not only the paramount interest of the individual parties to the transactions, liabilities, and reparations, but also to the interest of the public in having the support due to the beneficiaries so extended that it will continue through the period for which it is provided. The provisions of the Mexican statute on this subject have in view the declaring and conserving the interest of Mexican citizens; and where, as in this particular case, the beneficiaries are citizens of the United States, our laws, state and national, as administered in our courts, may be deemed adequate to authorize and secure the preservation of the rights of the beneficiaries and the protection of the interest of the public, and may yet be not adequate to the due enforcement of the limitations put upon the plaintiff's right for the just protection of the party charged. Possibly in the Texas state courts, where the distinction between law and equity does not exist, or at equity in the courts of the United States, a decree might be passed fixing the liability of the defendant, and retaining control of the parties to the suit and of the subject-matter so as to enforce that liability, with the limitations provided in the interest of the defendant. It is difficult to conceive what judgment at law the circuit court could render that would protect that interest of the defendant in the limitations put by the Mexican law on the plaintiff's right. It may be that, under our system of judicature, the jury, taking the place of the judges in the Mexican system, might, under proper instructions, on full proof, and aided, as Mexican trial judges are aided, by their own experience and knowledge of affairs, be able fairly and justly to assess in a lump sum the value of the right secured to the male beneficiaries (the case before us does not require that question to be decided now, and on it we express no opinion); but if in a case where only male beneficiaries are parties there may be no insuperable difficulty in the way of our enforcement of the right secured by the Mexican law, it is difficult to conceive how the most learned trial judge could instruct a jury so as to enable them, on any possible condition of proof, to fix a present sum which would give female beneficiaries their due, and give them only their due. Before the fact of their marriage shall have occurred, on what basis established by law or by human experience can the proximate date when those beneficiaries will get married be fixed by the jury, or by any other human intelligence? The Texas law provides that "an action for actual damages on account of injuries causing the death of any person may be brought by all of the parties entitled thereto, or by any one or more of them for the benefit of all." Rev. St. 1895, arts. 3017, 3022. It is clear, therefore, that the rights of all entitled to damages on account of injuries causing the death of any person must be considered and settled in one action against the wrongdoer, and that in the case where some of the beneficiaries are males and some of them females the same difficulty is presented as occurs in a case where female beneficiaries alone are interested and are parties plaintiff. The learned and distinguished counsel who appeared in this court for the defendants in error, and who submitted an oral argument and a printed brief, presents in his second proposition in his printed brief "that conditions which may arise, and under which, according to the law of Mexico, civil liabilities for damages for injuries resulting in death will cease, may constitute defensive matter, the effect of which is to bar the remedy rather than to extinguish the right of action. But no such contingencies have been pleaded. The court is not called upon to construe the law relating thereto." This proposition, in our opinion, is not sound. The limitations we have been considering relating to the female beneficiaries directly affect the plaintiffs' right, and are not merely defensive matter to be availed of by the one bound after the marriage of the female beneficiaries shall have occurred. We therefore conclude that the right of the survivors (the plaintiffs) to recover damages for personal injuries resulting in the death of William H. Slater is alimony, or pension, payable in installments for uncertain and indeterminate periods, dependent upon conduct of beneficiaries and conditions impossible to forecast, and is therefore so dissimilar from the laws of Texas and the common law that the circuit court in an action at law cannot administer the same and enforce the rights of the plaintiffs so as to do substantial justice between the parties. It is unnecessary to notice any of the other questions presented by the assignment of errors. The view we have taken of the case requires that the judgment of the circuit court shall be reversed, and the cause remanded, with direction to that court to sustain special exception No. 2, filed by the defendant on March 18, 1901, and to dismiss the plaintiffs' action. (115 Fed. 610.) CHESAPEAKE & O. FUEL CO. v. UNITED STATES. No. 986. 1. MONOPOLIES-ANTI-TRUST ACT-CONTRACTS IN RESTRAINT OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE. By the anti-trust act of July 2, 1890 (26 Stat. 209), congress has, in the exercise of the power delegated to it by the constitution, declared all contracts and combinations illegal, if in restraint of trade or commerce among the states; and such act does not leave to the courts the consideration of the question whether the restraint is or is not unreasonable, and such as would have rendered the contract invalid at common law. The only question in each case where the validity of a contract or combination under the law is involved is whether or not its necessary effect is to restrain interstate commerce. 