Antitrust and Trade Regulation laws aim to promote free competition in the marketplace. Agreements or cooperative efforts by two or more entities that affects or restrains competitors is illegal under these laws. The Sherman Act makes illegal any contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce and makes monopolies and attempts, combinations, or conspiracies to monopolize illegal. The Clayton Act regulate price discrimination, tying and exclusive dealing contracts, stock acquisition and interlocking directorates.
Carbondale is a city in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carbondale is located approximately 15 miles due NE of the city of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 9,804 at the 2000 census. The land area that became Carbondale was developed by William and Maurice Wurts, the founders of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, during the rise of the anthracite coal mining industry in the early 1800s. Carbondale was the site of the first underground mine in the United States. It was also a major terminal of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Like many other cities and towns in the region, Carbondale has struggled with the demise of the once-prominent coal mining industry that propelled the region into a haven for Eastern European immigrants seeking work during the late 1800s and early 1900s.