Show J. J.'S r S 'S S 5 i l' l I Y M n MM M M t M M M t m m M H M I I M I I M M M t S 'S f INVALID TRUST ANTI LAWS L WS i t 4 H M M I I M I M H H H t M I M H I M M M IJ M H M M M 4 i 1 S Whether one is an trust antitrust or a trust pro-trust American merican citizen his opposition on or advocacy will willS S practically go for naught hereafter so far as StateS State S legislation is concerned Justice Harlan's decision that the Illinois trust anti-trust statute is unconstitutional unconstitutional S knocks out the laws of 01 thirteen States on the subject Illinois Georgia Indiana 1 Louisiana Michigan Mississippi Montana Nebraska North NorthS S t 0 Carolina arolina a South Dakota Tennessee Texas and antl andi I i S. S i have all passed laws e exempting empting oner one r j h class lass of citizens from the operation of said laws S r By t tile the e opinion of Justice Harlan the Supreme f Court of f the United Unite States holds that a trust law tin in order to be constitutional must moist apply to all citizens citi- citi S L- L zeus zens alike alite Because the Illinois law contained cert certain 5 t tain in provisions previsions ex exempting the owners and producers S I c eelS cers rs of live stock and a agricultural implements from fromy v y any tny liability the court ourt holds that the State violated S that th t part of th Federal Constitution which insists S that all citizens of a State Slate shall be accorded equal 5 5 S protection under tinder its laws The concluding clause of the tle first section in the Fourteenth Amendment to toS S S tIle the Constitution declares that no no State shall den deny V Vr to o oan an any person within its jurisdiction the equal pl pro pro- t of the laws The rue application of f that proviso r r to this case is so clear clear- that it is is is impossible ble to understand why it ii was waso deliberately vi violated lat d dr S in i so many separate commonwealths c The specific r I 1 ti issue inthe action was the re result of a provi provision in ill inthe inthe the state act allowing a purchaser from a trade combination to plead the act itself as a defence in any suit brought to recover the tue price of goods sold It ought never neveT to be forgotten that in more than one smaller court it has often been held that thata a gambling debt is not Bot collectible by law Jaw because not contracted under the sanction O of law In the trust anti-trust legislation the law has been giving a man manthe manthe manthe the right to repudiate l his is debt even eyen though most justly owed The average citizen needs a good deal of light yet on the trust question before he is read ready to take snap judgment thereon |