New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-04
ship TRUSTS WIN IN
GOVERNMENT SUITS
Court Finds Far Eastern
and Brazilian PaCtS
Legal and Useful.
ONE CONFERENCE HAD
BEEN ENDED BY WAR
Had Been of Great Advantage to
American Shippers, Says
Judge Lacombe.

Neither the Brazilian Conference nor
the Far Eastern Conference of steam
ship lines Constitutes an Illegal trust
according TO a decision given yesterday
in the United States District Court
Antitrust lawsuits brought by the gov
eminent were q missed. The opinion
was written by Judge f. Henry La
oombe and concurrcd in by his associ-
ates. II is likely that United States
Attorney General Gregory Will try 10
get a reversal.
Judge Laccmbe at the start an
nourccd that the European war had
settled the combination of the Brazil
ian Conference lines, two Of which
were British and two German. The
question before the court had become
purely academic. he said, and the case
was virtually an autopsy The Far
Eastern Conference case he practically
dismissed with the observation that
shippers. competitors and, IN fact
everybody except the government APP
JcarCd 90 be perfectly satisfied with
the way the bu mess was carried on.
In the course of the autopsy on the
brazilian Conference IL was found that
the late combination was, IN spite oil
itself, benevolent trust. In develop
ing it's business the combination adopt
cd cXpcdICuts VIII Oh were TO the ad-
vantage cf the shipper and especially
of the American shipper. At the time
the suit W., brought there was more
competition than ever before. The
evidence showed, Judge LacomOe
pointed ou., that the competitor was
close 20 the edge Of loss when II un-
der took .o cut the rates Of the COM
l.nat .or. bet that was far from con
40 d
crust were unreasonable.
Had stimulated Trade.
a 70 witness graphically expressed
IT," laid judge Lacombc, ocean rates
are as urs able as the water itself
Regular rates, normally reasonable, are
not 70 be held unreasonable because al
some time and place one or more
tramp steamers are willing TO cut them
deeply rather than sail to their next
port In ballast"
There is no sentiment in business"
said judge Iacpmbe, "but the combl-
nation rea. oncd that if they kept their
rates so regulated in coordination
with EuropCan rates as TO give
United States shipper reasonable assur-
ancc as to what he had TO meet IN com
petition and a fair parity as TO rates
and also gave him proper and suihc'ent
sa;lings the trade would be stimulated,
and with It's growth the combination
would gather in It's snare of the tlnan-
ciaI result. The event seems to have
justified their expectations
Admitting that there was a system
Of rebates. Ju ricc Lacombe said:
These rebates were not secret. Nor
were they confined TO a favored few.
They were uniform, were open 10 all
and all were invited to avail them
selves of them. The arrangement was
probably as old as the trade itself"
Were No "Cut Rate" Ships.
Only one suspicious circumstance
was found in the organization of the
Far Eastern Conference "a provision
Tor Fighting ships" Judge Lacomba
said that had there been any evidence
that cut rate carrier had been put
in service the court would he inclined
TO Grant an Injunction He found 10
such evidence. I'm fact, no one at al.
appeared to complain of the defend
ants conduct the court pointed out.
The only witnesses were from the Of
fees of the concern itself. in view o.
his, he continued:
There seems a fair inference that
whatever restraints may have resulted
from defendants combination and
conduct are merely the usual, normal
and reasonable restraints against
which. il has been held, the Sherman
act j. not directed"
The defendants named in the suit
against the Brazilian Conference were
the following companies, their officers
and agents: The Prince Line, Ltd,
the burg-Amcrikanisch Packet
farhart Aktien-G ellschaft, the Ham
Observation-Disclosures Damrfschlf-
s-Gesellschaft and the Lamport
e. Holt Line.
In the Far Eastern Conference the
defendant companies were: The
American-Asiatic Steamship Company,
Shcwan, Tones e. Co., the Hamburg
American Line, the Anglo-American
Oil Company, the United States and
China-Japan Steamships Company,
Howard Houlder & Partners, Ltd,
Andrew Weir & Co. Houlder, Middle
ton & Co.. Barber & Co., the Lanca-
shire Shipping Company, Rankin Gil
bore & Co., Dodwell & Co, Ltd. and
the lsthmian Steamship Companv