United States v. Pacific & A. Ry. & Nav. Co.

4 Alaska 685
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedSeptember 9, 1913
DocketNo. 837B
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Alaska 685 (United States v. Pacific & A. Ry. & Nav. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Pacific & A. Ry. & Nav. Co., 4 Alaska 685 (D. Alaska 1913).

Opinion

Count No. 1.

JENKINS, District Judge.

Is it duplicitous or vague, indefinite, and uncertain? It is objected that there are here charged: (a) A conspiracy engaged in continuously for the [687]*687past ten years for the purpose of creating a monopoly in all of the defendants of the business of transportation between the southern ports and Yukon river points; (b) a conspiracy, engaged in at all times within the past three years, for the creation of a monopoly in the three steamship companies, alone, of the transportation business between the southern ports and Skagway; (c) a conspiracy to’ create a monopoly, the creation of a monopoly, and an attempt to create a monopoly.

The count says, at the beginning, that the defendants—

“did wrongfully, unlawfully, knowingly and willfully engage in a combination and conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce by then and there combining and conspiring with one another to eliminate from and destroy competition in the business of transporting passengers and freight between the various ports in the United States and British Columbia in the south, and the various cities, communities, and settlements in the valleys of the Yukon river and of its tributaries both in British and American territory in the north, by way of Lynn Canal, and intermediate points, on a line of traffic hereinafter to be described, for the purpose and with the intent of monopolizing such trade and commerce in manner and form and by the means hereinafter set out.”

While we have not yet got to the body or vitals of the in-' dictment, we have nevertheless learned enough to know what the pleader means to charge, to wit, A conspiracy in restraint of trade to be effectuated by defendants monopolizing transportation on this entire route. Then follows a recital of the incorporations of the companies and of the fact that the route from southern ports to Yukon ports is composed of three constituent factors, viz.: From Yukon to Skagway; Wharfage at Skagway; from Skagway to southern ports— and of the fact that the railroad'already had monopoly from Skagway north, and that the Wharf Company already had monopoly of wharfage at Skagway.

This takes us in the reading of the indictment down to the beginning of the last paragraph on page 6. All between that point and the beginning of the last paragraph on page 10 is devoted entirely to a recital of the ways and means to be adopted for securing a monopoly of the transportation business on that portion of the said route which lies between Skag[688]*688way and the southern ports. It is necessary to- set forth this in the count, for the ultimate plan is alleged to be the elimination of competition in the transportation business on the entire route from southern ports to Yukon river ports, and, should the pleader have failed to charge that a monopoly of transportation between southern ports and Skagway was arranged for, he would have failed to describe a very important part of the ultimate plan of the alleged conspirators.

The monopoly of the wharf at Skagway, and of the railroad company from Skagway north, having been already accomplished, are stated as existing things in terms of the dictionary and not of the criminal law. They are recited only as foundation facts, and when the pleader has laid another foundation fact, to' wit, the scheme adopted to secure monopoly of the line from Skagway south, he has done nothing but complete the description of the scheme for the restraint of trade on the entire route from the southern ports to the Yukon ports.

The pleader has proceeded to a statement of the means adopted to bring about the -monopoly in this portion of the route, and to accomplish it the following things are alleged to'have been done by the defendants: Exclusive through traffic agreement arranged and agreed upon, rates arranged and agreed on, discriminating wharfage arranged and agreed upon, excessive local charges, Skagway north, arranged and agreed upon.

Having alleged that this monopoly in the steamship companies from Skagway north was brought about by a combination and conspiracy between all the defendants, with the intent, purpose, and effect of eliminating competition from that portion of the major route, there has been described the three constituent portions which make up the scheme for eliminating competition in the transportation business throughout the entire route from southern ports to Yukon river ports, viz.: Railroad monopoly Skagway to Yukon; wharf monopoly at Skagway ; Skagway to southern ports, monopoly in steamship companies to be brought about and brought about by the conspiracy between and actions of all the defendants.

[689]*689And so the count is closed, by a reiteration of the statement that the defendants are guilty of engaging in a combination and conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce. What trade? Why, evidently the trade between the southern ports and the Yukon ports on a line of traffic “hereinafter described,” as set forth in the introductory part of the count. The conspiracy embraces transportation on the entire major route, because it embraces transportation on all its parts.

It is true that there is alleged a conspiracy to create a monopoly in the three steamship companies, of the transportation business between the southern ports and Skagway, but I think it is likewise true that this conspiracy is alleged only as a step, a means by which the crime of conspiracy by all the defendants in restraint of trade and commerce throughout the entire route was to be carried out. It seems to me that it is as if the pleader had said:

“Defendants conspired to restrain trade and commerce in a certain major route. In order to restrain the trade referred to, it was essential that a monopoly of transportation on a certain minor route should be created in certain of the conspirators, and so all the conspirators conspire to create this subsidiary monopoly.”

Insomuch as, at all times within the past three years, defendants conspired that the three steamship companies should enjoy a monopoly of transportation between the southern ports and Skagway, they conspired in restraint of trade and commerce on the entire route. So much for the allegation that two conspiracies are charged.

It is contended that, because the court says that this subsidiary conspiracy actually resulted in monopolization, therefore two crimes are charged, to wit, conspiracy to monopolize and actual monopoly. I do not so understand the law.

What is the nature of a criminal conspiracy? It is a partnership in crime. At the common law the conspiracy itself (i. e., the partnership in crime) was the gist of the offense, and it was not necessary to allege or prove an overt act, and yet, if the overt act was alleged, it was treated as matter in aggravation or as surplusage.

4A.R. — 44

[690]*690In 2 Bishop’s New Criminal Procedure (8th Ed.) § 206, the author says:

“Such acts (overt acts) are, when the combining of the defendants in a common purpose has been shown, evidence, like their declarations, further establishing the conspiracy and illustrating its character. And, if the law gave to these acts no other effect, they should not be set out in the indictment, the province of which is to state facts, not evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
4 Alaska 685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-pacific-a-ry-nav-co-akd-1913.