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.
Elgin is a city in Bastrop and Travis Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 5,700 at the 2000 census. By 2005, the population grew to an estimated 8,689. Elgin is also known as The Sausage Capital of Texas and the Brick Capital of the Southwest due to the presence of three operating brickyards in the mid-twentieth century (two of which are open to this date).