Kunihiro

These two actions at law were instituted in the court below to recover damages for violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of July 2, 1890 ( 26 Stat. 209 [Comp. St. §§ 8820-8823, 8827-8830]). Both actions are identical, except as to the year for which damages are claimed. So far as deemed material, the facts are as follows:

During the years 1912 and 1913 a large number of Japanese were engaged in the business of growing cantaloupes in the Imperial Valley in the state of California, and *895 during the same period the defendants named in. the two actions, with certain exceptions not material to our present inquiry, were engaged in the business of selling, distributing, and marketing the cantaloupes thus produced on a commission basis. In the course of their dealings each grower dealt exclusively with his own agent, and had no dealings, directly or indirectly, with the other defendants named in the record. At the close of the seasons in question the growers were of opinion -that their several agents had not fully accounted to them for all moneys received by them in the course of their employment, and, with a view of collecting the balance due, each grower assigned to the plaintiff…