The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-19
The Standard Convicted.

The conviction OF the Standard I'll
company under the Valentine law of
Ohio hanks back to the time when
David X. Watson, the young attorney
general of Ohio, began proceedings
against the Standard Oil trust as ille-
gal. He succeeded in having the SUI
prone court decree the. illegality of
the trust and secured an order dissolv-
ing it. Here began a long game OF
hounds and haresS which the Standard
Oil company is playing still. The attor-
ney for the Standard, the same Mr..
Dodd, whose fearful defenses of Rookie
Teller have recently convulsed the coun-
try with laughter, went before the
Judges informally and pleaded for time
in which to dissolve the trust. 1t would
take time to find the original owners
of the stock in the constituent compa-
MES and to arrange for an exchange.
The Judges were easy and he got time.
This was in 1892. In 1897 the lachry-
NAL Mr.. Dodd was still taking time.
There were ATT 1881 of the original 972,-
OOO trust certificates still uncanceled
ana GucSC Wtic LII GuC ActIINto VI AAHe.A
dating trustees Nobody was hurry
ING to liuuidate The owners were re-
ceiving their dividends thru the trust
as before and presumably it was die
tating the price Of oil and exercising
the executive functions Of the subordi
s. nate companies as before. The decision
I of the supreme court had been multi
! fed and the judges made a laughing
stock by the pretence Of liquidation
: which did not and was not intended tt
7 liquidate.
+. The year 1897 saw the entry o:
George M. Rice on the field of opera
lions. Mr.. Rice had become convinced
that the trust was not being dissolved
! and he went to the attorney genera
with his complaint. The attorney gen
eral was Frank S. Monnett, who wa
: the second law officer to interfere wit
+ the Standards way of doing business
I Together they discovered the evidenc
that the trust certificates had not bee:
Cancelled, that the trust still owned an
/, operated the Standard Oil company o
Ohio contrary to the supreme court de
Il cree, and together they framed up
scheme to get John d. Rockefeller o
the witness stand. The trust magnat
took the oath and told his story i
reference proceedings in New York.
1 is this testimony which was introduce
in the suit at Findlay, Ohio, the othe
day. But Monnett never got his su:
Tbo +yY1c ctnnl him
until the convention of his party We
held, It defeated him for renomin;
(, ton and his successor dismissed all tt
proceedings.
Act three in this drama has just bee
staged at Findlay, where the Standa1
has been convicted of violation OF TT
Valentine law. The Valentine law
new one, which prohibits combin
lions in restraint Of trade and to f
prices. It was shown that the Standa1
+ Oil company was still a. trust, that tt
Standard Oil company Of Ohio is sti
part of it and that subsequent to tt
passage of the Valentine law the Stan
ard Oil company, of Ohio had submitte
to the Standard Oil company of Ne
Jersey with headquarters at 26 Broa
way, New York, and that there rath
than in Ohio the business Of the col
pany had been transacted.
The jury wrestled with the matt
for several days and at last brought
a verdict Of guilty. -~
Of course the point of all these pros
BUTTONS from the Waters-Pierce case
Missouri to the Standard Oil case
Ohio is that while there is a preten
of competition none Of these Standa
Oil companies compete at all with ca
other, but fercely with outside co
panies. Instead Of promoting friend
competition they, with an immense ca
tai behind them, crush it and take
whole field. They do SO in direct v
lation of law; the trust has long sin
been ordered to dissolve and depa
but has impudently defed the laws
{. God and man by maintaining it's pc
ton and It's monopoly.
Former Boss Filley Of st. Louis 7,