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Show WASHINGTON', Dec. 12. Announc- ; lng tho broad rule that a conspiracy under tho Sherman nntl-trust law may be a "continuous offense," instead of , an offense limited to tho formation of the conspiracy and, possibly, overt acts thereunder, which would rovivo the conspiracy, the supreme court of tho United States today went a long i way toward dispelling doubt us to the i law. J Against Sugar Trust, j The direct result ia that Gustavo E. ! Klssell, of New York, and Thomas B. Harnod. of Philadelphia, must an- 1 Bwer further to the indictment brought i In 1909, in New York, charging them with conspiracy with tho American j Sugar Refining company and others to drive tho Pennsylvania Sugar Ro-1 Ro-1 fining company out of business. Jutlo Holmes today, In nnnounc-! nnnounc-! lag the O7lilon of tho court, took up for eonfcJo7at.loii the argument that a conspiracy la a completed crime aa ' soon as formed, as would ho the caso i where a conspiracy were merely a ! contract. Series of Conspiracies. "It Is true," said Justice Holmes, "that the unlawful agreement satisfied satis-fied the definition of the crime, but H does not exhaust it When the plot contemplates briuging to pass a continuous con-tinuous co-operation of the conspirators conspira-tors to keep it up, and there Is such continuous co-operation it is a diversion diver-sion of natural thought and natural language to cail &uch continuous operation op-eration a klnetographlc series of distinct dis-tinct conspirators, rather than a single sin-gle conspiracy. Holding that a conspiracy in restraint re-straint of trade is different from a contract In restraint-of trade. Justice Holmes summed up the declsiou in this manner: Continuing Conspiracy. "The indictment charges a continuing contin-uing conspiracy. Whether it does so with technical sufficiency Is not before be-fore us. All that we decide is that a conspiracy may bo continuous In time and that as hero, the Indictment, consistently with tho other facts, alleged al-leged that it did so until tho date of filing, that allegation must be denied under the general issue and not by a special pica. "Under the general Issues, all defenses, de-fenses, Including the defense that the conspiracy was ended by success, abandonment or otherwise, more than three years before July 1, 1909, will bo open and unaffected by what wo now decide." |