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along said Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, or branches thereof, or any coal or coke, wherever produced, of the same grade as, or competing with, coal or coke produced by any of the members of said association, the prime object of this contract being to enlarge the sale of, and extend the Western market for, Kanawha coal and coke; and this shall not prevent the said fuel company from dealing in anthracite coal or New River coal or coke: provided, that New River coal or coke shall not be dealt in to the prejudice of, or sold as a substitute for, Kanawha coals and cokes; and, provided, further, that in an emergency, and when absolutely necessary, other coals and cokes may be handled by said fuel company to meet such emergency. But no dealing in such anthracite, New River, or other coal or coke shall be done by said fuel company to an extent or in a manner incompatible with the prime object of this agreement, as herein before recited.

"(8) That at any time, by a vote of two-thirds (%) of the members of said coal association, said fuel company may be allowed to handle any other coal or coke for such time and upon such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by such vote.

"(9) The said fuel company is to receive a gross profit on all rail coal and coke sold, which shail not exceed ten (10) cents per ton of two (2,000) thousand pounds on any sale, which compensation shall be retained by said fuel company out of the monthly settlements of coal and coke sold; the true intent and meaning of this clause being that the fuel company shall get its profit over and above the net minimum price of said coal and coke f. o. b. mines as hereinbefore fixed, and, if the price at which said coal and coke is sold by said fuel company shall be sufficient to yield a sum exceeding said minimum price and gross profit of ten (10) cents per ton as aforesaid, then the difference shall be paid over to the members of said association in the manner and at the time hereinbefore mentioned, as they may be entitled under this agreement, as part of the purchase price to be paid for coal and coke by said fuel company.

“(10) The members of said association shall not be required to mine and ship coal when hindered or prevented by causes beyond their own control, such as strikes, accidents, refusal or inability of the carrier to provide transportation, &c.

"(11) The said coal association shall have the right, once per month, through a committee not exceeding three in number, or a person designated by said committee, to examine the order, sales, and tonnage books of said fuel company.

"(12) The coal or coke of members of said coal association shipped in barges by river shall be handled by the said fuel company, as an agent, on the same terms and under the same conditions as are now established or may be hereafter established and prevail in Cincinnati market for the sale of river coal, but the said fuel company shall not make time sales or extend credit without the consent of the shippers of such coal.

"(13) All settlements for coal or coke shipped by rail as aforesaid shall be made upon the scale of weights of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, as ascertained at its weighing stations now established, or that may hereafter be established.

"(14) It is distinctly understood that nothing herein contained shall be construed to render the said members of said association liable as partners, in any way, manner, or form, either as between themselves or with the said fuel company; each of said firms, corporations, and individuals contracting herein for themselves, itself, or himself, and not one for the other.

"(15) The said fuel company further covenants, agrees, and binds itself that neither it, nor any of its officers, employés, or servants, will, with its knowledge, directly or indirectly, in any way. manner, or form, engage or become interested in the buying or selling of bituminous coal or coke in competition with the coal or coke of any of the members of said coal association, except under the terms and conditions of this agreement.

"(16) The members of said coal association above named, each for himself, itself, or themselves, and not one for the other, covenant and agree

that the said members of said association will not sell or consign any coal or coke bound to points west of their respective mines, except under the terms and conditions of this agreement, during the period covered by this agreement, and that there shall be no pretended sale or lease of the property of the members of the said association made to evade this contract; but it is further understood and mutually agreed that this contract shall not be construed to prevent any bona fide sale, assignment, or lease of the respective properties operated by the members of said association, respectively, or the interest therein of any member of said association. And in case of such sale, assignment, or lease, the members of said association are not to be held responsible under this contract for the sale and delivery of any coal from such properties after such sale, assignment, or lease takes place. But in case the vendee, assignee, or lessee of any coal or coke property of any member of the coal association desires, he shall have the right to take the place of such member in this agreement.

