The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-11-21

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and any of the members Of the COM
bination retire from 1t. except one
who might perpetuate the monopoly
/ by the aggregation of the physical
properties and instrumentaiities, it
/ cree of the court.
/ In the trial the point was made
4 that the Standard OH company was a
beneficial corporation in that it. by
reason Of economy in operation. re-
I duced the price OF its. product. This.
Judge Hook says. can have no weight.
i The suit was begun by the federal at
/ torney. The general proposition Of
/ the defense was that the present or
ganization of the STANDARD corpora
/ ton was the result of thu natural
i growth IF a great inaustr. and that
/ no statute had been violated
/ Brief History Of the Case.
I This case was heard ID the United
4 seates court i'm st. Louis In April last
/ by Circuit Judges Sanbo,n of st.
! Paul. Van Deventer of Cheyenne.
j Hook of Leavenworth and Adams of
& st. Louis.
Z Judge Sanhorn. the presiding Judge.
/ wrote the opinion and the decree, in
] which all the judges concur. and sent
4 them to Judge Adams at st. Louis.
/ who flied them and entered the de-
| cree in that city this morning.
7 The case was argued by Frank B.
/ Kellogg Of St. Paul and Charles Il.
I Morrison of Chicago for the United
States, and John G.. Milburn of Buff
4 falo. d. T. Watson Of pittsburg. Mo-
1 ritz Rothenthal Of Chicago and John
/ q. johnson Of Philadelphia on behalf
Of the defendants.
i 1t was Instituted In 1906 by Attor-
] ney General w. II. Moody To enjoin
John y. Rockefeller. William Rookie
Teller. Henry NJ. Flagler. Henry II.
1 Rogers. John u. Archbold, Oliver II.
/ Payne. Charles NJ. Pratty. the stand
/ ard Oil company Of New Jersey and
| about 20 other corporations, from
maintaining a combine and conspiracy
! In restraint Of trade. to monopolize
I interstate and international comfnerce.
| and the decree grants the injunction
sought by the government.
| The case is one of the most notable
| In the history of the national govern
msnt on account Of important indus
| trial and legal questions and the vast
| financial interests involved. The evil
/ dence filled II volumes and occupied
| more than 10000 printed pages. and
/ the arguments Of counsel more than
900 printed pages.
1 The nature of the case and the
| character Of the decision appear from
/ the syllabus OF Judge Sanborn's opin-
! ion, which reads:
Syllabus Of Opinion.
Congress has power under the COM
| mercial clause of the constitution to
regulate and restrict the use i'm COM
| merce among the several states and
with foreign nations of contracts. of
the method of holding title 10 prop
erty and of every other Instrumental
ity employed In that commerce SO far
as II may be found necessary to do
so i'm order To prevent the restraint
thereof denounced by the antitrust
act of July .. 1880 f.s Stat. 2oe,
Test OF the legality Of a combina-
tion under this act Is its necessary er-
feet of competition In commerce among
the states or with foreign nations.
If its necessary effect is only in
cidentally or indirectly to restrict that
competition. while its chief results is
TO foster the trade and increase the
business of those who make and oper-
ate 1t. 1t does not violate that law.
but If its necessary effect is to
stiflo or to directly and substantially
restrict free competition In com
| merce among the states. or with for
eign nations. 1t Is Illegal within the
meaning of that statute.
The power to restrict competition
in commerce among the several states
or with foreign nations vested In a
person or an association of persons by
combination. Is indicative of the
character of the combination because
II Ii To the interest of the parties
that such IA power should be exercised
and the presumption IL that 1t will be-
The combination in single cor
poration or person. by an exchange
of stock, of the power of many stock
holders holding the same proportion
respectively. of the ajority of the
stock of each of the several corpora
tons engaged in commerce in the
same articles among the states, or
with foreign nations. Ia restrict COM
petition therein, renders the power
thus vested In the former greater.
more easily exercised. more durable
and more effective than that pre-
sionsly held by the stockholders, and
II is Illegal.
Standard Owned Other Comp nies.
In 1899 the stockholders of the
standard oil company OF New Jersey
owned majority Of the stock of -
other corporations in the same pro-
portions that they owned the stock Or
the Standard company and those 20
corporations controlled by the owner
ship of the majority of their stock
or otherwise, many other corpora
tons.
Each of these corporations was en-
gagged in some part of tie business
Of producing. buying. refining. trans
porting and selling petroleum and its
products. and they We're conducting
about so per cent Of the production of
the crude oil and more than IS per
cent of the business of the purchas-
ing. refining. transporting and selling
Of petroleum and ills products in this
country.
Many Of them were engaged i'm
commerce in these articles among
the several states and with foreign
" n IN