These scholars argue that much language in " Trans-Missouri Freight " was dicta, and also emphasized the Court's decision in " United States v . Joint Traffic Association ", 171 U . S . 505 ( 1898 ), in which the Court announced that " ordinary contracts and combinations " did not offend the Sherman Act, because they restrained only trade " indirectly . " Indeed, in his 1912 book on antitrust law, Taft reported that no critic of " Standard Oil " could succeed in Taft's challenge : to articulate one scenario in which the rule of reason would produce a result different from that produced under prior case law.
