Milford chronicle., 1913-09-05
GOVERNMENT SUES
HARD COAL TRUST
Action Aimed at Reading Co.
and Allied Interests
HAS RIGID DISSOLUTION PLAN
Violation Of Sherman Antitrust Law
and Commodities Clause of Inter
State Commerce Act Is Alleged.

The federal government has renewed
its attack on the so-called Snthracite
trust. A suit that his been filed in Phil
adelphia against the Reading and its
affiliated companies, under the Sher-
man antitrust law and the cOmmodi-
ties clause, represents an effort on the
the part of the Wilson administration
to take up this fight where it was
dropped upon the retirement of Presi-
dent Taft and his attorney general.
There is, however, one feature that
distinguishes this suit from the ones
brought under the Taft administration,
and which is a new departure in suits
under the Sherman antitrust law. At
torney General McReynolds, in his
prayer to the court to break the Read
ing's control over the Central Rail
road of New Jersey and other corpora
tions, which he contends are engaged
in a conspiracy against the Sherman
antitrust laws, asks that the Reading
company be required to dispose OF the
capital stock of these corporations TO
persons not it's stockholders or agents,
nor otherwise under its control or in
fuence."
This means that Attorney General
McReynolds intends to have settled in
advance in this case the question that
caused so much controversy in the
Union Pacifc-Southern Pacific dissolu-
tion case.
The attorney general always has had
a very strong feeling against the char
acter of the dissolution permitted by
the department of justice in the case
of the Standard Oil company where
pro rata distribution of the stocks OF
the subsidiary companies was permit
ted among the stockholders of the par
ent concern.
Nine coal and transportation COM
panies representing an investment OF
S6O9. .637, 7,394, are made defendants in
the suit, together with President
George F. Baer and the eight direc-
tors.
The companies are the Reading
company, the Philadelphia & Reading
Railway company, the Philadelphia &
Reading Coal and Iron company, the
Central Railroad of New Jersey, the
Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal company
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation com
pany. the wilmington & Northern
Railroad company, the Lehigh & Hud-
son River Railway company and the
Lehigh & New England Railroad com
pany.
It is set forth in the petition that
the combination Of railroads, coal
companies and canal companies in the
list of defendants control at the pres
ent time SO per cent of the entire un-
mined deposits of anthracite coal, and
market about 80 per cent of the annual
supply. It's supply, it is asserted, will
outlast by many years that of any sup
ply now known.
IN time, it is argued. this combina-
tion, if not dissolved, will own or con
troll every ton of commercially avail
able anthracite known to exist" The
importance of the case is emphasized
by the statement that "only the law
can afford relief"
1t is pointed out that while in al
most any other branch of industry it
is at least possible for a monopoly to
be broken by the influx of fresh capt.
tai attracted by high profits there
could be no protection against such
combination as it is alleged exists in
years to come, when other known
sources of anthracite coal shall have
been consumed.