In the first session of the 51th Congress of the United States, two statutes were approved named after Senator John Sherman: the Sherman Silver Act and the Sherman Anti-trust Act. In his Mémoirs the Senator admits (and regrets) the eponimy in the first case, but does not aknowledge the second. It might have been a surprise to him to know that the Judiciary's Committee version that superseeded the Finance Committee's one - the one that he introduced in December 1889 as S. 1 - came to be graced with his name. The point is that trying to illuminate the 1890 Antitrust Act's purpose by trying to assert Senator Sherman's thoughts on the subject is as apt as trying to understand the Schuman Plan by asking what were Robert Schuman's intentions while drafting it... (He didn´t). And that may be fortunate indeed: for what we know Senator Sherman was a proud protectionist, and the Resolution he managed the Senate to agree on, channeling to "his" Finance Committee all measures aimed at controlling trusts and monopolies, was presented immediately after he lost his last chance to become the Republican presidential candidate - something we know he blamed the trusts for.