Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-09
PROVES EVIL
OF OIL TRUST
NO REAL CHANGE IN CONTROL
OF STANDARD
COMBINE is ILLEGAL, ASSERTS
PROSECUTOR
Governments Attorney Shows There
Was No Actual Transferlof Prop
erty--Glves Figures on
Dividends
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press
NEW YORK, Oct. S.-From statements
culled from ledgers and books found in
the offices of the Standard OIL company
Frank 3. Kellogg. counsel for the United
States government succeeded in placing
on today's record of federal proceedings
against the oil combine the processes and
stages through which the combine passed
in its changes from the/ Standard Oil
trust to the present Standard Oil COM
pany of New Jersey.
Out of a maze Of figures developed
from the company's books and from tes-
timony given by Clarence G. Fay assist
ant auditor of the Standard, called as a
witness today, the governments counsel
says he believes he has proved the fed
eral allegation that the Standard is an
illegal corporation; that by devious ways
it has maintaired its entity and that 1t
Is under the same ownership as wher 1t
was formed.
Mr. Kellogg says he Is Of the opinion
that, Notwithstanding that the govern
ment was unable to discover the trans
fer books and stock ledgers Of the
|lionidating trustees the evidence adduced
today shows that the so-called oil trust
only affected to dissolve under the order
of the Ohio courts in 1892, and that Its
direction is still held by those who had
to do with the formation of the Standard
oil trust.
Capital $s7,25o,ooo
Statements submitted today showed
In brief that at the inception OF the
Standard oil trust in 1882 there was
$40, 000, 900 in trust certificates Issued
for stocks in various companies wnlcn
entered into the combine. In the trust
period from 1882 to 1892, a stock divi-
dend of s15,0Oo,0 900 was declared apd
this with other stocks issued for plant
purposes brought total capitalization
of the Standard up to $97,250,000.
AS q result of a decision OF the
supreme court of Ohio forbiddtng the
trustees from voting the trust certih-
cites, a resolution was passed directing
that the trust 'be dissolved
Mr.. Fay read a statement In the rec
ord today showing that the day follow
ing the passage of that resolution
sixty -four subsidiary companies were
consolidated with the Standard Oil
company of New Jersey and nineteen
other subsidiary companies of the
trust Several months later in Novem-
| ber, 1892, the witness read from state
ments there were 492,S19 trust certif-
Gates presented for cancellation, and to
| the holders were given their pro rata
shares in the twenty subsidiary COM
panies which then made up the trust.
Some 10000 TRUST certificates were Of
fered for cancellation about two months
later There was lapse of about four
years before another certificate was pre-
semetd for cancellation.
Mr.. Kellogg sought to show that those
who hold control of the trust, with the
exception of few friends, were the only
ones who liquidated their trust certifi-
Gates and that by liquidating only a ma
jority of the certificates outstanding
which they owned, they continued their
direction of the trust by stealing ma
jority of the stock in the subsidiary COM
panies.
Only Few Liquidate
He also tried to show that those who
liquidated their trust certificates and took
the stocks of the subsidiary companies
were John D. Rockefeller, William Rock
efeller, H. NJ. Flagler. Benjamin Brew
ster, J. d. Archbold, H. H. Rogers, M
H. Tilford, c. NJ Hardness, the estate
o. C. B. Jennings, Emma Auchinclose
estate of Charles Pratt and o. H. Payne
For the first time the profits and divi-
dends of the Standard Oil trust from its
inception in 1882 to 1891 were made public
today. The profits of the trust as stated
by Mr. Fay were as follows: