The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-18
COMBINES DOOMED
y IF OIL TRUST GOES
End of All Monopolies Fore
Swallowed by the Present
.= Prosecutions.
FEDERAL LAWYERS
EXPECT VICTORY
Hope to Force Merger to Divide
Into Component
Parts.

Chicago, July 1s.-A Washington spe-
cial to the Chicago Tribune says:
Prosecution of the Standard Oil cor
poration in any and every way 1t can
be reached under the existing law, even
If the railroad officials who conspired
with it are to secure Immunity thru be-
ing required to testify against the octo-
pus. is the policy determined upon by
the administration.
Whoever escapes, the Standard Oil
trust is to be held. Every discovera-
bic loophole thru which it may endeavor
to wriggle to safety is to be closed. To
obtain this result officials Of railroad
guilty with the Standard company will
be allowed to go UNPUBLISHED on the sin
gle condition that they give evidence
of violations of the law in which the
Standard participated.
Roads in Danger, Too.
Not all will enjoy such freedom as
the officers of the Lake Shore in the
Cleveland inquiry for instance. but
wherever testimony is required, officers
of a road will be subpenaed and they
will be urged to confess, with the I'M
derstanding they will not be prose-
suited.
In the tobacco and paper trust cases
the supreme court Of the United States
questions propounded by the grand
iuries, but the fact that they gave tes-
Eimony did not estop the. government
from suing corporations of which they
were agents. So, in the case Of the
Lake Shore, while the officials who are
brought before the grand jury rendered
themselves immune from punishment
for any Of the offenses concerning
which they testified, the Lake Shore it
so1q oon he sbo1,1H the COW
eminent decide to take such action.
Purdy at Helm.
The rebate prosecutions which began
In Cleveland and New York and which
are to be instituted In Chicago within
the next few days, are of far less i'm.
portance than the results Of the confer
Paul, Mimi, for the last three weeks
between Messrs. Kellogg and Morrison
special counsel for the government in
the Standard Oil prosecution, Assistant
Attorney General Purdy Of the depart
ment Of Justice and Solicitor Earl Of the
department of commerce.
Before these officials examined the
eminent there was doubt as to whether
the Standard Oil company could be pro
ceeded against under the Sherman anti
trust law. -.-
Victory In Sight Now.
The corporation had been protected
by such cunning legal devices, ant
every law enacted against monopolie!
had been considered with such care IL
its organization that the administrator
feared it would be exceedingly difficult
to obtain .9,d decision that the OIL trqs
W strain an of traae and Commerce.
No such doubt exists today. Thu
investigation made at st. Paul hal
cleared away the brushwood, and thu
government now sees clear path along
which it can proceed to Judicial VIC
Means End Of All Trusts.
Mr.. Purdy arrived in Washington to
day from st. Paul. He declined to dis
euss the conference Or the conclusion
it can be stated positively that he an,
Messrs. Morrison and Kellogg are con
vlnced that the Standard company ca
be convicted of conspiracy in restrain
Of trade and commerce and a judgmen
can be obtained under which the gigan
tic corporation will be compelled to d!
vide into it's component parts-in othe
words, to return to conditions whiic
prevailed in 1870 before the Rockefe
lers began their move to secure contrc
of the oil industry and competitio
fourished. 49,
Examination Of the legal officials et
tablishes that the Standard Oil CON
pany is the most typical example Of
trust which can be found; Il 1t ca
be compelled to dissolve, it will mea
that every trust in the country mus
cease business, and that competitio
will be restored unless astute lawyer
find some other way Of evadfng til
Law. ~