The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-15


eral Moody today, acting thru the
resident United States district attor-
ney, instituted proceedings against the
STANDARD Oil company. Of New Jersey
under the Sherman antitrust act, by
filing in the United States circuit court
at St. Louis q petition in equity against
it and its seventy, constituent corpo-
rations and partnerships and seven in
dividual defendants, asking that. the
combination be declared unlawful. and
in the future .enjoined from entering
into any contract or combination in re.
straint Of trade. '', sd .:= e. ]!
The following statement. was pre-
pared and made public by Attorney
General Moody today: s;.. .st
I'm June last. by direction Of sthe
president, Messrs. Kellogg and Morri.
son were appointed BY. me special as
sistant attorneys general to act with
Assistant Attorney General Purdy, ia
make an investigation Of the relations
Of the Standard Oil company: to the
business Of refining, transporting, dis,
tributing and selling OIL thruont thu
United States;st to ascertain all the facts
and report whether 81 no., III thei,
opinion, there had been . violation Of
the Sherman anti-trust law BY the
Standard OIL company or the persons
or corporations associated with or man.
aging 1t. The counsel have completed
that duty and the report. Of their IN.
vestigation has received careful con.
sideration by the president and his cab.
,inent. ~ -,
- Practically Controls Trade.
'trThe information available to the
department shows that the various cor.
porations and limited partnerships IN.
der the, control Of the STANDARD Oil
company transport and / sell /. about
80 per cent Of the refined oil produced
transported and sold in the United
States for domestic use, and about the
same proportion Of refined oil exported
from the United States. ,s ,gs
"That this share Of the business has
been procured by course of action
which, beginning in 1870, has continued
under the direction Of the same per.
sons, in the main, down to the present
time.
That these persons now surviving
are John D. Rockefeller, William Rock
Teller, Henry III. Rogers, Henry M
Payne and, Charles M. Pratt.
Aim to Crush Competition.
)t.liz:5's That the design thruout of. the, per
sons having control of the enterprise
has been to suppress competition In the
production, transportation and sale Of
refined oil and to. obtain, as far as pos
sible,s a monopoly therein. 49,
That between 1870 and 1882 the de-
sign was effected thru agreements made
between many persons and corporations
engaged in this business. g
HThat in 1882 the result aimed at
was made more certain by vesting in
nine trustees (including five Of the
in the, thirty nine corporations con
cerned to enable the trustees to control
their operations in such way that
comp tition between them was sup
pressed. & {. .
That this plan was acted upon un-
It'll 1t was declared unlawful by the
supreme court Of Ohio in an action
against the Standard Oil company Of
Ohio, one Of said corporations, in 1892.
That during the seven years fol
lowing the same individual defendants,
as majority of the iquidating trus-
tees, were pretending to liquidate the
trust, but as matter Of fact were
managing all OF the corporations in the
same way and exercising the same con-
troll over them.
Tricks Are Revealed.
.saaT That the individual defendants, in
1895, increased the stock Of the Stand
ard Oil company Of New Jersey from
$10, 900 900 to Sill, 000, 900. 81 .s