St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-06-16
PROFITEERING
DEFINED BY
JUDGE H. B. HOWE
He Explained 1t to tho
Grand Jury in Session
at Windsor

At the opening of the Unitc'l
States District Court, now III session
~ windsor, Judge Harland b. Howe
in charging the grand jury, instruct
cd them as follows in regard 10 pro-
iitccrins. ILL a,,
"As It is quite likely you Will con
slider many protitccring cases. INC
q, Court will especially call your after
tioa to the more important provisions
OF the law in this regard. ,.
ain order to assure an auequ',>
,,r.ply and an equitable Distribution
~ the ncccssarics of life, on the I'm"
DIV of October, 1919, Congress pass
a law against boarding, monopollIz-
i*:r, or specializing in foods '1eeds'
..;el. wearing apparel, fcrtiiizer' .G ;u;
.,achinery and equipment REQUIRE. require
tor the production OF foods 'cco'
AID fuel. c,,,
"This law makes it unlawful
:, eng other tElngs, for any. person
to willfully hoard or monopoilzc sucn
1,ccessaries, to make any unjust OF
u reasonable rate or charge IN
lvrdling or dealing in OF with such
NJ. essarics, or to conspirc, combine
a"rce, or arrange with any other per-
,cn to restrict tl,eir distribution or to
exact excessive prices tor such
aocds. The penalty may be fine not
e: ceeding $4,000 OF imprisonment LOT
ret more than two years, or both.
"Thc most important part of the
statute is the provision against MAX
ing any ucjast OF unreasonable rate
O., charge in handling or dealing =, IN
o. with such goods. The word will
fully as used in the statute is deiin-
cd to mean willingly, purposely, sell
ing such goods ut unjust OF unreason.
able prices, az controdistinguished
from Inadvertently. or accidentally.
Tic words rate or charge are dcfin-
cd to mean the price at which said
goods are sold. Whether the prices
which are charged arc unjust or I'M
reasonable, arc questions OF tact tor
YOU to decide, acting as reasonable
mer and taking into consideration
what price the person making the
sale paid for the goods in the market;
whether they were bought In the Or
binary course of trade at the market
price at that time; the length OF time
tn. goods had been carried in stock;
the expenses Of carrying on the busl-
less; what q fair and reasonable pro
fit on the goods would be, and all
the Other facts and circumstances III
an about the transaction, but how
much the marko. price has advanced
from the time the goods were pur-
chased to the time they are sold.
"Another very important provision
of the statute is that it Is made un-
lawful for a person to conspire, COM
bire, agree or arrange with another
fpcrSon to exact excessive prices for
nccessaries. Under this provision, If
two or more persons agree or arrange
together to exact excessive prices for
nccessaries, this is breach of the
law, although the agreement OF ar
rangcment is unsuccessful, and no
excessive prices arc actually cxactcd
o" received. Congress made this law
very sweeping in its terms, and it
was intended to NICE tsuch offenders
on the very threshold of their prcpar-
alton to exact excessive prices for
tn, neccssarics of life. To illustrate:
two OF more pelson agree or az
range together to exact excessive
prices. They have committed the
oGense, they have done just what
Congress has prohibited, although
they never carry out their agreement
or arrangement.
"Such conspiracy, combination,
agreement or arrangement may be
proved by the proof of facts from
which you can fairly and reasonably
infer the existence of such conspir-.-
acy, combination, agreement or ar
r&ngement. As such agreements OF
arrangements are usually secret and
difficult to discover the law is that it
his not necessary to prove by direct
evidence that the parties actually
came together and agreed or arrang-
cd that they would exact excessive
pllccs for ncccsgaries. This can be
proved by the proof of facts from
which you can 1airlv and reasonably
inter that they had common object
| to exact such prices OF by the proof
| Of facts from which you can fairly
AID reasonably infer that the acts of
each person were done in pursuance
of such a common purpose and calcu-
lGtcQ U cHect WNtL pun pOoe. ~ oHouAu
be made to appear that the parties
steadily pursued the same object by
c'rmmon means all leading to the
same result. Concurrence of action
is sufficient to enable you to presume
Concurrence of sentiment and inten-
tlcn, and from this you can find the
fact that the agreement or arrange
ment existed. If you find that the
purtics pursued the same object by
the same means with the intention
of accomplishing the objects which
they were pursuing, you can draw the
col clusion that they conspired, COM
biz ed, agreed or arranged together
to effect that object. A good question
to ask yourselves is, Did the parties
have the common purpose to exact
excessive prices for nccessaries, and
did they pursue that purpose by COM
mon means, whether acting separate
~ or together?
"You should diligently inquire into
all alleged violations of this law, as
it is the only protection the public
has against the greed Of the profiteer