New-York tribune., 1906-11-16
THE STANDARD OIL CASE.

The administrations course against the Stand
ard Oil Company is example of that orderly
dealing with corporation questions which was
approved by the people in the recent election.
1t is the good old fashioned way Of proceed
ing from a sense of official oblgation-of col
lecting the evidence and then bringing the ac-
ton which is judged to be requisite There is
no attempt to scare the trusts by making faces
at them, to frighten them into virtue by
horrid front or to drive them to suicide by ter
rifying headlines 1t Is unsensational but it
IS orderly and decent. A corporation will have
the day in court which our institutions guar
antee it Lynching is swifter. but it will hardly
commend itself to a people with any capacity
for self-government 1t is not necessary to
pluck the government up by the roots in order
TO deal with its creatures.
The evidence against the oil company appears
to have been collected in a painstaking and
thorough manner, as BELTS the greatest case
which the administration has undertaken to
break up an alleged monopoly. The company
is charged with having possessed since 1870, and
with possessing still, a monopoly of the pro-
duction and sale of petroleum in this country.
1t Is charged with being a holding company"
holding the stock Of some seventy smaller cor
porations, and thus restraining trade and sup
pressing competition; and the administration has
already obtained in the Northern Securities case
a decision against the holding company as a de-
vice for uniting smaller concerns into one great
one. The Standard Oil Company is charged
with obtaining railroad rates Illegally discrim-
mating In its favor, and with monopoly of the
oil pipe lines. It Is charged with unfair COM
petition against independent concerns and with
overcharging for its product the assertion
being that In large sections of the country the
prices Of refined oil TO the consumer are much
higher than in territories where competition
still exists On the basis of these charges the
government asks that the court declare the
combination unlawful under the Sherman Anti
Trust act, and also for An injunction restrain
ing it from continuing to do business. The pc
dtion recites the practical failure of the iudg-
ment of the Ohio court in 1892 vofding the
Standard Oh Trust agreement to end the mo-
nopoly, the trust having simply reorganized in
New Jersey under the present holding com
pany" charter. To provide against such a fail
ure this time very broad injunction is prayed
for. The petition prays
That the defendants and each and all of them.
their respective directors, officers, agents and
servants, be enjoined from entering into or tax
ing part in performing any contract, COM
bination or conspiracy the purpose or effect of
which is to restrain the trade or commerce in
petroleum and its products. to monopolize the
same In violation of said act OF Congress. either
by placing the control of said corporations In
the hands of any other corporation person, or
agreeing or contracting together with one
another with respect to the control Of said
porations, agreeing contracting together in
respect to the purchase, shipment transporta-
ton. manufacture. sale and distribution of pc
troleum and its products.
SO broad an injunction, if granted, would
seemingly make extremely difficult what is so
often said to be the only result of proceedings
against trusts, namely the substitution of mo-
nopoly in a new form for the monopoly dis
solved. Restraint IN the most general terms is
sought by the Department OF Justice against the
doing of that very thing.
There is no more difficult problem before
America than the just regulation of combina-
tons OF capital. No sane person seeks to pre-
vent capitals operating on a large scale. All
that is sought is to prevent its using unfairly
the power which It derives from the magnt-
tude Of its operations to extort more than
It's share Of the returns. OvercapitaliZatiOn,
monopolistic overcharges resulting in excessive
earnings, and unfair methods of competition are
the crying evils which have iniamed public
sentiment and which thoughtful public men
seek to cure. With two of these things the
Standard Oil Company is charged by the De-
partment of Justice. We have no doubt that
the prosecution Will be conducted with skill and
vigor, and there is reason to hope that If the
wrongs complained of shall be proved a really
effective remedy will follow.