PGE2
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSEli VEK. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER faTl&lT
F2ESIBEIITS mtii
(Continued from Page One.)
which such a dangerous theory of ju
dicial discretion in enforcing this stat
ute tun derive the slightest sanction.
Fore and Effectiveness of Statute
Matter of Growth.
We have been twenty-one years mak
ing this statute effective for the pur
poses for which it was enacted. The
Knight case was discouraging and
seemed to remit to the states the whole
available power to attack and suppress
the evils of the trusts. Slowly, howev
er, the error of (hat Judgment was cor
rected, and only In the last three or
four years has the heavy hnnd of the
law been laid upon the great illegal
combinations that have exercised such
n absolute dominion over many of our
Industries. Criminal prosecutions have
been brought, and a number are pend
ing, but juries have felt averse to con
Tletlng for jail sentences and judges
bave been most reluctant to Impose
ucb sentences on men of respectable
standing in society whose offense has
been regnrded as merely statutory.
8U11. as the offense becomes better un
derstood and the committing of It par
takes more of studied and deliberate
defiance of the law we can be confi
dent that juries will convict individu
als, and that jiill sentences will be im
posed. .
The Remedy In Equity by Dissolution.
In the Standard Oil case the supreme
and circuit courts fouud the combina
tion to be a monopoly of the interstate
business of running, transporting and
marketing petroleum and lta products,
effected and maintained through thir
ty-nine defendants, who were charged
with being the conspirators through
whom the illegal combination acquired
and exercised Its unlawful dominion.
Under the decree these defendants will
bold amounts of stock in the various
distributee companies ranging from 41
per cent, as a maximum to 23 per
cent tfs a minimum, except In the case
of one small company, the Porto Rican
Tobacco company. In which they will
hold 45 per cent. The twenty-nine In
dividual defendants are enjoined for
three years from buying any stock ex
cept from each other, and the group Is
thus prevented from extending its con
trol during that period. All parties to
the suit and the new companies who
are made parties are enjoined perpet
ually from In any way effecting any
combination between any of the com
panies In violation of the statute by
way of resumption of the old trust.
Each of the fourteen companies is en
Joined from acquiring stock In any of
the others. AH these companies are
enjoined from baring common direc
tors or officers, or common buying or
selling agents, or common offices, or
lending money to each other.
Size of New Companies.
Objection was made by certain in
dependent tobacco companies that this
settlement was unjust because it left
companies with very large capital In
active business and that the settle
ment that would be effective to put all
on an equality would be a division of
the ccpltal and plant of the trust into
small fractions in amount more near
ly equal to that of each of the inde
pendent companies. This contention
results , from a misunderstanding of
the anti-trust law and its purpose. It
is not Intended thereby to prevent the
accumulation of targe capital in busi
ness enterprises In which such a com
bination can secure reduced cost of
production, sale and distribution. It
Is directed against such an aggrega-
ing a monopoly. If we shall have by
the decree defeated these purposes
and restored competition between the
large units into which the capital and
plant have been divided we shall have
accomplished the useful ,. purpose of
the statute.
Confiscation Not the Purpose of the
. Statute.
It Is not the purpose of the statute
to confiscate the property .and capital
of the offending trusts. Methods of
punishment by fine or imprisonment
of the Individual offenders, by fine of
the corporation or by forfeiture of its
goods In .transportation, are provided.
but the proceeding In equity is a spe
cific remedy to stop the operation 'of
the trust by injunction and prevent
the future use of the plant and capital
in violation of the statute.
Effectiveness of Decree. .
