The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-10-23
y have recently convulsed the coun-

Ter have recently convulsed the coun-
try with laughter, went before the
judges informally and pleaded for time
in which to dissolve the trust. 1t
would take time to find the original
owners Of the stock in the constituent
companies and to arrange for an ex-
change. The judges were easy and
ne got time. This was in 1892. In
1897 the lacryhmal Mr.. Dodd was still
taking time. There were 477,SS1 Of the
original $4,000 trust certificates still
uncanceled and these were in the
hands of liquidating trustees. Nobody
was hurrying to liquidate. The owners
were receiving their dividends through
the trust as before and presumably it
was debating the price of oil and ex-
ercising the executive functions of the
subordinate companies as before The
decision Of the supreme court mad been
nullified and the judges made laugh
ing stock by tine pretense of liquida-
ton. which did not and was not intend
ed to liquidate.
The year 1897 saw the entry Of
George M. Rice on the field of opera
lions. Mr.. Rice had become convinced
that the trust was not being dissolved
and he went to the attorney general
with his complaint. The attorney gen.
eral was Frank S. Monnett, who was
the second law officer to interfere with
the Standards way Of doing business.
Together they discovered the evidence
that the trust certificates had not been
Cancelled, that the trust still owned and
operated the Standard Oil company of
Ohio contrary to the supreme court de-
cree, and together they framed up a
scheme to get John D. Rockefeller on
the witness stand. The trust magnate
took the oath and told his story in
reference proceedings In New York. It
is this testimony which was introduced
in the suit at F,indlay, Ohio, the other
day. But Monnett never got his suit
to completion. The trust stood him off
until the convention of his party was
held. It defeated him for renomina-
ton and his successor dismissed all
the proceedings.
Act three in this drama mas just been
staged at Ffndlay, where the Standard
has been convicted of violation of the
Valentine law. The Valentine law is
a new one, which prohibits combina-
tions in restraint of trade and to fix
prices. It was shown that the Standard
Oil company was still a trust, that the
Standard Oil company of Ohio is still
a part of it and that subsequent to the
passage Of the Valentine law the
Standard Oil company Of Ohio had sub
mitted to the Standard Oil company of
New Jersey with headquarters at rs
Broadway, New York, and that there
rather than in Ohio the business of
the company had been transacted.
The jury wrestled with the matter
for several days and at last brought in
a verdict of guilty.
OF course the point of all these pro-
secutions from the waters-Pierce case
in Missouri to the Standard Oil case
in Ohio is that while there is a pre-
tence Of competition none of these
Standard Oil companies compete at all
with each other, but fercely with out
side companies. Instead of promot-
ing friendly competition they, with
an immense capital behind them, crush
it and take the whole field. They do
so indirect violation of law; the trust
has long since been ordered to dis
solve and depart, but has impudently
def1ed the laws of God and man by
maintaining its position and its mono
poly.