"(17) And whereas, some of the members of said association have contracts for the sale of coal or coke, which cannot be completed until after this agreement goes into operation; and whereas, it is to the advantage both of such members and of said fuel company that such contracts be filled through said fuel company: It is further agreed that the members of said association having existing contracts to be completed during the period of this agreement shall on or before the 24th day of December, 1897, file with the general manager of said fuel company a memorandum of each of said contracts, and such of said contracts as are uncompleted on the first day of January, 1898, shall be completed through said fuel company; the fuel company to make no charge for its services in connection with such contract, and collecting the proceeds of the same; said fuel company not to guaranty the collection of such proceeds, or be responsible for same unless collected by it. Such coal or coke so shipped on existing contracts shall not be taken into account in any way as a part of the traffic herein before provided for in this contract, nor its prices taken into account in computing the average price for any month, but such as shall be shipped by rail shall be considered part of the minimum tonnage mentioned in the fifth clause of this agreement for the year in which it is shipped.

"(18) The said fuel company shall keep at its own expense one or more inspectors to examine and inspect from time to time, as often as may be necessary, the coal and coke produced, with a view of keeping up a proper standard of excellence. Should said inspector find coal or coke badly or improperly prepared, he shall immediately report all the facts in writing to the fuel company and to the operator preparing such coal or coke, and shipments from mine or mines producing such alleged improperly prepared coal or coke may be suspended after five (5) days' notice in writing to such operator, at the discretion of the executive committee of the fuel company, until such time as such operator may prepare such coal or coke properly. In any case such operator shall have the right to refer the question whether such coal or coke is improperly prepared or not, or, if not so prepared, whether the same be so prepared at reasonable cost, to arbitration, as herein provided, which decision as to the preparation of such coal shall be final and binding on both parties; and in case said arbitration shall find such coal or coke improperly prepared, and shall further find that it is impossible or impracticable for such operator to remedy such faults at reasonable cost, he shall have the right to withdraw from, and have this agreement annulled as to him. If said fuel company shall make default in payment for any coal or coke shipped under this agreement according to the terms hereof, and said default shall continue for the space of fifteen (15) days, unless payment shall be withheld by reason of attachment, suggestion, garnishment, or other legal process against the member of said coal association on whose claim default is so made, such default shall, at the option of such member on whose claim such default is so made, work an annulment of this contract as to such member: provided, such member shall within ten (10) days after the expiration of said fifteen (15) days give notice in writing to said fuel company of the election of such member to exercise such right of annulment; and a failure to exercise this right

for any such default shall not prevent the exercise of the same for any subsequent default. And a violation or failure to keep, observe, and perform any covenant or covenants herein contained by any party to this agreement shall, at the option of the party or parties thereby aggrieved, work an annulment of this agreement as to such party or parties on thirty (30) days' notice in writing. And no waiver of this right, in case of any violation or failure to keep, observe, and perform any covenant hereof, shall prevent the exercise of the same for any subsequent violation of, or failure to keep, observe, and perform, the same, or any other covenant hereof: provided that, upon any notice for the annulment of this agreement as hereinbefore provided being given by any parties or party, the party or parties to whom it is so given, if desiring to contest the rights of the parties or party giving said notice to annul this agreement, shall have the right to submit the question to arbitration, as herein provided, and the decision of such arbitrator shall be final and binding on all parties to such arbitration. But any withdrawal or annulment as to any member or members under this, or clause No. 18 hereof, shall not affect this contract as to the parties remaining, between themselves.

