Not a Cough in a Carload

In Johannesburg last week, Judge Henry John Clayden convened the Witwatersrand division of South Africa's Supreme Court for one important minute--just long enough to hand down a copy of his lengthy (100,000 words) decision in the longest (385 days) civil suit, awarding the largest damages ($1,600,000) in South African legal history.

The expensive quarrel was between South Africa's two big tobacco companies, International Tobacco Co. Ltd. and United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd.

It began in 1949, when International's Max cigarettes were a growing favorite among South Africa's urban Negroes. Suddenly, sales began to fall off. International investigators discovered that United was hiring Negro rumormongers, who were going into beer halls and factories and spreading the word that Maxes were made by an apartheid (i.e., Jim Crow) company. What was more, said the paid detractors, Maxes caused coughing and tuberculosis. In May 1953, International sent its lawyers to court seeking $8,400,000 damages. In his decision last week, Judge Clayden found all United's propaganda false. International is not an apartheid company, and as for Maxes, there was not a cough in a carload.

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