Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-06
SEEKS DEATH OF STANDARD
Attorney Kellogg Begins Argument
to Dissolve Oil Trust.
BAREs ROCKEFELLER COMBINE
Lawyer for the Government Dis
cusses in Detail the orEaniEa-
tiOn of the Great
hi t

ST. LOUIS. April Sat 10 o'clock this
morning Special Assistant to the United
states Attorney General Frank r. Kellogs
filed his brief OF 400 printed pages with
the clerk Of the United states circuit court
Of this city, and q few moments later com
menced his argument. after two years OF
evidence taking, in the governments suit
to dissolve the gigantic Standard on cor.
poration of New Jersey for alleged viola
tons OF the Sherman act.
The argument was heard by the full cir.
cult court bench-Judges Sanborn, Van De
vanter. Hook and Adams. with Mr. KEEL
logg for the government was Assistant At
torney General c. p. Morrison of Chicago
who will argue certain phases Of the
governments case. The defense had half
a score of counsel present, including Its
principal attorneys-Messrs. Milburn OF
New. York, Rosenthal of Chicago. Johnson
Of Philadelphia and Watson Of Plttsburg.
The Importance Of the case to lawyers and
laymen alike resulted in a crowded court
room when the arguments commenced.
With but little by way OF preliminaries
or generalities. Mr.. Kellogg plunged into
his subject. He commenced with a rather
full review of the evidence taken by the
government, before DISCUSSING lne law
applicable to his case. He told of the COM
bination effected by John d. Rockefeller.
William Rockefeller and Henry M. Flagler
in 1879, conceived. he declared, to effect a
monopoly of the petroleum trade, both
domestic and export. It was at that
moment. according to the federal lawyers,
that the alleged illegal conspiracy to
monopolize the oil trade of the country
was conceived. Later. said Mr.. Kellogg.
Henry II. Rogers, John ID. Archbold, oliver
T. Payne and Charles M. Pratt were taken
into the conspiracy by the other defend
ants.
Review Three Periods.
To tell more clearly the story of Standard
OIL, the special attorney divided the
alleged conspiracy into three p~eriods-the
first from 1870 to 1882. when 1t was. he said,
a simple combination acting in harmony
with its stock interests pooled in the hands
of three TRUSTEES. From 1882, continued Mr..
Kellogg. to 1893. the defendants interests
were In the form of a trust controlled by
nine trustees. This trust, declared illegal by
the Ohio courts, was liquidated, and from
1899 to the present time, said Mr.. Kellogg.
concluding that portion of his narrative,
has taken the form of a holding corpora
ton, the STANDARD Oil company of New
Jersey, controlling subsidiary corporations
in alleged restraint Of trade and otherwise.
Mr.. Kellogg then proceeded to retrace
his steps and went into the history of the
first period, from 1870 to 1882, with great
care and descriptive detail.
Unfair Competition Charged.
In the brief the history of the company
from, tie inoontfon IN tho nraGanf TINA ia
reviewed and the declaration is made that
the testimony shows that the various de-
fendants have from the first pursued a
system of unfair competition against their
competitors, whereby the Independent com
panies selling and marketing petroleum
have either been driven out of business or
their business so restricted that the Stand
ard OIL company has practically controlled
the prices and monopolized the
In the products of petroleum in the United
States.
This system. 1t is contenued, has taken
the form of price cutting in various local
tiles. while keeping up high prices or rails
ing them still higher in other localities
where no competition exists; Of paying re-
bates to customers as a part of their sys-
tenn of price cutting; Of obtaining secret
1 AhNAOA 90 W SpAAlBNAAAiNS DboAiANSsB
largely through bribing railway employees.
and using their secret information to pro-
cure the countermanding of orders of in
dependent producers and to facilitate the
price cutting policy; OF the use OF so-called
companies, that is. companies
held out by the Standard OIL company as
which are engaged in price
while the Standard oil company
maintains the price through its well known
companies and other abusive competitive
methods against the competitors.
One Of the evidences of the monopoly Of
the defendants, it is charged, is it's enor-
married. as follows: The STANDARD Oil trust
and the Standard Oil company on an in
vestment of $50, O24, $50. had earned up to
the end OF 1906, $685., 7S9, 7S3. Adding the
estimated profits of 1907 and 1908, we have
substantially" the brief states. +" $1,000, OOO.-
600 earned by this company in q years
with an original investment of about &c.,
O0O."
Further on the brief says:
TT has usually been claimed for large
corporations in this country that they have
to the consumer, but In the case of the
STANDARD Oil company it has during ten
OF fifteen years actually increased the price
to the retailer, and this a good deal more
than the prices of other products throughout
the country, although the price of its raw
material and cost Of manufacture and sale
during these years has increased very
little. IL any,