"(19) Any person, firm, or corporation now or hereafter producing coal to be shipped on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway may become a party to this contract by signing the same, or an exact copy hereof, with the fuel company, or by an indorsement attached hereto may accept the provisions hereof; and, upon becoming such party hereto, such person, firm, or corporation shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges, and be subject to all the duties and liabilities, hereunder, the same as if he, it, or they had been named in said contract as one of the parties of the second part, and had duly signed and executed it with the others named therein provided, that said association shall agree to such person, firm, or corporation becoming a party hereto by a majority vote of a quorum of its members. "(20) It is understood and hereby agreed that in any matter or thing connected with this agreement, where any party hereto shall assert, maintain, or set up any claim, right, privilege, liability, or penalty in his, its, or their favor, or against any other party or parties hereto, and thereby a controversy shall arise hereunder, then and in that event either party or parties to such controversy shall have the right to submit the said controversy to arbitration in the manner hereinafter set forth. There is hereby constituted and appointed an arbitration committee, which shall be composed of two persons and such third person as shall be by such two selected from time to time as any controversy may arise. Such two persons shall be selected as follows: Each and every year during the continuance of this contract the said fuel company shall appoint some person to serve upon said arbitration committee, and the parties of the second part shall also appoint one to serve upon said committee, of which appointment the fuel company and the association shall have notice, and the two persons so appointed shall continue to serve until their successors shall be appointed in the same manner. Whenever a controversy shall arise hereunder, the party desiring to submit such controversy shall notify the other party or parties to such controversy of the same, in writing, and shall designate in such notice the time and place when said two arbitrators shall meet to hear the matter in controversy, and he or they shall also notify the said arbitrators to meet at said time and place. And at the time and place so designated said two arbitrators shall meet, and they shall select a third arbitrator, who, with the other two, shall constitute the full arbitration committee to hear and determine the said controversy, and whose award in all matters of law and fact shall be final, and shall be binding upon each and all of the parties to that controversy. Such notice may be served as a legal notice is served, or it may be mailed to the party, to be served at his or their post-office address. And any notice to any one or more of the parties of the second part may be served upon, or sent by mail to, the president and secretary of said association. If at the time and place said two arbitrators are required to meet, either one or both of them should fail or refuse to attend or serve, then the fuel company, by its agent or attorney, on the one side, may fill the vacancy caused by its arbitrator being absent or

refusing to serve, and the association, by its officer, agent, or attorney, may fill the vacancy caused by the absence of its arbitrator, or his refusing to serve; and the arbitrator or arbitrators so selected by either or both of said parties as aforesaid shall select the third, which three shall, for that controversy, constitute the arbitration committee, and shall have the same powers, and their award shall be as final, as if the two arbitrators herein first provided for had attended and selected a third. If, upon having notice to attend at a time and place to settle a controversy, either party shall fail or refuse to attend, or shall fail or refuse to select an arbitrator when required hereunder so to do, the said association, by its president, other officer, or attorney, may select an arbitrator in the place or stead of the absent one; and, if such association shall fail or refuse to make such appointment, in that event the fuel company, by its agent or attorney, may make such appointment or appointments, and the two, when so appointed in any of said modes, shall select a third, and the three shall constitute the arbitration committee to hear and determine said controversy, whose award shall be final. A notice to arbitrate hereunder shall not fix a time longer than fifteen (15) days, nor less than five (5) days, from the time of giving said notice, unless by mutual consent. The place of such meeting of the arbitrators shall be at Cincinnati, Ohio, or Charleston, W. Va., unless by mutual consent. Said arbitrators shall have the right to adjourn their session from time to time, or to such place or places as they may determine. And they shall make their award in not less than three days from the time the evidence is finally taken before or submitted to them; such award to be valid if signed by two of the arbitrators. Every award shall be executed in duplicate, and a copy thereof furnished to each of the executive committees herein mentioned. The failure of a regular arbitrator to attend at a time and place designated in any notice to him, and the appointment of another in his stead for any controversy, shall not for that reason vacate his general appointment as an arbitrator until his successor is appointed. If the two arbitrators appointed as above provided shall at any time fail or refuse for two days to appoint the third arbitrator, the latter shall be appointed by the judge of the circuit court of Kanawha county, West Virginia.

"Witness the following signatures:

"The C. & O. Fuel Co.,

"Donald McDonald, Pt.

"Robinson Coal Co.,

"By Neil Robinson.

"W. R. Johnson.

"The Kanawha Splint Coal Company,

"By F. E. Lair.

"Carver Bros.

"Enoch Carver.

"Jos Renshaw,

"Special Receiver Big Black Band Coal Co.

