merchandise; but Kansas includes combinations which control the loan or use of money, fix attorneys' and physicians' fees, control the cost or rate of insurance, or which tend to advance the rate of interest for the borrower, and South Dakota declares that it is against public policy and illegal to form a combination to prevent a fair competition for a low rate of interest.
The provisions of the laws do not apply to agricultural products, and live stock while in the hands of the producer, in Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska and Texas, and, with exceptions, in Alabama. Most of the acts provide that foreign trusts operating in violation of them shall be prohibited from doing business in the states enacting the laws. Some of the laws prohibit corporations from holding trust certificates or stock.
The penalties for violation of the laws are most severe. The United States law fixes the penalty at not exceeding $5000 fine, or not exceeding one year's imprisonment, or both punishments. In addition to this, property in transit shall be forfeited, and any person who may be injured by a trust may recover threefold the damages sustained, cost of suit, and attorney's fee. The penalties in the various states are as follows: Oklahoma, fine of $50 to $500; Alabama, $500 to $2000; Kentucky and Louisiana, $500 to $5000; Illinois, $500 to $15,000; Maine, $5 to $10,000; Minnesota, $100 to $5000, and imprisonment for one to ten years; Missouri, $100 per day; Nebraska, not exceeding $1000, or imprisonment not exceeding six months; Tennessee, $250 for first offense, $500 for the second; Texas and Mississippi, $50 to $5000, and imprisonment for one to ten years, and $50 for each additional day's offense. Officers and agents are liable to the same penalty in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and North Dakota, and to fines of $200 to $1000 and imprisonment, in Illinois and New Mexico. If assent to the illegal agreement is not withdrawn within thirty days in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota and Nebraska, the corporation shall forfeit its charter and all rights and franchises. It is also provided in many cases that obligations to such combinations need not be regarded.
