<P> Greenspan at that time was a disciple and friend of Ayn Rand, and he first published Antitrust in Rand's monthly publication The Objectivist Newsletter . Rand, who described herself as "a radical for capitalism," opposed antitrust law not only on economic grounds but also morally, as a violation of property rights, asserting that the "meaning and purpose" of antitrust law is "the penalizing of ability for being ability, the penalizing of success for being success, and the sacrifice of productive genius to the demands of envious mediocrity ." </P> <P> Other normative criticism of antitrust policy has been framed in utilitarian terms . Critics, having assumed that some kind of competition law is inevitable, argue as to what its central policy should be, and raise doubts as to whether it is accomplishing its goal . A common tactic is to choose a goal, and then cite evidence that it supports the opposite . For example, during a debate over the act in 1890, Representative William Mason said "trusts have made products cheaper, have reduced prices; but if the price of oil, for instance, were reduced to one cent a barrel, it would not right the wrong done to people of this country by the trusts which have destroyed legitimate competition and driven honest men from legitimate business enterprise ." Consequently, if the primary goal of the act is to protect consumers, and consumers are protected by lower prices, the act may be harmful if it reduces economy of scale, a price - lowering mechanism, by breaking up big businesses . Mason put small business survival, a justice interest, on a level concomitant with the pure economic rationale of consumer interest . </P> <P> The converse argument is that if lowering prices alone is not the goal, and instead protecting competitions and markets as well as consumers is the goal, the law again arguably has the opposite effect--it could be protectionist . Economist Thomas DiLorenzo notes that Senator Sherman sponsored the 1890 William McKinley tariff just three months after the Sherman Act, and agrees with The New York Times which wrote on October 1, 1890: "That so - called Anti-Trust law was passed to deceive the people and to clear the way for the enactment of this Pro-Trust law relating to the tariff ." The Times went on to assert that Sherman merely supported this "humbug" of a law "in order that party organs might say ...' Behold! We have attacked the trusts . The Republican Party is the enemy of all such rings ."' </P> <P> Dilorenzo writes: "Protectionists did not want prices paid by consumers to fall . But they also understood that to gain political support for high tariffs they would have to assure the public that industries would not combine to increase prices to politically prohibitive levels . Support for both an antitrust law and tariff hikes would maintain high prices while avoiding the more obvious bilking of consumers ." </P>

What was considered a legal activity under the sherman anti-trust act apex