2. SAME-CONTRACTS AFFECTING INTERSTATE COMMERCE. A contract by which a corporation agrees to take the entire product of a number of independent persons, firms, and corporations engaged in mining coal and making coke in a certain district, which is intended for "Western shipment" over a leading route of transportation, to sell the same at not less than a minimum price, to be fixed by an executive committee appointed by the producers, and to account for and pay over to such producers the entire proceeds, above a fixed sum per ton to be retained as "compeusation," the stated purpose being to "enlarge the Western market,”-and under which the shipments are made into other states, is one affecting interstate commerce, and is subject to the provisions of the anti-trust law. 8. SAME-COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT Of Trade. By a contract between a fuel company and an association composed of 14 persons, firms, and corporations independently engaged in producing coal and coke in a certain district on a line of a railroad, the company was to handle for a term of years the entire output of the members of the association intended for the Western market, and shipped over such line of railroad, and bound itself not to sell the product of any competing mines. A minimum price at which the coal and coke should be sold was to be fixed by the executive committee of the association from time to time, and the company agreed to pay such price, to obtain as large a profit as possible, and to account to the association for all of the same, above a fixed sum per ton, which it was to retain as compensation. The amount to be furnished by each member of the association was also to be fixed by the executive committee, and each was to receive payment at the same rate, to be based on the average price realized for the particular grade furnished during the current month. It was also provided that any other producer of coal to be shipped on such line of railroad might become a party to the contract by a majority vote of the members of the association. Held, that such contract was illegal, under the anti-trust law, as in restraint of interstate commerce, and as tending to create a monopoly. 4. SAME-REQUISITES OF ILLEGAL COMBINATION-FREVENTING INDIVIDUAL COM PETITION. It is the declared policy of congress, which accords with the principles of the common law, to promote individual competition in relation to interstate commerce, and to prevent combinations which restrain such competition between their members, or between such members as individuals and outside competitors; and it is no defense to a suit to dissolve such a combination as illegal, under the anti-trust law, that it has not been productive of injury to the public, or even that it has been beneficial, by enabling the combination to compete for business in a wider field. Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. This case arises from the filing of a bill in the circuit court by the district attorney of the United States for the Southern district of Ohio, by direction of the attorney general, against the defendants, to enjoin them from selling or shipping coal or coke into any state other than the one in which they reside, under or by virtue of a certain agreement set forth and attached to the bill. The complainants ask that the defendants be restrained from further conspiring, agreeing, combining, and acting together in the manner set out in the agreement, which it is prayed be declared null and void, and the unlawful trust and combination thereunder be dissolved by decree of court. The agreement which it is alleged evidences the combination is as follows: "This agreement, made this 15th day of December, 1897, between the C. & O. Fuel Company, a corporation created, organized, and existing under and pursuant to the laws of the state of West Virginia, and hereinafter called the 'Fuel Company,' of the first part, and the St. Clair Company, a corporation of West Virginia; John Carver and Enoch Carver, partners in business under the firm name and style of Carver Brothers; W. R. Johnson, M. T. Davis, doing business as M. T. Davis & Co.; John Carver and Enoch Carver, partners in business under the firm name and style of the Mecca Coal and Coke Company; S. H. Montgomery, doing business under the name of the Montgomery Coal Company; the Chesapeake Mining Company, a corporation of West Virginia; the Belmont Coal Company, a corporation of West Virginia; the Kanawha Splint Coal Company, a corporation of West Virginia; the Robinson Coal Company, a corporation of West Vir ginia; Harry B. Smith, special, receiver of the Lens Creek Coal and Coke Company; Joseph Renshaw, special receiver of the Big Black Band Coal 53 C.C.A.-17 Company; the Charlmore Coal Company, a corporation of West Virginia; and Robert Brabbin, Jr., and L. N. Perry, partners in business under the firm name and style of the Brabbin Coal Company; Jasper McCallister, Samuel Moore, and James Kelsoe, doing business as McCallister & Co.,―aud together constituting the C. & O. Coal Association, and hereinafter collectively mentioned as the 'Coal Association,' of the second part. Whereas, the members of the said coal association are all miners and shippers of coal, and part of them makers and shippers of coke, on the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, in Fayette or Kanawha counties, West Virginia, and have formed and organized said association for the promotion of their common business interests in the mining of Kanawha coals and cokes; and whereas, the said fuel company has been incorporated and organized for the purpose of placing said Kanawha coals and cokes upon the Western market,--its prime object to promote the sale of, and enlarge the Western market for, said coals and cokes: Now, therefore, this agree ment witnesseth: "(1) That the parties of the second part agree, in consideration of the covenants and agreements on the part of the party of the first part herein contained, each firm, individual, or corporation, severally, for themselves. himself, or itself, and not for any other, and each of them doth hereby agree to sell to the said fuel company exclusively the entire coal and coke output of the mine or mines operated by each of them, respectively, on said C. & O. Ry., or branches thereof, for Western shipment, for a period of not less than five years from and after the date of January, 1898, subject to all the provisions, terms, and conditions hereinafter contained, except as to such coal as may be sold by any member of said coal association to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company for the consumption of said railway company, which said coal such member shall have the right to sell to said railway company direct; it being understood that this contract applies only to the coal and coke to be sold west of the respective mines of the members of said coal association, and shall not in any way apply to, or interfere with, the Eastern trade of the members of said association. "(2) The minimum price f. o. b. mines of all the various grades of coal and coke sold and to be shipped West by the members of said association, and embraced in this