I venture to say that not in the his
tory of American law ; has a decree
more effective for such a purpose been
entered by a court ithan that against
the tobacco trust As Circuit Judge
Noyes said In his Judgment approving
the decree:
"The extent to which it has been
necessary to tear apart this comblna
tlon and force it Into new forms with
the attendant burdens ought to demon
strate that the federal anti-trust statute
is a drastic statute which accomplishes
effective results, which bo long as It
stands on the statute books must be
ty-seven different corporations, the
stock of which was held by a New Jer-
ev company. . It in effect commanded! tion of capital only when its purpose
the tUssolutton of this combination, dl-1 Js that of stifling competition, enhane
" reeted tne imuirr uu iu . . . ... " . , " B
butlon by the New Jersey company of
Tine stock held by it iu the thlrty-seveu
corporations to and among its stock
holders, and the corporations and indl
Tidual defendants were enjoined from
conspiring . or . combining to restore
mich monopoly, and all agreements be
tween the subsidiary corporations tend
ing to produce or bring about further
Tiolntions of the act were enjoined.
In the tobacco case the court found
that the individual defendants, twen
ty-nine in number, had been engaged
In a successful, effort to acquire com
plete dominion" over the manufacture,
ale and distribution of tobacco in this
country and abroad and that this bad
been done by combinations made with
purpose and effect to stifle competi
tion, control prices and establish a
monopoly, not only in the manufacture
of tobacco, bul also of tin foil and lic
orice used in its manufacture and of
Its products of cigars, cigarettes and
nuffs. The tobacco suit presented a
far more complicated and difficult case
then the Standard Oil suit for a decree
yrh'. h would effectuate the will of the
eoi: t and end the violation of the stat
ute! There was here -no single hold
ing company, as In the case of the
Standard Oil trust. The main company
was the American Tobacco company,
a manufacturing, selling and holding
company. The plan adopted to de
' itroy the combination and restore com
petition Involved the rcdivlslon of the
capital and plants of the whole trust
between some of the compunles con
tituting the trust anil new companies
erganlzed for the purpose" 'of the de
cree and tnndo panic to it and mini
bertng, new and old. fourteen,
j. Situation After' Readjustment....
The American Tohuc;o company
' old), readjusted, capital ?!)C!.OrO.OC0:
the Liggett & Meyers Tobacco company
(new), cnjiltal fG7,0ii0.000; the r. Lorn
lard company (uewV capital $47,Oi:0,
000. and the It. J. Reynolds Tobacco
company (old), capital $7,523,000, are
Chiefly engaged in the manufacture
fjid sale of chewing and smoking to-
""bncco Bud cigars. The former one tin
foil company Is divided into two, one
Jd $825,000 capital and the other of
$400,000. The one snuff company is
divided into three companies, one with
capital of J15.000.000, another with a
. Capital of $8,000,000 and a third with,
a capital of $3,000,000. The licorice
. torapanles are two, one with a capital
f ?",75&noo and another '.with a enpl-,!
al ot $2,000,000. ? There Is also the
! BritlHh-Amerlcon Tobacco company, a
British corporation. 1 doing business
, abroad with a capital of $20,000,000.
the Torto Rican Tobacco company,
with a capital of $1,800,000." and the
corporation of United Cigar Stores,
with a capital of $9,000,000. v i
Under this' arrangement each of the
different kinds of business will be dis
tributed between two or more compa
nies with a division of the prominent
brands in the same tobacco products,
o as to make competition not only
possible, but necessary. Thus th
amoklng tobacco business of the coun
try la divided so that the present in
dependent companies have 21.S9 per
cent, while the American Tobacco com
pany will have 8.108 per cent, the Lig
gett & Meyers 20.05 per cent, the Loril-
i lard company 22.82 per cent and the
, Reynolds company 2.00 per cent. The
took of the other thirteen companies,
both preferred and common, has been
taken from the defendant American
Tobijcco company nnd has been dis
tributed among Its stockholders. All
covenants restricting competition have (
been declared null and further per
formance of them has been enjoined.
The preferred stock of the different
companies has now been given voting
power, which was denied It under the
- old organisation. The ratio of the pre
ferred st'Hk to the common was as 78
to 40. ThlM constitutes a very decided
change In the character of the owner
ship and control of each company.
