St. Tammany farmer., 1906-12-08
STANDARD OIL ON THE RACK
Department Of Justice Begins Suit at
St. Louis to Kill Giant Trust.
The Petition Filed Asks That the Combination Be Declared Unaw
fd and Restrained from Doing Business History Of the Mo-
nopoly and How It Is Alleged to Restrain Trade
Its Enormous Profits a
The wac. on .,,e Standard.

The War on the Standard. -
0t. Louis.-PetitioE filed In United
States circuit court asking for disso-
luton of Standard Oil trust and per-
petual Injunction restraining 70 con.
stituent companies from working with
or paying dividends to parent COM
pany. S*>
New York.-Standard Oil shares
dropped Is points. making net loss Of
l50 points since Roosevelt's war on
the trust began; total depreciation in
stock since president opened crusade,
t150,0O0, 900; this Notwithstanding
quarterly dividends Of SO per share.
Findlay, O.-Prosecuting attorney
directed by Attorney General Ellis to
keep grand jury In session; all Stand
ard Oil officials may be indicted; Of
dcials of Standard Oil company Of
Ohio indicted agreed to surrender.
st. Louis, Mo-The suit to break
up the Standard Oil trust has been
eled in the United States circuit court
hero. The petition asks:
That the court decree that the com
bination and conspiracy are unlawful
under the Sherman antitrust act.
That the Standard Oil company be
snjoined, restrained and prohibited
from exercising any control over its
allied corporations, or any OF them,
by the election or appointment of di-
rectors or officers, or in any other
manner.
That the subsidiary corporations be
enjoined from declaring or paying any
dividends to the Standard Oil COM
pany of New Jersey.
That the defendants, and each and
all of them. be enjoined from entering
Into any contract, the purpose or ef-
feet Of which is to restrain commerce
In petroleum and its products or to
monopolize the same.
The petition. contains 1914 pages of
printed matter, or about 100000
words, and an additional "a pages Of
exhibits, consisting Of bylaws and
minutes OF Standard Oil meetings and
organizations, and map showing the
retail prices Of oil in every state and
territory of the union.
What the Petition Alleges.
It is alleged in the petition that
John d. Rockefeller and his associ-
ates, the other individual defendants,
formed a conspiracy to monopolize
the commerce in petroleum and its
products at an early date-about the
year 1870-anda that the same individ-
uals have controlled the combination
during all these years, in all its forms,
and now control 1t. It was, therefore,
deemed wise to state in the petition
the complete history and growth Of
this conspiracy.
History Of the Conspiracy.
The petition Is logically divided into
three periods. During the first one
Of these periods. from 1870 to 1882,
the combination assumed the form Of
4 simple conspiracy-that is to say,
the defendants, with the Standard Oil
company OF Ohio, acted together to
suppress competition and control the
oil business.
During the second period, from 1882
to 1899, the combination assumed the
form of a trust agreement, whereby
| about 40 separate corporations en-
gagged in the same business, turned
over the management OF their bust
ness to nine trustees, of which these
individual defendants were the major
| lty, % that these defendants con
trolled all Of these corporations.
In March, 1892, the supreme court
! Of Ohio declared this trust agreemen,
void and ordered its dissolution.
Thereupon, on March q, 1892, the
trust certificate holders met in New
ork and resolved to dissolve the trus1
and appointed John D.. Rockefeller
Henry M. Flagler, William Rockefel
Ter, John D. Archbold, Benjamin
Brewster, Henry H. Rogers, Wesle.
H. Tilford and o. B. Jennings a,
liquidating trustees-the individua
defendants being a majority of thes'
trustees.
| Inc mduu01 VI Aqu1uotAOA W0o Nv
to sell the property and divide tn
| proceeds among the certificate hold
ers, nor to return to each person In
dividually the property placed in tn
trust, but all Of the stocks in eacl
/ Of the companies were divided int
portions in proportion to the numbe
Of trust certificate shares outstanding
30 that Rockefeller and his associate
continued to control all these corpol
4 atoms a. before. asrts5'-s, sf- e
Birth Of the Present Trust.
| The petition then takes up the thir
period OF the conspiracy, begininl
with the formation Of the presen
trust.
In order to accomplish this, in jar
uary. 1899. they increased the stoc