Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1906-11-23
GOVERNMENT BEGINS ITS SUIT
TO DISSOLVE OIL COMBINE.

ard OH Company's alleged monopoly b
filing in the United States Circuit Court O
st. Louis petition in equity against th
Standard Oil Company Of New Jersey an
its seventy constituent corporations an
partnerships, and seven defendants, inc lud
ing John ID. Rockefeller and William Rookie
Teller, asking that the combination be de
clared unlawful, and in the future enjoine
from entering into any contract or combina
ton in restraint OF trade
The suit is brought under the Sherman
antitrust act, which the Standard Oil Com
pany and its constituent companies and th
seven individual defendants are charged
with violating. In formal statement, At
torney General Moody says that criminal
prosecution is reserved for future consider
alton.
The defendants are entitled to one month
in which to enter their appearance, and sixty
daysin which to file answer to the allegations
in the petition. They also have the option
OF filing demurrer to the bill.
Mr.. Moody declares that their report
shows that the various corporations and
limited partnerships under the control OF the
Standard Oil Company produce, transport
and sell about 80 per cent OF the refined oil
produced and sold in the United States, and
about the same proportion OF refined oil ex.
ported.
The report finds that this enormous pro.
portion of this business was procured by O.
course of action beginning In 1870, undsr
the direction of John ID. Rockefeller, MI
liam Rockefeller, Henry II. Rogers, Henry
M. Flagler, John d. Archbold, Qiver IL.
Payne, and Charles NJ. Pratt, wlo, In the
main, have been In control t the present
time. The fiat charge Is mSde that the de-
sign Of these men has beaa to control the
business, to suppress conpetition,and obtain
as far as possible, ap absolute monopoly.
Going into detail, the Attorney Generals
statement shows bow the various laws have
been evaded through the organization of
subsidiary companies; controlled by the
same set of men and how, as one plan after
another had been overturned by the courts,
this corporation had esaded the law by orig
mating other methods, which are detailed
until the adoption of the present scheme OF
making the Standard OIL Company of New
Jersey the holding company OF the many
alleged Independent oil concerns.
Under this method Of transactiDg its bust.
ness the Standard Oil Company, Attorney
General Moody says, has been able TO sup.
press competition between the corporations
and limited partnerships; has obtained rail
road rates that were discriminating in favor
of the corporation, and has been able, In
large sections OF the country, to obtain a
monopoly of the sale of refined oil, with the
result that the prices TO consumers within
the territory where the monopoly prevails
are very much higher than within the terri
tory where competition to some extent still
exists.
These and other facts set forth In the Pc
tition, the Attorney General says, justified
and required the United States to take &C.
ton IN the courts. For this reason the suit
circuit, at ST. Louis, alleging violations un.
der the first and second sections of the Sher
man antitrust law. The defendants are
John d. Rockefeller and his associates, be.
fore named, personally, the Standard Oil
Corporation, and seventy other corporations
and limited partnerships.
The government seeks 10 have the alleged
combination adjudged and decreed to be
unlawful; that the holding and control by
the Standard Oil Company of the stocks Of
the seventy corporations be declared unlaw.
ful, and that these corporations be prohib.
tied from declaring or paying any dividends
10 the Standard Oil Company, and be en-.
Joined from entering into or performing any
contract or combination to restrain trade
and commerce or to monopolize trade in the
future.
The petition, which probably is one of the
most yoluminous ever filed in court, is
logically divided into three periods. From
1870 to 1882 the combination formed a sim.
pie conspiracy. 10 this period the company
purchased interests of other companies and
entered into agreements to suppress compe.
tition. In the second period-from 1882 to
1699-the combination and conspiracy Is
alleged to have taken the form OF trust
affairs of the various companies was turned
over to board of trustees of which the indl
vlduals mentioned in the petition formed
majority. This trust was declared illegal
by the Supreme Court OF Ohio. and the third
period began in 1899, when the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey, as holding cor
poratlon, was organized.
After stating the general scheme carried
out by the defendants, the petition takes up
the leading facts of these separate periods
aud sets them forth in great detail. The
earlier periods referred to in the petition
deal largely with the question of rebates
and explains how the Standard was able TO
stife competition by making it impossible
for an independent to ship his product into
any market where the product OF the stand.
ard went. 1t was through this system o.
rebates that the individual defendants and
the corporation were enabled TO monopolizt
and control So per cent OF the business dur
ing that period OF the corporations growth
Necessarily the greater part of the petit
ton is given up TO q recital OF the alleget
unlawful acts committed since the organi
cation of the Standard Oil Company Q
New Jersey, the holding company for tn
many So called independent oil companie
throughout the country. A full list of thes
companies is given, the smallest being th
Eastern Ohio Oil and Gas Company, with
capital of 5000, and the largest the Stand
Oil Company, Of New York. with capiti
of $15.O00.OOO.
The transactions Of the STANDARD durin
this period, with pipeline companies, wit
steam railroads and Its contractual relation
with certain alleged pipeline compauie
are dealt with in detail, among other thinr