The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-12
HARVESTER co. TO BE DlSSOL WE'D BY U. s. COURT international Company De- clared Monopoly in Re-
 straint of Trade MUST SPLIT IN 90
 DAYS OR BE SUED MO Question of Over capi talization is Sustained
 By U. s. Judges

st. Paul, MirrA. Aug. 12.vThe In fernationa1 Harvester Company today was declared to be monopoly in re- 1ssstrafrat of interstate and foreign trade,s and was ordered dissolved by a major ldty decision in the United States dis .itrict court
 submits a. plan for the issolution Of the combination into st least three inc apendent concerns within 90 days, or, lin case Of appeal. within 90 days of. lthe issuance of an appeal mandate from the United States supreme court the decision announces that the court will entertain an application for the appointment Of a receiver for all the properties of the corporation.
 The decision of the court was given gby Circuit Judge Walter I. Smith of Iowa with which Judge William .C. Hook of kansas. agreed. and from which Judge Walter A. Sanb orn of linnesota dissented-
 Tha majority opinion held that the InternationaI Harvester Company was from it's organization in 1902 in vio- Iation of the Sherman law. The orig 5inals corporation, formed of five con- cerns, violated the first section Of the Sherman act by restraining cempetf- ton among themselves. The conn bined organization also tended to mo- nopo1fze trade in contravehtion of the | second 96Ct10n or Cn18 law.
 The decision declares that while the InternatiolaI Harvester Company and it's selling organization. the In tternationa1 Harvester Company of America, control from 80 to 85 per cent of the trade in agricultural i'm iplements manufactured by them. their treatment of smaller competitors in general has been fair and just.
 The court finds fault with the ac-3 ftion of thas corpbration, aside from {the technical violation of the Sher- man law, for only two actions. The lopinion declares that there was no ex- tcuse for the advertising of the prod tuots Of D. M Osberne and Company las Independent for two years after it fha.d Virtually entered the Interna- Etiona1 Harvester Company. This ad- ivertfsing was to induce purchasers tthe court finds. from those who were opposed to buying from the com tbinatfon.
 The other act censured by the de- 4cision was the manner in which the five original concerns were turned ov- fer to the International company by who contended that he had purchased the properties
 'sThe court is clearly of the opin- .ion," the decision reads. that the pro cess by which it was made to appear that the properties were sold to Lane
 
 The court holds, however, that the property turned into the International company was greater than the stock issued for it, and that the case in wolves no question of overcapitaliza- 1tion.
 The court cites portions of the. de- scision In the cases of the Standard @Oi1 Co. the American Tobacco Go, the DuPont De Nemours & Go, and other cases as to what constitutes the restraint of trade. reasonable and unreasonable, and concludes:
 If the five companies which formed the International had been small and their combination had been essential to enable them to compete with large corporations in the same line, then their uniting would, in the light of reason, not have been in restraint of trade, but in the furtherance of it; but when they constituted the largest Z manufacturers of their articles in America, if not in the>world, and held t jointly about 80 to S5 per cent of the trade. and two at least of the com panfes forming the combination were when similarly viewed, an unreason- able restraint Of trade.
 stIf the business of the separate 3connpanies onabining was unsuccess- ful it could tloe plain that their com bination vas reasonable in view of the rule OF reason as PIOC4dA1uSl Stcy InS Supreme Court, but it is conceded that the Mccormick and the Deering com panies had established reasonably successful and prosperous businesses,' so thai question is eIiminated
 There is no limit under the Amer fcan law to which a business may not independently grow. and even 2. conn bination Of two or more Businesses if it does not unreasona-b1y restrain trade ia nok nlezal: bat # is tho com