The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-10-03

curing the same evidence we devel.
oped in our trial.
Standard OIL and Republic OIL Cases.
! The Standard and Republic oil
suits had been won in the State Su-
preme Court by my predecessor. The
companies carried the cases to the
Supreme Court OF the United States
upon writ of error, and there for the
first time attacked the constitution.
ality of the antitrust statutes Of Mis-.
souri,
! therefore Tell to my lot to sustain
the validity Of these laws in that trib.
unal. The real fight In these cases
therefore took place In the Supreme
Court OF the United States. The con.
viction Of the companies In the court
below was Il simple and certain pro.
cedure.
The Standard Oil and Waters.
Pierce companies had. by agreement,
divided the territory in Missouri
This is known as simple combina.
ton in restraint OF trade. being the
first step in the four transforming
epochs In this country.
The antitrust laws had been upon
our statutes for twcnty.three years
and were written by Hon. Champ
Clark, now speaker of the National
House of Representatives. On the
first OF last April, in O unanimous
opinion handed down by Justice La.
mar, the law was sustained In thus
winning the cases over some OF the
greatest lawyers in the west and in
sustaining the law. we can but feel
proud, In sustaining the law and af
ilrming the Judgments. we were en-.
abled TO collect from the companies
fines totalng sl00,00O0O, and placed
same in the treasury OF the state of
Missouri TO the credit of the revenue
fund.
Two-cent Passenger Fare and Lower
Freight Rate Cases.
These cases were tried by my pre-
deccssor, had no hand In nor any.
thing TO do with the trial. and these
laws were by the tIial court held con.
iiscatory.
1t became my duty to take charge
of the cases upon appeal TO the Su.
preme Court of the United States,
eighteen cases In all. Two great
questions were presented to the court:
that of whether or not the laws i'm.
pinged upon section s. article / of
the constitution of the United States
known as the commerce clause. and
whether or not they were coniisca.
tory and violativc OF the fourteenth
to the Federal constitu
tion. In considering these questions
matters of both law and fact were
involved. II affected the right OF a
sovereign state to nN maximum rates
on commerce wholly within the state
In my humble judgment the state
unquestionably has the exclusive
right and authority to regulate and
control intrastate commerce, includ.
ing rates and tolls therefor. and Con.
gress has the exclusive right to con
troll and prescribe rates on Interstate
commerce. The mere amount named
as TO such state rates cannot impinge |
upon the commerce clause, neither |
can the reduction of state rates on |
lntrastate traffic as n matter Of law |
change interstate rates AS TO |
or not the rates were really |
was merely a problem In |
sci, argued the Burlington case in |
October, 1910. and the court, after |
having same under advisement for |
seven months of its own motion re-
assigned the cases to the docket for |
second argument This was an indi. |
cation that the eight ildges before
whom the case was presented were
equally divided.
! spent six or seven months In |
briciing the other seventeen cases,
and on the first OF last April in an
argument lasting practically three
lays, We presented both the APP
Deals and crossappeals. and same
nave been finally submitted and are
Awaiting decision, which is expected
1t the October term Being thorough.
y familiar with both the law and the
acts in these cases, | now feel salts
led that the State of Missouri has an
equal or better chance to win than
he railroads have of securing an af.
FINANCE of the Judgments in the
'ourt below.
The principles involved in this liti-
cation not only AFFECT the State Of
Missouri, but every other state, in
he American Union. The principles
involved strike at the foundation OF
,ur government, shall the rights of
he states be preserved or shall they
,e swallowed up by the Federal gov.
To carry these cases to the Su.
,reme Court of the United States. on
Iccount of the voluminous records,
vas necessarily expensive, but we
rave spared neither time nor labor in
'ur efforts to sustain these laws for
he people of the commonwealth.