The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-01-06
TO GUST STANDARD OIL co
OHIO'S STATE ATTORNEY p yyTYTYn ~
THE SUPREME COURT.

OHIO'S STATE ATTORNEY PETITION
THE SUPREME COURT.
A Result of the Recent DEVELOPMENTS III
the Investigation Directed A gainst tho
corporation-The OIL Company,s At
torney Refuses to Produce tho soolxx
Alleged to Have Been Burned.
Columbus, O., Jan. 5.--As a result ~
the developments In the Standard Oil
case in the supreme court to-day, State
Attorney Monnett this evening filed a
petition to oust the company from its
charter in Ohio. The prayer of the be-
titon is "that defendant be found and
adjudged to have forfeited and surren-
dered it's corporate rights, privileges,
powers and franchises, and that it be
ousted and excluded therefrom; that it
be dissolved, and that the said court
stockholders of sach corporation to set
tie the affairs Of this defendant CONS
pany, collect and pay outstanding debts
and divide among the stockholders tho
money and other property which re-
mains after the payment Of debts and
necessary expenses, and that such other
/ relief be granted in the premises as the
court may seem just and proper
/
Columbus, O., Jan. 5.-In the argu-
ments before the supreme court this
morning of the motion of the attorney
general to dismiss the master commis-
sioner and continue the investigation or
the Standard Oil company in open court
Hon. Virgil P. Kline Of Cleveland, at
torney for the Standard Oil company,
made some positive statements and adj
] missions. He declared, in the first place,
in response to interrogatories Of the
court, that the company will not under
the former order of the court, produce
any books other than those already Civ
en- in evidence. In the second place, he
admitted that there are still outstand-
ing about $4,000, 900 worth of trust cer-
! tificates of the Standard Oil trust which
the court ordered dissolved in 1892 butt
company has all along been trying toN
get in, and is still trying. The court
heard the arguments of both sides, but
took no action. The arguments were
principally devoted to the question as
to whether or not the officers Of the
tandard Oil company have complied
with the recent order of the court to
produce the company books showing
s@ri1,
idends since the trust was ordered dis
solved in 1892. Attorney General Mon
nett argued that the company had used
dilatory tactics and had defied the
court.
In reply to the argument of Attorney
General Mott, Virgil Kline stated that
the company had no books made perth
nent to the order of the court save min
ute books and ledgers, which had been
placed in evidence. He declared that
commercial books of the corporation
We're not formally demanded and when
pressed by the court he admitted that
they would not have been produced if
accounted for. He protested that such
a demand was a violation of the rights
of the stockholders Judge Minshall
asked: "Do you refuse to comply with
tho order OF court?''
To which Mr.. Kline replied: 1--WE do,
for the purpose of presenting questions
we desire to raise. This will be when
the order is presented to the officials to
produce them" Subsequently Chief
Justice Spear suggested that he sup
posed the object Of the company's at
torneys was to have witness refuse
to testify regarding the books in the
next hearing in the expectation that he
would be placed in contempt and then
habeas corpus proceedings would be un-
dertaken. Mr.. Kline offered on explain
alton. Chief Justice Spear asked: Has
your company any books showing the
workings of the corporation?"
Mr.. Kline replied: I'VE have books
showing gross earnings. This talk
about burning them is the merest
chaff." He was next asked: "Will YOU
produce them?" and he again said: We
will not. under the former order. be
cause it would be violation OF our
rights We have always been willing
to produce our minute books and ledg-
ers showing corporate transactions, but
not books showing the holdings OF
stockholders and transfers among them.
Any item that could not readily be ex-
planned would be misconstrued and the
result would be no nearer, no clearer.
We submitted all books showing own
ership of trust stock and how 1t got
back mot stockholders hands. When
the order to dissolve was made in 1892 VI
there was $97000,000 worth of certifi-
Gates outstanding all of which, except
about S17,000,000 has been withdrawn
The president of the corporation has
so far been unable to get those certi-
ficates that are held as investments and
by persons who prefer them
and are trying to retain them. 1t takes
time to convert all this money into
stock. The holders of them
do not get dollar of dividends from
the Standard Oil company of Ohio As
to books, we burn old books in storage
every ten years, but there have been
none destroyed pertinent to this inves-
tieation."
The court gave the attorney ol lile
Oil and constituent companies two
weeks in which to file their answers IN
the petitions against the constituent