Constitutional Law—Interstate Commerce—Antitrust Laws

Petitioner who was engaged in a wholly intrastate activity, the bakery business, at Santa Rosa, New Mexico, brought an action for treble damages. The corporate respondent was a Clovis, New Mexico, bakery which sold bread in interstate commerce. Respondent was one of several corporations having interlocking ownership and management, all marketing bread under a common name. The syndicate promoted the product through a common advertising program and purchased supplies as a unit.

Respondent, claiming petitioner had instigated a boycott against it, cut the price of bread by one-half in Santa Rosa, thereby driving the petitioner out of business, but did not cut prices at other locations. The court of appeals reversed the trial court judgment for petitioner upon the ground that the injury was to a purely local competitor whose business was in no way related to interstate commerce. Upon appeal to the United States Supreme Court, held: reversed. Although the victim was a local merchant and no interstate transactions were used to destroy him, the aggressor was an interstate business.

The treasury used to finance the warfare was drawn from interstate as well as local sources.