The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-18
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 While 1t is dificuIt to think of 3 Republican administration going seri- ousiy to work to suppress e trust or curb great corporation 1t really seems that the United States is in earnest in it's light on Standard oil That this great and omniverous cor poratfon needs to be brought up with a round turn, and that it richly de- serves to be prosecuted, and put out of business If 1t does not mend it's ways are propositions that require no argument. There has never, we pre- sume. existed in the United States a corporation so utterly without con- science, so thoroughly oblivious of the rights of others or more indiffer- ent to the demands of justice and fairness in it's dealings with the peo- pie. The title of octopus fits 1t ex- actly,. for 1t reaches its tentacles into every nook and corner of the country and draws blood from all 1t touches. It is an organized appetite. with a mouth of unlimited capacity and a di- gestion without bounds. It grows with what it feeds on and fattens on the spells wrung from an unwilling but helpless public
 A legal battle between this trust and the United States will be some- thing we'll worth watching, if the lat ter goes at it in earnest and stands to it's guns as it should do. The re- sources of Standard Oil are practical ly without limit. Millions of dollars spent by 1t to maintain its present standing would be money prohtably in- vested If 1t wins the fight It will only have>to add a cent or two to the price of each gallon of oil to recoup Itself and to add to It's already im- nense holdings. Spending money in its own defense will only be matter of business, and 1t will be good busi- ness if 1t succeeds.
 1. On the other hand If the govern ment is sincere in it's purpose and Ia determined to carry the war to the end of the law the cost of the suit should not be considered, if the money is hon. estiy expended To fail in a suit of this nature would not only be dis creditable to the government itself but would be such triumph of cor porate greed as can hardly be over estimated. It would be looked on as a license to all other trusts of every kind, and all of them would profit by the example. We do not feel sufl- ciently up In such suits to give an opinion as to what will come of the petition on the part of the govern ment to dissolve the Standard oir Com pany .of New Jersey, or exactly what effect the success of that move would have on the corporation at large, but the idea entertained by some that if this move Is successful 1t will mean the dissolution of the entire Standard oil business doesn't seem reasonable.
 No one should feel surprise at the intimation given out in some quarters q blum on the part of the administre- ton. The great corporations of the country have had so much to do with keeping the party in power that doubts as to the administrators good faith in beginning a fight on corpo- rations is not at all surprising. But admitting that this action Is in dead earnest and that 1t will be conducted without regard to consequences to the party there is no telling when it may end. There is too much involved for either party to yield until all the re- sources of one or both are exhausted, and until every point known to the law has been tried. However it ends 1t bids fair to be a grand fight.