Abstract

Editorial Paragraphs

The article discusses current developments in American politics. The U.S. Department of Justice, on March 24, 1930 began suit in the United States District Court at St. Louis to prevent the proposed merger of the Standard Oil Company of New York and the Vacuum Oil Company. This action, contemplated by the companies, raises again the primary issue of the meaning of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The U.S. Supreme Court in the Standard Oil cases in 1911 decided that the act prohibited only "unreasonable" restraint of trade, but held that the union of the Standard companies constituted an unreasonable restraint and ordered the union dissolved. Two of these great companies now bring the issue again up to the bar of the Supreme Court, practically calling upon it to decide whether a union illegal in 1911, is still illegal in 1930.