In tha original suit there were twen-
obeyed una v, ulcfi cannot be' disobey
ed without Incurring farreaching pen
alties. And, on (he other baud, the
successful reconstruction of this or
ganization should teach that the effect
of enforcing this statute Is not to de
stroy, but to reconstruct: not to de
mo'lsh. but to recreate In accordance
with the conditions which the congress
has declared shall exist among the
people of the United States."
Common Stock Ownership.
It has been assumed that the pres
ent pro rata and common ownership in
all these companies by former stock
holders of the trust would insure a
continuance of the same old single con
trol of ell the companies Into which
the trust has by decree been disinte
grated. This Is erroneous and is based
upon the assumed inefflcacy and lnnoc
nousness of Judicial injunctions. The
companies are enjoined from co-operation
or combination; they have differ
ent managers, directors, purchasing
ind sales agents. If all or many of
the numerous stockholders, reaching
into the thousands, attempt to secure
concerted action of the companies with
a view to the control of the market
their number is so large that such an
attempt could not well be concealed,
and its prime movers and all its partic
ipants would be at once subject to con
tempt proceedings and Imprisonment
of a summary character. The immedi
ate result of the present situation will
necessarily be activity by all, the com
panies under different managers, and
then competition must follow or there
Will be activity by one company and
stagnation by another. Only a short'
tl'we will inevitably lead to a change
in ownership of the stock, as all op
portunity for continued co-operation
must disappear. - Those critics who
speak of this disintegration In the trust
as a mere change of garments have not
given consideration to the inevitable
working of the decree and understand
little the personal danger of attempt
ing to evade or set at naught the sol
emn InlnnoHnn of ft court whose ohiect
is made plain by the decree and whose
inhibitions are set, forth with a detail
and compjebensiveuess unexampled In
the history of equity jurisprudence.
big in the st;Uut which condemns
combinations of capital or mere big
ness of plant c.rganized to secure econ
omy in production and a reduction of
its cost It is ouly when the purpose
or necessary effect of the organization
and maintenance of the combination
or the aggregation of Immense size are
the stifling of competition, actual and
potential, and the enhancing of prices
and establishing a monopoly that the
statute is violated. Mere size is no
sin against the law. The merging of
two or more business plants necessari
ly eliminates competition between the
units thus combined, but this elimina
tion is in contravention of the statute
only when the combination is made for
purpose of ending this particular com
petition in order to secure control of
and enhance prices and create a mo
nopoly. Lack of Definitenees In the Statute.
The complaint is made of the stat
ute that it Is not sufficiently definite
in its description of that which is for-'
bidden to enable business men to avoid
its violation. The suggestion Is that
we may have a combination of two
corporations which may run on for
years and that subsequently the at
torney freneral mnv conclude that it
was a violation of the statute and that
which was supposed by the combiners
to be Innocent then turns out to be a
combination lu violation of the statute.
The answer to this hypothetical case
is that when men attempt to amass
such stupendous capital as will enable
them to suppress competition, control
prices and establish a monopoly they
know the purpose of their acts. Men
do not do such a thing without having
it clearly in mind. If what they do is
merely for the purpose of reducing the
cost of production, without the thought
of suppressing competition by use of the
bigness of the plant they are creating,
then they cannot be convicted at the
time the union is made, nor can they
be convicted later unless It happen
that later on they . conclude to sup
press competition, and take the. usual
methods for doing so and thus estab
lish for themselves a monopoly. They
can In such a case hardly complain If
the motive which subsequently Is dls
liJiniei' Co
il
A sood fire to keep the chill away
A good book to while the hours away,
(5 ood lights to drive the gloom away.
Whether you read, sew, work or study at night, a
gocd light is absolutely necessary.
Electric lights save your eyes and your temper
They do away with danger and drudgery.'
More people are using them every day and wonde:
ing how they ever got alon.2 without them before.
Our rates are sura to appeal to you. Phone, Main
34. ' : ' ' - ' ' ' '" :
EASTERN OREGON LIGHT AND
POWER COMPANY
Voluntary
of
Reorganizations
Trusts at Hand.' 1 -,.'
