St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1911-05-20
STANDARDON
DISSOLVED
Supreme Court Decides Tito
be in Restraint of Trade.
Opinion of the Court Unani-
NOUS as to This.
Justice Harlan Objects to
''Undue" Interpretation.
Company Given Six Months
to Adjust It's Affairs.

Washington, May 15.-the Stand
ard Oil Company of New Jersey and
it's nineteen subsidiary corporations
to-day were declared by the Supreme
Court of the United States to be a
conspiracy and combination in re-
straint of trade 1t also was held to
be monopolizing Interstate COM
merce in violation of the Sherman
antitrust law. The dissolution OF
the combination was ordered to take
place within six months.
Thus ended the tremendous strug-
gle of years on the part OF the gov
ernment to put down by authority OF
law a com bination which it lcaimed
was a menace to the industrial and
economic advancement of the entire
country.
The Supreme Court holds:
That the Standard Oil Company is
monopoly in restraint of trade.
That the corporation must be dis
solved within six months.
Corporations the contracts OF
which are mot reasonably restrictive
of competition, are not affected.
Other great corporations the acts
of which may be called into question,
will be dealt with according to the
merits of their particular cases.
The court was unanimous as to
the main features of the decision,
Justice Harlan dissenting only as to
a limitation of the application of the
Sherman antitrust law. President
Taft and Cabinet will consider i'm
mediately the entire trust situation
and the advisability of pressing for
a Federal Incorporation act. A de-
cision in the tobacco trust case, which
was expected simultaneously, was
not announced to-day. and may be
handed down on May 29.
INTEPRETS SHERMAN LAW.
The court interpreted the Sherman
antitrust law so as to limit its ap-
plication to acts of undue restraint
of trade, and not to every" restraint
of trade. 1t was on this point that
the only discordant note was heard
in the court. Justice Harlan dissent
ed, claiming that cases already decid-
ed by the court had determined once
for all that the words undue" or
unreasonable" or similar words,
were not in the statute. He declared
that the reasoning of the court at
its finding was, in effect, legislation
which belonged in every instance to
Congress, and not to the courts.
Ever since the decree in this case
in the lower court, the United States
Circuit Court for the Eastern Dis
trict of Missouri, was announced,
hope has been expressed by the
business world" that the law would
be modified so as to interefer with
what was designated as honest busi-
ness. Tonight that section of the
opinion calling for the use of the
rule OF reason" in applying the law
is regarded in many quarters as an
answer to the prayers of the "busi-
ness world"
The opinion of the court was an
ncunced by Chief Justice White. In
printed form it contained more than
twenty thousand words. For nearly
an hour the chief justice discussed
the case from the bench, going over
most of the points in the printed
opinion, but not once referring to it
in order to refresh his memory. Be-
fore him sat distinguished audience
OF the most famous men of the
country Senators and Representa-
tives left their respective chambers in
the Capitol to listen to the epoch
making decision of the court. Most
eager to hear were Attorney-general
Wickersham and Frank B. Kellogg,
special counsel of the governmen ent
who had conducted the great fight
against the Standard Oil Company