Brief for the United States (1914)

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252 PAET XIII. (1) United States v. Terminal Bailroad Association (224 U. S., 383). Decided April 22, 1912. Opinion by Mr. Justice Lurton. A terminal association of railroads, unifying all the terminal facilities of a great city, is an illegal restraint so long as it does not act as the impartial agent of every line which, owing to geographic conditions, is under compulsion to use its instrumentalities. The physical or topographical condition peculiar to St. Louis made it impossible for any railroad to enter the city without using the defendant's terminal facilities. Therefore it was held that the combination of all the facilities for entering the city under the exclusive ownership and control of less than all the companies under compulsion to use them constituted a combination in restraint of interstate commerce and also constituted an attempt to monopolize that commerce among the States which must pass through the gateway of St. Louis. Protection of the public by the prevention of the monopolization of trade or commerce and by the prevention of an undue restraint on commerce is the foundation upon which the prohibition of the statute rests. Mr. Justice Lurton said: (394) It is not contended that the unification of the terminal facilities of a great city where many railroad systems center is, under all circumstances and conditions, a combination in restraint of trade or commerce. W'lu^ther it is a facility in aid of interstate commerce or an uni'(^as()na])le restraint forbidden hy th(^ act of Congress, as construed