The Shibboleth of "Restraint of Trade." 21 trade”—reasonable or unreasonable-was punishable with a fine not exceeding $5,000, or with imprisonment not exceeding one year, or with forfeiture of the subject matter of the transaction and must pay to the aggrieved party treble damages, the cost of suit, and the reasonable attorneys' fees. Framed for the purpose of destroying existing combinations, these statutes went far in their express language toward literally prohibiting innocent forms of business organization. Under the common law, which prevailed before these statutes, contracts in partial "restraint of trade," whenever reasonable, were upheld. Under these statutes, such contracts, although reasonable, were not only unenforceable but subjected the parties to punishment for criminal conspiracy. Throughout the nineties, the courts were busy defining "restraint of trade," as the phrase was used in these anti-trust statutes. Under the antitrust act of Missouri, seventy-three insurance companies were deprived of the right to do business within the State, because their agents through an association, enforced uniform rates of premium. In accordance with the same act, the National Lead Company, a holding corporation controlling the manufacture of 75 per cent. of the white lead of the United States, was forbidden to collect the price of goods purchased by its customers in Missouri. Under the New York anti-trust act, a corporation which had bought eighty-five patents of various harrows and had contracted with the owners, under restrictions regarding the selling price, to continue manufacturing, was not allowed to enforce its contracts. A member of the Rochester Coal Exchange, which fixed its schedule of prices for its members, made a contract with a customer to supply in the future, large installments of coal at schedule price; after receiving part of the coal the customer refused to accept the rest; and under the anti-trust act the contract was held unenforceable. The furthest extent to which anti-trust legislation was carried was in Texas.. A brewing company, which had agreed to supply a combination of dealers in El Paso, to the exclusion of others in the city, was allowed to recover nothing, either for breach of contract or in payment, for the beer already furnished. A contract of lease of premises for five years, with provisions that no onebeside the lessee should be allowed to carry on a similar business on the land and that the lessor should issue to his employes checks redeemable in the lessee's business and should take as rent a fixed share of the profits, was held unenforceable. A manufacturer who had supplied his customer with a delivery wagon and a storage vault, on condition that the customer handle goods of no other manufacturer, was allowed to recover nothing for the goods he had furnished. In 1897, and again in 1898, the Supreme Court of the United States defined "restraint of trade," as the phrase was used in the Sherman anti-trust act, and held the act thus interpreted, to be constitutional. A number of interstate railways had combined in the Trans-Missouri Freight Association and the Joint Traffic Association "for the purpose of mutual protection by establishing and maintaining reasonable rates." In its opinion, declaring these agreements a violation of the Sherman anti-trust act, the court held that the act forbade all agreements, whether the restraint was reasonable or unreasonable, and that such an act was within the power of Congress. The results of this legislation, which penalized "restraint of trade" and then included within the definition of the crime almost every form of business organization, proved satisfactory to no one. In 1902, the Industrial Commission, appointed by the President of the United States to collect information and "recommend legislation to meet the problems presented by labor, agriculture and capital," reported: "In the United States there has been much legislation regarding industrial combinations, but very little seems to have had much effect. Under the common law, our courts have quite generally declared the contracts in 'restraint of trade' invalid, whenever these contracts were general, or whenever they were unreasonable. The common law is sufficient to enable learned judges to protect the welfare of the people against monopolies that can be clearly proved against public policy. Possibly the fear of a new form of business organization may have led to the extension of legal interference in private business beyond what the public welfare demands. Some of the statutes, if read literally, would seem to forbid many perfectly innocent associations among individuals, but the courts have generally assumed that only monopoly—at least virtual monopoly-was attacked, and the decisions have been made accordingly." * * * * * In 1904, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the Northern Securities' case and held by a majority of five to four that the combination effected through the Northern Securities Company was within the prohibition of contracts in "restraint of trade." One of the majority justices, however, expressly stated his opinion that "restraint of trade," as the phrase was used in the statute, meant merely unreasonable "restraint of trade"; and, upon this point, the four minority justices by implication concurred in his opinion. The door has, therefore, been opened for the return to a definition of the phrase "restraint of trade," which shall be in agreement with well settled law and consistent with innocent business expansion and organization. Anti-trust legislation, as already has been shown, has served to regulate trusts only in so far as it has restated previously settled law. In so far as it has overstepped the common law, and declared combination, in reasonable "restraint of trade," illegal, it has provided a weapon too dangerous to the innocent to be freely used against the guilty. Until a narrower meaning of the phrase was suggested, in the Northern Securities' case, "restraint of trade" was merely the shibboleth, wherewith the penalties of denunciatory statutes could be invoked against almost any unpopular business organization which the public prosecutor might choose to pursue. Such a state of the law, in this twentieth century, exceeds in barbarism the medieval rule of "restraint of trade," which the Plantagenet judges repented of and altered, five hundred years ago. Since the extension of the phrase "restraint of trade" has failed of its purpose, and has already been questioned in the highest court of the land, it is hoped that its elimination from the law may soon come. And President Roosevelt is rapidly approaching that view. Returning to his message where he addresses himself to the Sherman antitrust law, he says: "It is a public evil to have on the statute books a law incapable of full enforcement because both judges and juries realize that its full enforcement would destroy the business of the country." Could any comment on a defective and dangerous law go