The effect of these two decisions has
led to decrees dissolving the combina
tion of manufacturers of electric
lamps, a southern wholesale grocers'
association, an interlocutory decree
Other i closed. is attributed by the court to the
original coniiunation.
against the powder trust, with direc- chants and business men to follow,
tlons by the circuit court compelling ,
dissolution, and other combinations of j
a similar history are now negotiating (
with the department of justice looking
to a disintegration by decree and re
organization In accordance with law.
It seems possible to bring about these
reorganizations without general busi
ness disturbance.
Movement For, Repeal of the Anti- .
trust Law,
But now that the anti-trust act is
seen to be effective for the accomplish-1
ment of the purpose of its enactment ;
we are met by a cry from many differ
ent quarters for its repeal. It is said
to be obstructive of business progress,
to be an attempt to restore old fash
ioned methods of destructive competi
tion between small units nnd to make
impossible those useful combinations
of capital and the reduction of the cost
of production that nro essential to cr.i
tiuued prosperity and normal growth.
in the re'-ent. decisions the snpn'e
New Ramcdies Suggested.
Much. Is said of the repeal of this
statute' and of constructive legislation
Intended to accomplish the purpose
and blaze a clour path for hone3t mer
it
nr..;" be that , such a . plan will be
evjlved. but I submit that the discus
sions which have be?n brought put In
re"r:it days by the fear of the con
tinued execution of the autl-trust law
hir e produced nothing but glittering
generalities and have offered no line
of distinction or rule of action as defi
nite and as clear as that which the su
preme court Itself lays down In en
forcing the statute.1
Supplemental Legislation Needed, Not
" Repeal or Amendment. '
I see no objection, and Indeed I con
see decided advantages. In the enact
ment of a law which shall describe
and denounce methods of competition
which dre unfair and are. badges of the
unlawful purpose denounced In the
anti-trust law. ' The attempt and pur
pose ta suppress a competitor by un
derselling h!m at a price so unprofltn
b!? ns to frtv" him out of business or
CRAFTSMAN
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JCottJnoi on Page Three.)
? -
If your eyes give you trou
ble have them examined and
properly fitted with glasses ,
by a reliable optometrist and
the only attendance graduate
OLD STYLE ; . - vKRYPTOK. optometrist In Union county,,
The most modern methods only used. (
If you have trouble glasseB will not correct you will be told the prop
er course to pursue.-3 ; '
I make a specialty of fitting glasses. W. M. Peare, graduate Northern
Illinois College of Opthamology, Chicago, with
J. H. PEARE, & SON.
I La Grande's leading Jewelers and optometrists. Opposite U. S. Land
office. Broken lenses replaced in a lew minutes, we grind our own
lenses..'. ".'
wHniiHnimninininiimHmmHHHtit
FOR BOYS BETWEEN
7 THE AGE
OF
10 AND
1 YEAKS
OLD 0NLT.
r3
g5)
-13
ADMISSION WILL BE
, BY TICKET.
TICKETS CAK BE
OBTAINED OF
WB. CHEEtBT
AT TB7E LAUTfDBY
AFTFJS DIG IS.
Christmas Entertamment given to the
. u' B; ..; 1: , .
Off
'.) ' -
Si
-V;. B. Cherry . -M''-;
K i ; i"; i ' ' - .' -v.-'.; '.'"'. v ' , . ' . . ''-,'.. . V ; ' . r .'.''
Christmas Mprning, 10:30 o'clock, at the Isis Theatre
A Special Programme of Moving Pictures especially for the boys has been assured by Mr.
Sherwood.
$25.00 in gold to be given to the members cf the Boys Saver's Club. Any boy haying
$1.00 or more in the Postal Savings Bank before Christmas
Day becomes a member of the club. AH boys between 10
and 16 years old will be admitted to the entertainment free
TJIE BOYS WILL BE
GIYEIf SEYEBAL
I MINUTE TALKS
BY PROMINENT
BUSINESS MEN
OF
LA GRANDE.
BOYS
SEE MR. CHERRY
NOTf. HE
YfILL START
YOU TO
SATE