The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-12-17
Wickersh a m Believes
Hard Coal Trust Eff
fectually Destroyed.
CONTRACTS HELD
VIOLATION OFLAW
Government Only Partly Success
full in Suit Against Anthracite
Carrying Roads, as Supreme
Court Dismisses General
Combination Charge as
Indefinite.

! Washington. December 16.-The Su-
( preme Court Of the United States to-
. day Cancelled as violative Of the Sher-
man antitrust law the contracts by
which railroad owned coal compa niea
in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal
; field had purchased the output of in
dependent" mines Attorney General
! Wickersham tonight expressed the
belief that the decision will 50 com
4 pletely destroy the combination which
: now controls the price OF anthracite
/ that il must result in distinct meas
/ ure OF relief TO the public
The court also ordered dissolution
OF railroad control OF the Temple Iron
Company. by which the principal rail-
roads and their coal companies were
found to have stranglei project to
build competing road into the an
thracite fields in 1895. and by which
monopolizing schemes could be put
into operation in the future. The gov
eminent failed. the court held, to SHOW
a general combination" TO apportion
the amount of coal to be put upon the
market annually by the various roads
The governments other charges as
to a general combination were charac-
terized as indefinite"
Future Course Undetermined
Minor combinations were held to
have been Improperly included in the
, petition of the government and the
proce eding against them was dismissed
wits out prejudice to other actions by
the government. Attorney General
Wickersham was not prepared to say
whether he would direct new proceed
ings against these alleged sombina-
: tons.
Justice Lurton announced the opin-
I ion OF the court, which for the purpose
of this case consisted of only six mem
+ bers. Justice Day took no part IN the
opinion because of his absence from
the bench when the case was argued in
/ October, 1911. Justice Hughes re-
/ Trained from participa ting in the &C
/ zion OF the court because ne was spe-
/ cial assistant to the Attorney -General
when the coal business was first in
] vestigated by the government. JUS
/ tice PItrey was not on the bench when
I the case was presented 20 the court
The suit was sent back to the
/ judges of the court in which is origi-
mated. the Circuit Court for Eastern
Pennsylvania. for the enforcement of
the decision. The finding of the lower
| court was upheld, except as TO the
contracts with the independents"
The railroads concerned were the
] Philadelphia & Reading; the Lehigh
Valley: the Delaware. Lackawanna
and Western; the Central Railroad OF
New Jersey: the Erie. and the New
York, Susqueharna and Western
I At the outset OF his opinion Justice
Lurton dwelt upon the great factor of
7 the six railroads and their coal COM
panies in anthracite mining. More
than 30 per cent of the entire unmin-
ed area Of anthracite was owned b.
them he declared and more than "a
per cent of the annual supply put up
on the market was theirs. He said
the tremendous influence Of these com
panies in this business was due TO the
liberal policy of Pennsylvania to en-
courage coal development by authOriz
ing an alliance between the coal-pro-
ducing and the cOal-transporting com
panies. As 10 the transportation Of the
coal to tidewater. Justice Lurtor
said that. indepenent Of any agree
! m.kat or combination. the six rail-
roads were in undisputed control
Concerted Action Invited
The situation is one which invites
concerted action continued the JUS
, tice. and makes exceedingly easy the
accomplishment OF any purpose 10
dominate lNt supply anu t'ht-Ot Nh-
prices at the seaboard. The one
fourth supply which comes from indie
pendent operators has been sold in
competition with the larger supply of
the defendants. II by concerted &C
ton that source OF competition be re-
moved the monopoly which the defen-
dants. acting together. may exert owe.
production and sale. will be complete
With this situation outlined. the
Justice proceeded go see what had oc-
CURED. lie first considered the charge
of a general combination" to appor-
tion output.
Reliance was made he said. in sup
] port Of this charge upon the confer
/ cnce Of railroad presidents in 1906. when
II was averred Efforts were made 10
distribute the coal business upon the
basis OF the amount carried in previous
years.
I THE weight Of proof declared Jus
tice I,urton. satisfied ms that what
ever might have been contemplated. or
attempted. the scheme proved abortivc-
I or. II attempted. was abandoned long
before the bill was fled"
other charges OF general c0mbina-
] ton. ia was declared. had been prop
criv considers-i by the lower court
The Justice then took up the Temple
Iron Company feature. lie detailed
how independent operators In Pcnnsyi-
vauia about 1898 pledged their ton
mage TO o new road TO tidcwater. ana
how the New York. Wyoming ana
/ western Railroad Company was pro-
I iected IN good faith" on the strength
81 these pledges. Tho eight coiiierics
/ Of tho simpson g. Watkins firm were
dcsc-ibcs as powerful factors IN this
p-oiecf. lie described how. through
| .hc aid u T. =. Morgan Company.
the Temple iron Company was bought
converted into a holding COMPANY. ~
I oh,faatsons guaranteed by the six
90 - q, proportion TO their ANIMAL
.oai tonnage carried. and rnaily how
tho Temple iron Company purchased
the property % the simpson a Watkins
1 CONTINUED on Third Pase)