Merger policy.
Brown Shoe Co.
v. U. S.
370 U. S. 294 (1962)
wBrown Shoe seeks to acquire Kinney.
wChanging industrial structure of the shoe industry in the 1950s.
wC4 = 23%, but C24 = 35%.
"It is competition, not competitors, the act protects.  But we cannot fail to recognize Congress' desire to promote competition through the protection of viable, small, locally owned businesses.  Congress appreciated that occasional higher costs and prices might result from the maintenance of fragmented industries and markets.  It resolved these competing considerations in favor of decentralization."