The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-06-02
AT Conclusion of Present Suit Before
Judge Ferris Case Was Taken
Under Amusement.


Standard Oil company of New Jersey,
seven of its officers and 70 subsidiary
concerns, has been in the courts since
November Is, 1906, when the COM
plant was filed in the circuit court of
the United States for the eastern di-
vision of the eastern judicial district
of Missouri at st. Louis. 1t has been
heard by the four judges of the eighth
judicial circuit, who have sat en- banc
as the United States circuit court of
appeals, thus allowing a direct appeal
from this decision to the supreme
court of the United States. This was
the circuit in which the Northern Sc
curities case was heard, and it was
selected for the Standard Oil case be-
cause of its location, and because
many of the governments witnesses
were residents of adjoining states.
Garfield's Information.
The governments allegations, which
were filed by David P. Dyer, then
United States district attorney, were
based largely upon an Investigation of
the oil business conducted by James
r. Garfield, commissioner of the bu-
reau of corporations, at the behest of
President Roosevelt. This investiga-
ton consumed a year. and because of
it various grand julies returned in
dictments containing S193 counts, ac-
cording to Commissioner Garfield's
annual report of December 9, 1906.
In petitioning for the dissolution of
the New Jersey corporation and it's
subsidiaries, the government COM
planned that the defendants had con-
spired 'to restrain the trade and COM
merce in petroleum commonly called
crude OIL in refined oil and in the
other products of petroleum among
the several states and territories of the
United States and the District of Co
lumbia, and with foreign nations, and
to monopolize the said commerce"
Personnel OF the Concern.
John d. Rockefeller, William Rock
efeller and Henry M. Flag err were
named as the originators of the al
legged conspiracy. The bill claimed
that between 1870 and 1882 Henry H.
Rogers, John d. Archbold, oliver H.
Payne and Charles M. Pratt Joined the
conspiracy which eliminated with the
organization of the New jersey cor
poration in 1899.
Three periods of development are
alleged in the complaint. The first,
that preceding 1882, was marked, it is
asserted, by the activities of the indi-
vidual defendants in connection with
the Standard Oil company of Ohio, in
acquiring interests in, or entering
agreements with various competing
firms, corporations and individual S
engaged in the oil business.
From 1882 to 1889 the complaint
recited, the affairs of the various con-
Germs and individuals were under the
management of nine trustees by
trust agreement" alleged to be lin
restraint of trade and commerce and
in violation of law"
Work Through Holding Company.
Since 1899, it was alleged the de-
PENDANTS have acted through the
Standard Oil company of New Jersey
as a holding corporation, which COM
pany acquired the majority of stock
in various corporations and managed
them in violation of law"
1t was charged also that in their
alleged efforts to monopolize the oil
business, the defendants had solicited
and received rebates on shipments not
only of their own products but also
on those of competitors and later ac-
uuired control of various pipe lines
which were merged into the National
Transit company.
From the inception of the case,
Frank B. Kellogg, St Paul, and
Charles B. Morrison, Chicago, have
appeared on behalf of the government
as special assistants to the attorney
general of the United States. John q.
Milburn, New York; Moritz Rosen-
thai, Chicago, and John G.. Johnson.
Philadelphia, have headed the defen-
dants' long list of attorneys
Judges in the Case.
The Judges who have considered the
case are: Walter II. Sanborn, st.
Paul; Elmer B. Adams, st. Louis;
Willis A. VanDevanter, Cheyenne,
Wyo.. and William C. Hook, Leaven-
worth, Kan.
Service was had on the defendants
in December of 1906, and the. first
legal battle came in the following
month, when the defense tried un-
successfully to have the service re-
yolked on all concerned save the Wa
ters-Pierce Oil company of Missouri,
because. it was claimed, it was the
only defendant resident in the Judicial
district in which the suit was filed.
This contention was overruled, and
the companys answer of sc printed
pages was filed April 8, 1907. Thirty
seven exceptions to the government S
petition were included in this docu-
ment. Argument on these took place
at St. Paul May "a, 1907. The four
Judges overruled all the exceptions,
and July IS, 1907, an additional an
swer was fl ed covering the points to
which the defense had at first de-
clined to plead.
The answers admitted certain con-
tentions regarding stock ownel ship
and organization and that the seven
individual defendants were members
of the company, but generally denied
the main allegations of the govern
ment's petition, especially those
charging conspiracy to control trade,
crush competition, receive rebates and
monopolize the oil business.