"Charlmore Coal Co.,

"Herndon & Renshaw, Mgrs.

"McCallister & Co.,

"Per James Kelsoe.

"Mecca Coal & Coke Co.,
"By John Carver.
"Chesapeake Mining Co.,

"By J. B. Lewis.
"Coalburg Colliery Co.,

"By J. B. Lewis.

"Montgomery Coal Co.,

"By S. H. Montgomery.

"Belmont Coal Co..

"By T. E. Embleton, Pt.

"Harris B. Smith,

"Spl. Receiver Lens Creek Coal & Coke Co."

The defendants answered, admitting the making of the contract, and taking issue upon the other allegations of the bill, and seeking to justify the making of the agreement for lawful purposes, for reasons set forth in the answer, which are noticed in the opinion. The complainant offered no testimony, but certain evidence was introduced by the defendants for the purpose of showing the legality of the transaction, and did tend to establish certain facts,-among others, the following: The 14 parties to the agreement are carrying on trade and business in what is known as the "Kanawha district," in West Virginia. These parties are miners and shippers of coal and manufacturers of coke in that district, and the mines covered by the contract are on the south side of the Kanawha river. They do not own all of the mines on that side of the river. One Donald McDonald had been the agent of the various coal companies in the sale of coal and coke at Cincinnati, Ohio, prior to the formation of the Chesapeake & Ohio Fuel Company, which company is one of the parties to the agreement in controversy, and of which he became the president. His business, before the formation of the fuel company, was largely confined to local points west of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and to Cincinnati and vicinity. After the making of the contract, coal and coke were sold thereunder in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, and small quantities in Mississippi. Of the parties to the agreement, which relates only to rail shipments west on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, seven in number have river tipples for shipping coal by the Great Kanawha river. Other miners, not parties to this agreement, also have tipples for shipping coal on this river. The mines embraced in the agreement have a capacity of about 5,000 tons a day, and the mines of the Kanawha district not parties to the agreement have a capacity of about 11,000 tons a day. The coke ovens in this district represented by parties in this agreement are about 226 in number, with a daily capacity of about 450 tons, to about 347 in number, with a daily capacity of 525 tons owned by others than the parties to the agreement. Competition in the Western market is keen with the coal mines shipped along the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, in the Kanawha district. This competition comes from the Flat Top coal fields on the line of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, from the coal fields all along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, West Virginia & Pittsburg Railroad, and West Virginia Central Railroad; also competition by rail and water from all of the great coal fields of western Pennsylvania, the Hocking, Welston, and Nelson fields of Ohio, the coal fields of Kentucky and Tennessee, northern and southern Illinois, and the fields of Iowa, and some competition from Missouri. The aggregate of all these fields is about 115,000,000 tons annually. The competition in the Western market is severe, with the coke produced in the Kanawha district. The twelfth clause of the agreement, which provides that the Chesapeake & Ohio Fuel Company shall handle the coal shipped in barges, was rescinded by all the parties to the agreement in June, 1898. The business of the operators had not been satisfactory, and it was agreed with McDonald, the former sales agent, that a company should be formed for the sale of the coal, which should use every practicable means to push the sale of the coal, and to enlarge its market. There were large contracts, which no single operator could take. The minimum of 600,000 tons of coal and 75,000 tons of coke per annum, which it is provided shall be taken under the contract, was considerably in excess of the previous year's shipments. In making the contract, the coal was placed at about 60,000 tons in excess of the previous year's production, and the coke at 30.000 tons. It is testified that larger contracts had been obtained for the sale of coal than theretofore, and larger than any of the operators could fill. And better preparation of the coal for the market had been secured, together with a more equitable distribution of the cars for the shipment of the coal. Since the fall of 1898 an agent, termed the "equalizer," has been employed to attend to the distribution of the orders sent in by the fuel company. The price to consumers has been reduced, and there has been no intention to control the market or enhance prices. The circuit court made a decree in favor of the complainant (105 Fed. 93), and the defendants appealed.

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