| OCR Text |
Show STATUTE IS SET ASIDE Illinois Anti-Trust Law Unconstitutional. Un-constitutional. DID NOT PROTECT ALL United States Supreme Court Passes Upon the Act, lp-clnl Stress Bring Br-ing Laid Upon tho Ninth Section ExunptlnjT Tarm Products This Provision Held to Ho Antagonistic to tho Provisions of the Constitution Constitu-tion Which Grants E-iuil Protection Protec-tion to All Harlan's Cplulon. Washington March 10 -The Pnlted States Hupieive court toda ite-lded the Illinois antl trust statute to be unconstitutional uncon-stitutional because of the provision of the law exempting agricultural products and live stock from the operations of Ihe law The decision vvna rendered In the case nf Thomas Cnnnell) and others nRalnst the I nlnn Sower Pipe tompin of Ohio ami was delivered by Justice Harlan CAl'Sl! OP ACTION. The case grew out of the sale of pipe bs tho Pipe compati) lo Connelly nnd others who. after securing It declined lo make pnmcnt nn the ground that the Pipe company Is an Illegal combltir,-tlon, combltir,-tlon, for the restraint of trnde, under the common Hvv, because It tomblncs a number of locil plpe-ninniifnctnrlng concerns that It Is n lomhlmtlon In violation nf the Sherman nntl-trust livv, and, further, a violation of the antitrust anti-trust law of the Stale of Illinois. OPINION I1ASKD ON THIUD PLHA The llrtt two contentions received very slight consideration, the rouit holding that even If the allegations were true they could not Justly prevent tho corporation aclllne Its property. The opinion, therefore, vvna based on the third plea, which Justlco Harlan said would be valid If the State law could be held to be valid, aa there could be no doubt of (lie purport nf the net. Under that law the coipotatlon could be dissolved, dis-solved, if the law Is valid hTItnSS UPON NINTH BKCTION. He emoted Ihe law at length. lalng 'especial sties upon the ninth section, exempting farm products, concluding lint this provision la nnt ignnlstlc to tho piovlslona of th Constitution grnntlng eriual protection to nil under the law He also held that the exempting clause Is fo Interwoven with other portions of the statute as to render It Impossible to eliminate It from the law as entirety and therefore held Hint the cntlro lavv must lie held tn be Invalid. cash: on whit op nunon. Justice Italian said that the cnae had come lo the .Supreme court on a writ of error from tho Circuit court of Iho United Htatos for the Northern district of Illinois, which bad held the State anti-trust law to bo uiiconstluitlniuil because of the piovlslon dlirrlmlnatlng In faiorot fiinn products. It grew out of actions by the plre compnny to recover re-cover cm ncgulloble notes given by Con. nnlly and William H. Doo for plpo received re-ceived bj them under contract. hHCTION OP LAW (JUOTHD. Section i of the IlllnolB law, upon which Justlco Harlan's opinion was based. Is to the effect that ' The provisions pro-visions of this act shall not apply to agricultural prodiictn or live stock whllo in Iho hands of tho producer." Plrst atntlng what could bo done under un-der the statute without the exempting provision, Justice Hatlan aild that the nrrangement or combination between the Union Bewer Pipe company nnd tho other companies, lorporntlons and llrma created and constituted such u trust na the Illinois statute forbids In manifest from tho evidence In tho record. rec-ord. POINTS MADH CLHAU. It Is eciuallv dear that If the plilntlff was an Illinois corporation Its charter could be forfeited nnd nn end put to Its corporate existence by proceedings instituted by tho Attorncy-acnera.1 of the State It la also eleir that If the statute lo valid Ihe defendant could plead 11011-relliblllty 11011-relliblllty for the plpo purchased by them upon the ground that tho plain-tin plain-tin was an illegal cnml Inatlnn nnd the contracts which It made with the defendants de-fendants void under the statute of Illl-nils Illl-nils Ihe statute cxtesly nuthorlzen such a defense nrrncT or hxhmptino claush. Ho then took up the question of the effect from the exempting pectlon, nus-talnlng nus-talnlng the view of tho Circuit court that this necllon Is repugmnt to the Fourteenth Amendment In tho Constitution Consti-tution of tho United States, and fur-Iher fur-Iher that It Is so connected ntl Interwoven Inter-woven ullh other sections tli.lt it acta lo Invnlldile the entire nit, JI'BTICi: HAULAN'B AHC.IIJinNT. I'ollowlng Is a portion of the argil-inenl argil-inenl In support nt this position, If combinations of cnpltal skill nr acta, in respert of the sale and purchase nf roods inercliindlsi. nr rnmmodttloi whneb ihn persons firms corporations nr ass ilitlnns forming suhscouenl coinbl nitlons mil control or istnhllsh In Ibelr illsrrellnn the prices of surh goods merchandise mer-chandise or commodities are hurtful to Ihe public Interest!, and should b. sup-1 sup-1 ressed II Is impossible to perceive why like romtlnillolK In risprrt of agrlcul-ttiral agrlcul-ttiral products and llvestoik are not euuallv hiirirul Two or more engaged In selling drjgonils or grntirles or meals, or fuel or clothing or medlclnis. nre, under tho stntuie. criminals, anil subject to a line. If tin combine llnlr cnpltal, skill or acts fir the purpose of cstnb-llhlng cstnb-llhlng nnl rolling Increasing or reilue. big prices, or of preventing free and unit-strained cnmpelllloti amongst them-r. them-r. ,vrs or others In Ihe silo of Ih. Ir c. ixls or merchandise but Ihelr nelgli. bora who hnpin to b. agrli iiliurallsis nnd livestock ralseis maj nuke combinations combi-nations of that ohiraitir In nrerenie to their grain or llvwdmk without Incurring Iho picerrlhcl lepnllv Pinter what rule of permissible c I isslllcntlon can such leg. Isliillon be sustained as consistent with Ihe collll pmlectlon nf tho laws? M'KHNNA IllHBIJNI'S Justice McKennii delivered a dissent-Ins dissent-Ins opinion. Ilo contended tint the mualllj of opeiatloti which Iho Con nil tut liiti implied In Stale legislation inunot b ronalriied no demindlng nn absolute universality of operation having no repaid to conditions and relations re-lations of men. Henri- classification Is necessarj He then suggested that the distinctions mado In tho Illinois statute uro pioper HITS Bl.VURAIa STATUS. Tbo decision of Iho court in effect de-elates de-elates tinconiitltutloiial tho unll-lriist laws of (icnrgla, Illinois, Indiana l,i ulslana, .Michigan. Mississippi, Montana. Mon-tana. Nebraska, North Carolina South Dakntn, Tenmssee, Texas and Wisconsin. Wiscon-sin. In each of theae Btatcn there Is an exception In favor of llvo ptock and iigrlctiliural products In the hands of tho inlscr or ptoduicr or of labor or-Kinlzitloiis or-Kinlzitloiis Undci the rulings nf the coutt un nntl-trust liw lo be constitutional constitu-tional must apply Indiscriminately tn all combinations, vvlth no exceptions whateier. |
