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Show ICOURT ANNULS COAL CONTRACT i Final Decision In Lackawanna Suit Slganai Victory For Government i ' Washington June23. A contract by which the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad company sold In 1909 tho annual ouput of 7,000,000 tons from lis anthraito coal mines to tho Delaware, Lackawunnn & Western Coal company, ui, ch It had Just organ Ued, was annulled today by tho supremo su-premo court as a violation both of commodities clause of tho Hepburn rnto law and of tho Sherman antitrust law. Justice- Lamar announced tho court's unanimous deilslon, which directed tho lower court, the federal d strict court In New Jersey, to enjoin tho railroad from transporting tool under tho proMHimiB of the contract Tho court specifically preserved to tho government a right to proceed In a now suit against tho railroad to test tho lntters right to purchnso coal for sale. The decision was hailed by government govern-ment officials as a great v ctory, likely to have nn Important bearing on tho fight which has been waged for oars to break up tho so called hard coal trust." Attorneys conversant with Interstate In-terstate commerce affairs wondered, too, whether tho decision would effect tho interstate commerco commission's ruling on various phases of tho nn-thraclto nn-thraclto cool business under Investigation Investiga-tion for months by that body. The mere organization of tho coal company by the railroad was not disapproved dis-approved by tho court, Justlco Lamar saying that It was natural, if not necessary, nec-essary, after the passagu of tho om-modltlos om-modltlos clause law, for tho road to organize a corporation to supply coal which the pubic demanded. 'He snld It was not Illegal for the stockholders of tho railroad to tako stock In tho conl company, bu added that where two companies, ono ot which was organized or-ganized lfy another with common stockholders as a rulo and officers of ono to a largo degree officers of tho other, made contracts whlth affected tho Interests of minority stockholders, or of third persons, or tho public tho tho fact of their unity of management had to bo considered In testing tho good faith of tho transaction. Considering tho nature of tho contract con-tract made, together with this unity of management, tho court held that both the commodities clause, and tho Sherman law had been violated. . Today's decision was tho th.rd hand ed down by tho supremo court ro-vorslng ro-vorslng the Judgment ot federal courts having Jurisdlition over tho anthracite anthra-cite coal railroads. In tho first caso tho decision that tho commodities clause- was unconstitutional waB reversed re-versed and In the second n holding as to tho organization of coal companies com-panies was upset. |