contract, shall be fixed by the executive committee of said coal association from time to time, as it shall see proper, after consultation with the executive committee of the fuel company. The said fuel company covenants, agrees, and binds itself that it will make no contract for the sale of any coal or coke of any members of said association at a price lower than such minimum prices to be fixed by such committee, and further that it will at all times endeavor to obtain the maximum price for such coal and coke. It is understood and agreed that the minimum prices hereinbefore mentioned are net prices f. o. b. mines, and not including any profit to the said fuel company, which is to get its profit over and above said prices. "(3) That the said fuel company shall make its sales direct, and shall not make any contract for the sale of coal and coke to a third party in the name of any member of the said coal association, and shall have no right by any contract to bind any member of said association to any third party, except for river business, as hereinafter provided for. "(4) The executive committee of said fuel company, who shall administer and have charge of its affairs, shall be composed of three (3) persons, one of whom shall at all times be a member of, or officer of a member of, said coal association, and shall from time to time, according to the by-laws or articles of association of said association, be designated as a member of such executive committee, and shall thereupon be appointed such member of such executive committee by said fuel company in the place and stead of the member of, or officer of a member of, said coal association previously occupying such office. The executive committee of said coal association shall consist of three members of, or officers of members of, said coal association, to be selected as such from time to time by the members of said coal association according to their by-laws or articles of association. "(5) The said fuel company covenants, agrees, and binds itself to sell for shipment by rail via the said Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, and pay for, to the members of said coal association as hereinafter agreed, not less than 600,000 tons per annum of coal, and 75,000 tons per annum of coke; such sales and shipments to be disposed of in as nearly equal monthly quantities as possible. But in case said fuel company is unable for any time to make sales of coal or coke by reason of the failure or inability of the members of said association to make prices sufficiently low to enable said fuel company to meet the prices in the market where said coal or coke is sought to be sold, and to compete with other sellers of coal or coke in such markets, then there shall be an abatement of the minimum amount of coal or coke hereinbefore agreed to be taken annually by said fuel company, bearing the same proportion to such minimum amount of coal or coke as such time during which such inability to meet such market prices shall continue does to one year. The executive committee of said coal association shall, not later than the 20th day of each month, designate the percentage of the total product of each class and grade of coal and coke which they deem best to be shipped by each member of said association by rail as aforesaid during the succeeding month, which apportionment so made shall be furnished the general manager of said fuel company not later than the 20th day of said first-mentioned month, and all orders received to be shipped by rail as aforesaid during such succeeding month shall be distributed between the members of said coal association by said general manager according to such apportionments: provided that, if any member of said coal association shall be unable or shall not desire to ship West the full amount of any kind or grade of coal or coke apportioned to such member for any month, the said fuel company shall distribute the order for the deficiency so caused among the other members of said association who are shippers of such grade of coal or coke in the proportion as between such other members fixed by said committee for such month: provided, further, that only actual inability shall excuse a member of said association from shipping so much of the apportionment for any month as shall be required by the said fuel company for contribution to contracts previously taken by said fuel company. "(6) The said fuel company shall make and render to the members of the coal association accurate and complete reports of all coke and coal shipped by rail as aforesaid, as follows: (a) A daily report of all sales, showing the net prices of such sales. (b) A monthly report showing the tonnage of the various kinds of grades of coal and coke shipped by members of said coal association and weighed during the month, or weighed during such month though shipped during a preceding month, together with the average price for each grade or kind of coal or coke so shipped and weighed, which average price shall be computed upon the basis of the actual price, less gross profits, if any, received for all coal or coke sold, and the minimum price, fixed as hereinafter provided, for such month for coal or coke not sold in such month; said report to be made not later than the 10th day of each month for all coal and coke weighed, or weighed during the previous calendar month. The coal and coke shipped and weighed or weighed during such month shall be paid for by said fuel company to the members of said coal association according to the average prices, determined as aforesaid, and upon the sale after the end of each month of any coal or coke shipped and weighed, or weighed but not sold during such month, the surplus, if any, arising after deducting from the actual price received the minimum price for such kind and grade of coal or coke for such month, and profit, shall be paid forthwith to the shippers of such grade of coal or coke for such month according to their tonnage of such kind or grade of coal or coke for such month. And the said fuel company agrees and binds itself to pay as aforesaid, in cash, on or before the 20th day of each month, for all coal and coke during the previous calendar month. "(7) The said fuel company further covenants, agrees, and binds itself to handle only such coal and coke as are produced by the above-mentioned members of said coal association, and not to handle, buy, or sell, for itself or on commission, any coal or coke produced by any other operator |