Owen J. Roberts

“ In the course of his statement he said: 'There is only one other remedy worth mentioning available under existing law to the Department of Justice-the civil action for an injunction. In addition, there is the action in damages by a private person who has been injured. Neither of these remedies is effective.' He further stated: 'The bill permits the United States, in effect, to bring a suit for damages against an offending corporation and against its individual directors and officers.' [19]
7. ”

“ If I am correct in my assumption, the result is that as to those purchases made by its corporate agencies, the Government is protected by the Sherman Act, while as to those purchases made by its non-corporate agencies, it is not so protected. A process of statutory construction which results in giving to government corporations a right denied to constitutionally authorized government departments seems to me to conflict with the frequently declared rule that a statute should not be interpreted in such way as to produce an unreasonable or unjust result. ”

“ Congress has not left us at large to devise every feasible means for protecting the Government as a purchaser. It is the function of Congress to fashion means to that end, and Congress has discharged this duty from time to time according to its own wisdom. ”

“ He cannot be assumed to have constant knowledge of the manifold problems that face those who buy the government's supplies. In the final analysis, it is probably true that even an Attorney General who might zealously desire to enforce the criminal provisions of the Sherman Act would not likely be stimulated to institute civil proceedings for damages unless his attention was directed to the point by keenly alert and diligent purchasing agencies. ”

“ In summary, we are of opinion that the text of the Act, taken in its natural and ordinary sense, makes against the extension of the term 'person' to include the United States and that the usual aids to construction, taken together, instead of inducing the contrary conclusion, go to support the view that Congress did not use the word in the sense for which the Government contends. ”

“ When the Clayton Act was before the Senate, Senator Culberson, Chairman of the Committee which reported the bill, enumerated the usual types of action prosecuted under the Sherman Act,-criminal prosecutions, suits in equity, and actions for damages, and stated with respect to Government suits under the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act: 'There is no suit authorized by any of these statutes except a criminal prosecution or a suit in equity. ”

“ For it is a primary principle that a law should be construed so as to carry out its purpose, in the light of the evil aimed at and the protection intended to be afforded. Here, among the evils legislated against was price-fixing by combination, and among the remedies afforded was the giving of a right of action to purchasers injured by prices so fixed. ”

“ Further, criminal and injunctive proceedings, whatever their efficacy, do not achieve the object of section 7, which is to indemnify all injured purchasers.↑ Though the Act is all-inclusive in naming those who may sue for damages, it is not equally all-inclusive in describing those acts which may be regarded as unlawful combinations. This is true both because of the original language and objects of the Sherman Act itself, and because of subsequent legislation. ”

“ No such clear and unequivocal statutory language exists. And no plausible reason has been hazarded to prove that the government as a purchaser of goods needs less protection from unlawful combinations than do other buyers. ”

“ It should be noted that § 1 of the Clayton Act again defined the term 'person' exactly as it was defined by § 8 of the Sherman Act, and § 4 again enacted that any person injured by a violation might recover treble damages together with a reasonable attorney's fee. ”

“ The most notable example of such subsequent legislation is that portion of the Clayton Act which provides: 'The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce. Nothing contained in the antitrust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations * * * or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations from lawfully carrying out the legitimate objects thereof ”

“ Schwalby, 147 U.S. 508, 517, 13 S.Ct. 418, 421, 37 L.Ed. 259.↑ See Dugan v. United States, 3 Wheat. 172, 4 L.Ed. 362; United States v. Gear, 3 How, 120, 800, Appendix, 11 L.Ed. 523, 838; Cotton v. United States, supra. Cf. Dollar Savings Bank v. ”