Sherman Antitrust Act

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first set of anti-monopoly laws to come down the pike. Like it says right there in the name, the act was…anti…trusts.

It was passed to bust up any unfairly organized legal arrangements or would-be monopolies, which would prevent them from taking advantage of unknowing consumers, and provide for a competitive marketplace.

So…what did this mean for poor ol’ Mike, Bob and Jim? Now they couldn’t just raise grain prices willy-nilly. Suddenly, there were strictures in place. And our gruesome threesome had to abide by the new rule of law, which meant pricing their product fairly and reasonably, so that no one was having to sell the family farm to afford a loaf of sourdough.

And then clever lawyers defending bazillionaires poked so many holes in the Sherman Act, it looked like Nicole Kidman after her latest botox treatment. So along came the Clayton Antitrust Act, in 1914, to fill in those holes and...puff up the cheeks of law, as it were.

Any little loopholes discovered by the clever lawyers were closed, and more specifics were added to the language so that it was even harder for folks like Mike, Bob and Jim to pull one over on Ma and Pa Kettle.

So yeah, as Billy Joel famously sang, "It’s just a matter of trust…"