The Mena weekly star., 1906-11-22

lJlSlIltl AtlOlASJt ings against the Standard oll com pany of New Jersey under the Sher- man antitrust act, by fling ID ule United States circuit court at ot. Louis a petition in equity against U and it's 70 constituent corporations md partnerships and seven individuai defendants, asking that the comDina- tion be declared unlawful and in the future enjoined from entering iheo any contract or combination in re- straint of trade, etc
 The defendants now have one month in which to enter their ap- pearance and an additional month III which to file their answer. They also have the option of filing oe- murrer to the petition.
 The following statement was pre- pared and made public by Attorney General Moody Thursday:
 s.In June last, by direction of the resident, Messrs. Kellogg and Morri- 9n were appointed by me special as istant attorneys general to act with assistant to the attorney general, PuT- 6v to make an investigation of the relations of the Standard Oil company of New Jersey, to the business of re- flning, transporting, distributing and selling oil throughout the Unlted States; to ascertain all the facts, and report whether or not in their ep;nion there has been a violation or the Sherman antitrust law by the Standard Oil company of New Jersey 1T the persons or corporations asso- Ciated with or managing it. The counsel have completed that duty and ihe report of their investigation has received careful consideration by the president and his cabinet.
 "The information available to the department tends to show that the various corporations, the limited part nerships under the control, in the manner hereinafter stated, of the Standard Oil company I produce, transport and sell about so :, Ter cent of the refined oil produced, transported and sold in the United States for domestic use and about the same proportion of refined oil ex- ported from the United States; that 1 this share of the business has been procured by course of action which, ] beginning in 1870, has continued un- der the direction of the same persons, in the main. down to the present time, that these persons now surviv- ing are John D. Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, Henry H. Rogers, Henry NJ. Flager. John D. Archbold, Oliver | H. Payne and Charles M. Pratt; that the design throughout ot the persons 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 possible, monopoly therein; that be- tween 1870 and 1882 the design was effected through agreements made be- tween many persons and corporations engaged in this business; that in 1882, the result aimed at was made more certain by vesting in nine trustees (including five of the above named persons) sufficient stock in the 30 corporations concerned to enable the trustees to control their operations in such way that competition be- tween them was suppressed; that this plan was acted upon until it 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 following the same individual defendants, as ma jority of the liquidating trustees, were pretending to liquidate the trust but all of the corporations in the same way and exercising the same control over them: that the individual defend ants, in 1899, increased the stock of the Standard oil company of New Jersey from sl0,O0O,OO0 to SIC, ,O00, ,00O; that said company was then a pro- ducing and selling corporation, and they added to It's corporate powers the power of purchasing stock in other companies and practically all of the powers exercised by the trus- tees under the unlawful trust agree ment of 1882; that the Standard oil company of New Jersey, then taking the place of the trustees, acquired all of the stock of the corporations heretofore held and controlled by the trustees, paying there for by the issue of its own shares in exchange; that the president of the board of trustees became the president of the , Standard Oil company of New Jer- sey and the same persons( the indi- yidual defendants) who had directed the business then assumed the direc- tion of the business of the Standard Oil company of New Jersey and ever since continued 1t; that the purpose and effect of the use of the Standard oil company of New Jersey as a holding company was precisely the same as the purpose and effect of the appointment Of the trustees herelnbe- fore referred to- namely, to suppress competition between the corporations and limited partnerships, waOse stocl, was first held by the trustees and then by the Standard Oil company oi New Jersey; that by the foreging methods, aided by the establishment of railroad rates for transportation which discriminated in favor of the corporations, whose stock was held