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DOES PRICE FIXING DESTROY LIBERTY?
been reported,—United States vs. Spokane Co.,[1] United States vs. Cohen,[2] United States vs. Myatt,[3] and Weed & Co. vs. Lockwood,[4]—show that the
- ↑ In United States vs. Spokane Dry Goods Company, 264 Fed. Rep. 209, 1920, the defendant was indicted for making an unjust and unreasonable charge in dealing in wearing apparel in the City of Spokane. It was contended by the government that the defendant had sold such apparel at an average profit of 118% based on the cost price. The defendant demurred to the indictment on the ground that the Act was invalid, as being too uncertain a definition of crime. District Judge Rudkin overruled the demurrer, upon the ground principally that the Act was not void for uncertainty and the War power of Congress was sufficient to sustain the constitutionality of the Act.
- ↑ In United States vs. Cohen Company, 264 Fed. Rep. 218, 1920, which arose in the District Court of Missouri, the defendant was indicted for making an unreasonable charge in dealing in sugar. A demurrer was interposed to the indictment and sustained by the Court in an opinion by District Judge Faris, upon the ground that the Lever Act, though within the War power of Congress, did not define the offenses which it covered, with sufficient certainty that the accused would be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, and was in consequence, void under Amendment Six of the Constitution.
- ↑ The case of United States vs. Myatt, 264 Fed. Rep. 442, 1920, arose in the District Court of North Carolina and was a prosecution brought against the defendant as a retail grocer for selling sugar at an unreasonable profit. The defendant bought it for ten cents per pound and sold for fourteen cents per pound. On motion to quash the indictment the Court in an opinion by District Judge Conner ruled that the motion should be denied and the defendant plead to the bill and stand trial upon the issue of the reasonableness of the charges made by him.
- ↑ In Weed & Company vs. Lockwood, 264 Fed. Rep. 453, 1920, indictments against the defendants, who were engaged in the clothing business, were returned in the District Court for the Western District of New York, for selling wearing apparel at unreasonable and unjust prices. The defendants instituted suits in equity against Lockwood, the United States District Attorney, to enjoin him from proceeding in the criminal actions until the constitutionality of the Lever Act could be determined. The bills set up that the Act was unconstitutional upon the ground that it violated the Fifth Amendment in confiscating property rights of individuals, and that it also was void for uncertainty. The District Court in an opinion by Judge Hazel, refused the injunction, holding that the indictments were not valid as the Lever Act was constitutional. On appeal to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,
