccrmerce2" Tho
principal fight il the tobacco cas'
probably is to ne found, The com
merce which the eoycr1mont claims
is being restrained ard monopoli2et
Is not commerce. according 10 th'
tobacco attorneys. 1t is nothing mor'
than the manufacture CT an article
which later enters into commerce
The bulwark behind which The to
bacco organization Is making 1t
fight along this line is the famous
Knight decisiopg made even ore ia
nous by the reference to 1t by foi
mer President Roosevelt last fall il
criticising the decisions Of the su
preme court. In that case the cour
declined to suppress an ALLEGED mon
opoly In manufacture Of sugar, on t'
coed only by way of preventing mon
opoles in commerce. The tobacc
corporations claim that they are cor
cerned OILY incidentally in con
merce.
Again the dispute as to what is in
clldc,I in TIE word commerce" a
referred to in the Sherman anti-trus
law, arises in connection with tn
character OF q holding company. Bot
The Standard Oil and tae loiocca o.
ganizations contend that the powe
granted by the constitution to regl
late interstate comerce is not so O.
( tensive as to include regulation Q
the acquisition, and ownership Of
holding company Of stock in otbe
corporaticns The government
g,,es that wherever holding COZ
rany necessarily sti1cs or difeetl
aud substantially RESTRICT free co
petition In commerce the Unite
States has power to protect sue
commerce.
(Coucluded IN Tnfrd pa0e1