further? ST. ANDREW'S. By TOM QUAD. A shining sweep of yellow sand, The crimson glow upon the land, The great gray walls, the ghostly spires, The soft mist rising far, The paling glow of sunset fires, A solitary star. The splendors of the sunset die And over all the deep'ning gloom They clothe the land in somber gray, The darkness falls upon the bay, The Voyage of the Scotia. By ADMIRAL SIR A. H. MARKHAM. (From Blackwood's Magazine.) T HE dawn of the twentieth century will always be memorable, more especially from a geographical point of view, for the great interest that was evinced throughout the world in the renewal of a systematic and well-arranged scheme, having for its object the thorough exploration of the hitherto almost unknown region-amounting to no less than ten millions of square miles-that surrounds the South terrestrial Pole. It is true that during the last decade of the nineteenth century small, and unimportant, expeditions were dispatched to the South Polar seas, principally to report on the prospects that offered for establishing whaling and sealing industries in the far south. These enterprises added little to our geographical knowledge, but they served the useful purpose of whetting our scientific appetites, and thereby stimulating the general thirst for obtaining further information regarding a portion of the world, so little known, and which had, hitherto, received but little attention. The practical result of these minor voyages was the dispatch of several expeditions from various countries, some on a scale of greater magnitude than others, but all well arranged, carefully organized and skilfully conducted. Among the nations interested were England, France, Sweden, Belgium, and last, but by no means least, Scotland. Some of these expeditions received financial support from their respective governments, the majority were largely assisted some altogether-by public and private subscriptions, while all received the unhesitating approval and support of eminent men of science, and other distinguished and influential men. At the suggestion of Sir Clements Markham, who at the time was occupying the distinguished position of president of the English Royal Geographical Society, the South Polar Region was divided into four quadrants, not only for convenience of reference, but also because the exploration of the different quadrants could be allotted to different expeditions, so that the proceedings of one expedition should not interfere with, or overlap, the work of another. These quadrants, each of 90 degrees of longitude, were named the Victoria, the Ross, the Enderby and the Weddell. Its It was the last-named quadrant that was selected as the scene of the operations of the Scottish Expedition. history is now before us, under the modest and unassuming title of "The Voyage of the Scotia." It has been written, not by the commander of the expedition, but by three members of the scientific staff, who have, very properly, dedicated the work to their "Leader and Comrade." It professes to be a true and faithful account of the life and work of the members of the expedition, and, as such, will be read with the keenest inferest by those who delight in the perusal of narratives of adventurous voyages, to parts of the world that have hitherto been somewhat wrapped in the veil of obscurity. Although written in what might be termed a popular style, it is also a very complete and useful record of scientific information, especially in its relation to high southern latitudes. The last great explorer in those regions, Sir James Ross, who was the first to penetrate, in the interest of science, the ice-clad seas of the Southern Ocean more than sixty years ago, was a Scotsman. His deeds the Scottish navigators of the present day wished to emulate. He was the example they had set themselves to copy. Scotsmen at home and Scotsmen abroad-and it is proverbial that a Scotsman is to be found in every part of the world where life can be sustained -will hail with delight the account of the cruise of the Scotia, and will be well pleased and proud of the achievements of their countrymen who served in the Scottish Antarctic Expedition of 1902-3; and this pleasure and pride will also, in a great measure, be shared by those who, fortunately or unfortunately for themselves, live on the south side of the Tweed. Steam, as a motive power for ships, has wrought a great revolution in ice navigation since the days of Ross: the position reached by that navigator, only after great difficulty and no small danger, in his clumsy old sailing ships, can now with ease be attained by a well-founded steamer, properly constructed and skilfully handled. This has been fully demonstrated in both north and south polar seas during the last thirty years. The Scotia, the ship selected for the enterprise, was a Norwegian whaler named the Hekla, and perhaps, under the circumstances, no better selection could have been made, for she was originally designed and built for navigating among the heavy ice floes of the Arctic seas. Many alterations, however, had to be carried out in order to adapt her for the special service on which she was to be employed, and these were all most satisfactorily executed by the celebrated yacht designer and builder, the late Mr. G. L. Watson, who gave his services gratuitously. The cost of the expedition was defrayed partly by public and partly by private subscription, while gifts of stores, clothing, etc., were generously and liberally supplied by those interested in the welfare and success of the enterprise. The final dispatch of the ship, however, was due to the munificent liberality of Mr. James Coats, of Paisley, who not only guaranteed the funds requisite for the continuance of the work for two seasons, but also generously consented to hold himself responsible for the provision of the money that would be required for the examination of the rich scientific collections that were brought home, and for the subsequent publication of the results. The Scotia was a steam vessel of about 400 tons, bark-rigged, and capable of steaming in smooth water from six to eight knots. The leader of the expedition was Mr. W. S. Bruce, a gentleman possessing high scientific attainments, and who had already obtained considerable experience both in the North and South Polar Regions. He had also for two years-namely, 1894 to 1896-been in charge of the high-level meteorological observatory station on the summit of Ben Nevis. The remainder of the scientific staff were all specially selected for the practical and theoretical knowledge they possessed in the various branches of science which they were severally appointed to make their special study. The captain of the ship, Capt. Robertson, of Peterhead, was an experienced whaling captain, and had seen much service in polar seas in both hemispheres. The remaining officers of the ship were also experienced ice navigators. On the upper deck of the Scotia various houses had been constructed, and so lighted as to facilitate the delicate |