Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1913-07-25
WOULD RENEW
WAR ON TRUST
M REYNOLDS IS STILL CONSIDER
ING OIL AND TOBACCO
CASES
CUMM1Ns BILL DIRECTING APP.
PEAL IS GETTING AT
TENTION.


McReynolds still is considering the dis.
solutions of the Standard Oil and
Tobacco trusts to determine whether
further steps should be taken by the
Federal government to promote real and
free competition, which. it is alleged,
does not exist in those industries, des.
pite the decrease of dissolution.
In the tobacco case, the attorney
general is giving serious thought to
the bill introduced by Senator Cum
Minis directing the department of JUS
tice to appeal to the supreme court
from the decree Of dissolution entered
by the circuit court for the Southern
district Of New York, Nov. Is, 1911,
and also authorizing Independent
tobacco manufacturers and others to IN
tervene in the case to object to the
decree.
F. H. Levy, who represented indie
pendents when they unsuccessfully
sought to intervene before the final
entry Of the decree, has iltd with the
department a digest Of the situation
and an argument in favor of the legal
ity of the proposed law. This is now
under consideration, and the attorney
general is expected to give his opinion
to the senate committee on judiciary.
to which the Cummins bill has been
referred.
Intricate Law Points
Some intricate questions Of law, Of
fcials of the department of justice
point out are involved in the Cum
Minis measure. The government, under
the present statute, had sixty days in
which to appeal to the supreme court
from the New York court IS decree dis
solving the Tobacco trust, but Former
Attorney General Wickersham agreed
to the decree and did not appeal. It has
been suggested that since the govern
ment did not avail itself of the right
to appeal within the time limit, the tob-
acco interests were entitled to regard
the decree as a final determination of
the issues, and the government should
not attempt to undo it after the ex.
piration of early two years However,
the attorney general, who regards the
decree as a"mere subterfuge," is Civ.
ing the Cummins bill consideration as
possible way to cure alleged non-com.
petitive evils.
In the Standard Oil case, the at.
torney general is continuing his study
Of the report of Charles E. Pagan, the
government attorneys who investigated
the question whether the decree Of
dissolution is being violated. A con-
clusion has not yet been reached.
Claim They Are Good.
The oil interests maintain they are
complying with the decree. While the
governments bill in the oil case and
the supreme courts decision were
sweeping in character, the attorney
general, before taking any further &C
ton in the courts, must decide whether
the decree properly interpreted the
supreme courts decision, which was
designed to compel competition. I'm
fair competitive methods are said TO
have been eliminated, and the question
is, are the disintegrated companies
competing or are they fixing the high
price Of oils
While the supreme court decided
both cases, the decree in either case
reached the highest tribunal.
Attorney General McReynold's prin.
cipal complaint against the DEGREES
revolves about the pro rata distriba,
ton of stock among the same stock.
holders who controlled the original
combinations. He pointed out today
that the supreme court, in the Union
Pacific case, decided that such dis
tribution was not a real dissolution OF
a trust under the Sherman law.