TRIAL OF THE COOPERS OF NEW YORK,

FOR   COMBINATION,   IN   THE   YEAR   1680.
YORKE   CiTTY.

The early New York method of dealing with illegal
combinations was a model of concise procedure. There
is in the following record a conspicuous absence of at¬
torneys, notices of a])peal, injunctions, stays, or any other
of the ingenious processes of the modern legal mill. The
subjoined record proves the early existence of a "trust-
buster" that really busted. The "articles of compact dis¬
annulled" the malefactors fined, and the coopers sent back
to a competitive market to construct their commodities in¬
cluding the hogsheads to contain the excellent Dutch
"schnapps" that the bench and bar of the time found a
stimulator of legal wisdom.

Artickles of Agreement Made By and Beetwixt Wee, the
Coopers in this Citty Underwritten, Doo Agree upon ye
Rate and Prizes of Caske that Is to Say, for euery
Dry hhds. ffiue Shillings, for euery Dry Bbls. Two
Shillings and sixpence, for euery Dry halfe Barll one
shilling Si.x Pence, for euery titte Barll ffor Beefe or
porke Three Shillings; And Wee, ye Vnder Written,
Doo Joyntly and Seavorally Bind ourselfes, that for
Euery one that shall sell any cask Beefore mentioned
under the Rate or prizes aboue, Sd., that for euery
Such Default ffiuety Shillinges he or they shall pay for
the vse of the poore, as Wittness our hands, this 17th
Day of December, 1679.

Deirch Jansen de Grooet,     Richd. R. E. Elliott, marked.

This is the  X  mark of        Ewertt E. W. Wessells, marked,

Luyicl-ces Gersen,                     William Waldron,

Pijeter brestee,                         Jan Vinsent,

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