The San Francisco call., 1909-11-21

company of New Jersey and other com
panies $50 that they retained the
stocks of the 20 principal companies,
and these 20 companies held the stocks
in the ca other companies. There We're
outstanding trust certificates for 972,-
500 shares in this trust, and the owners
of these certificates were the equitable
owners of the stocks in all these COM
panies."
DISTRIBUTION OF STOCK
The method of division and distrib-
ution of these stocks adopted by the
trustees is described in the opinion, and
the court continues:
But the receipt by the assignee of
his share of the stock of these com
panies was conditioned by the Nterms
of the assignment upon his accepting
his share Of the stock of all of them.
This method of distribution appears to
have deferred many of the holders of
trust certificates from surrendering
them and accepting their shares of the
stocks. The individual defendants, how
ever. and their more intimate asso-
ciates surrendered their trust certifi-
Gates and took sufficient shares of the
stocks to aggregate a majority of the
stock Of each of the 20 companies and
secured to themselves the control and
mana cement of all the companies in
that way until the year 1899.
STANDARD OIL COMPANY
IN I1dI year the defendant the
Standard oil company of New Jersey,
corporation, was one of the 20 COM
panies. The par value of it's capital
stock was $10.000,00 It's charter was
so amended that it was empowered to
do all kinds of mining, manufacturing,
trading and transportation business,
to acquire, hold, vote, sell and assign
shares of capital stock and to carry on
its business in all parts of the world.
Its capital stock was increased to
500, 600 600 and the stocks of the other
19 companies were exchanged for the
stock of the Standard oil company of
New Jersey so that the latter company
succeeded to the legal title to the ma
jority of the stock of the 19 companies
and thereby to the management and
control of these companies and of all
the companies which they controlled
Henceforth in this discussion the Stan
dard oil company of New Jersey will
be called the principal company and
the companies 1T then and thereafter
controlled the subsidiary companies.
STILL HOLDS CONTROL
Between 1899 and the fling of the
bill in this case in November, 1906, the
affairs of the principal company and
managed by the former as the business
of a single person. Subsidiary com
panies have come and gone al its bid
ding. but 1T still holds the control of
more than 80 of the chief companies
whose management was committed to
it in 1899. The par value of the capital
STOCK or these companies IN 1899 was
about 00000,000 In 1908 it was more
than $I50000,000
From 1899 to 1907 the principal com
psny and the subsidiary companies it
has operated under this trust produced
more than one-tenth of the crude oil
obtained in this country transported
more than four-fifths of the petroleum
derived from the Pennsylvania and In
diana oil fields, manufactured more
than three-fourthS of all the crude oil
refined in the United States, owned and
operated more than half of all the
tank cars used to distribute its prod
ucts, marketed more than four -fifths of
all the Illuminating oil sold In the
United States, exported more than four
ffths of the Illuminating oil sent forth
from the United States, sold more than
four-fifths of all the naphtha sold in
the United States and sold more than
nine-tenths of all kthe lubricating oil
sold to railroad companies in the
United States.
POWER TO RESTRICT TRADE
The principal company, by means of
this trust and the commanding volume
of the oil business which it acquired
thereby, secured, and 1t has since exer-
clsed and is using, the power to pre-
vent competition between the com
panies 1T controls, to fix for them the
purchase price of the crude oil, the
rates for its transportation and the.
selling prices of its products
1t has prevented, and is preventing.
any competition in interstate and inter-
national commerce in petroleum and its
products between its subsidiary com
panies and between those companies
and itself.
Wickersham Gratified
LEAVENWORTH Kan, Nov. 90
'It is one of the most important de-
cisions every rendered In this country"
declared Attorney General George w.
when apprised here this
of the decision dissolving the
Standard oil company.
Soon after Wickersham arrived here
news OF the decision was conveyed to
him by the Associated Press. He had
come to inspect the federal prison here.