uch
statutes, and in 1897, with reviving prosperity, thirteen. Still,
we find no new principle, except, indeed, the somewhat startling
statement in Kansas that it is unlawful to handle goods made or
controlled by monopolies. The Illinois statute of that year permitted
combinations as to articles whose chief cost is wages when the object
or effect is to maintain or increase wages, a qualification which led
to the whole law's being declared unconstitutional. In Tennessee there
is a special statute penalizing combinations to raise the price of
coal, a statute with good old precedents in early English legislation.
By this time most of the States had adopted anti-trust statutes. In
1898 we find only one law, that of Ohio, giving the same five-fold
definition of the trust that we found above in Alabama, but it
adds the somewhat startling statement that "the character of the
combination may be established by proof of its general reputation as
such," and again it is made criminal to own trust certificates, with
double damages in all cases to persons injured. A constitutional
lawyer might well doubt whether a conviction under the last half of
this statute would be sustained. In 1899 eleven of the remaining
States adopted anti-trust laws. In 1900 there is a new statute in
Mississippi prohibiting, among other things, the pooling of bids for
public work, this again being a mere statement of the common law,
although a law which has possibly grown uncommon by being generally
forgotten.

In 1901 there are four statutes, that of Minnesota also including a
prohibition of boycotts, and the first piece of legislation upon the
subject in the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts--an ordinary statute
against exclusive dealing; that is to say, the making it a condition
of the sale of goods that the purchaser shall not sell or deal in the
goods of any other person. In 1902 both the Georgia and Texas laws
were declared unconstitutional because they exempted agricultural
pursuits. South Carolina has a statute actually prohibiting any sale
at less than the cost of manufacture, doubtless also unconstitutional.
In Ohio corporations are forbidden to own stock in competing
companies. The Illinois anti-trust act was declared unconstitutional
in 1903, while Texas amended its statute to meet the constitutional
objection, and followed South Carolina in prohibiting the sale of
goods at less than cost.

In 1904 there is no anti-trust legislation. In 1905 t