The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-04-08
DEFENDS METHODS
! Of OIL MONOPOLY
Attorney Says Growth Of Standard
Co. II Due To Law of Supply
and Demand.

~ 81. LOUIS, NO. April o.--AtlolhcS
John G.. Milburn. representing the
Standard Oil Co. In the governments
suit to dissolve the oil trust. during
the morning had much to say about
the law of supply and demand. This
he declared. and not wicked conspir
acy had been the cause OF the growth
\ OF the Standard Co. Counsel for both
the government and the oil trust IN
formed the court that the arguments
would be completed by Saturday even
Ing. Counsel for the Standard Co.
promised TO finish their addresses
Friday. leaving the government Satur-
day for rebuttal.
1T is absurd" Milburn declared. TO
say that by its pipe lines. the stand
ard forces producers TO sell crude oil
at its own prices or arbitrarily de-
cides what prices the consumer must
pay The thread that runs through
this case is. that we practice oppres-
sion This Is free country. When
the people are oppressed they make
noise that rumbles around the world.
The profits on the pipe lines. accord
ing to Attorney Milburn. are paper
profits only. The rates for transport
ing oil through the lines. he said, were
made high, so high that other con-
Germs could not afford 20 send oil in
that way. The rates were filed as re-
Quired by the rate law that made pipe
lines common carriers. No one ever
complained of the rates and proper
place 10 make such complaint. Mil
burn said, was with the interstate
commerce commission. The only ship
per that ever paid the pipe lines com
Z - -. -. Lr& .lx1 an
these tariffs is the Standard Oil Co.
itself, he declared.
MIR. Morrison. with all his persist
ence,n Milburn declared, never ask
cd any of our bookkeeping experts
about these pipe line entries. He made
a point of asking everybody who
did not know. Our pipe line monop-
oily Is such only in the minds of the
government attorneys"
Milburn declared that the pipe lines
were not common carriers, they were
part OF the necessary system of the
company.
Judge Hook asked IL in some states
the lines had not been made common
carriers.
under the law they are. but in
practice they are not" Milburn re-
VliCu. uCn nC lOiu liOW NhC
ard complied with the law. built tanks
for receiving oil at state lines SO that
other shippers might use the lines.
II was passed. and then built up rate
so high that no competitive company
could use the lines.
Milburn grew dramatic and present
ed a picture of the forces that seek
he axIs 0ofrtfrtinn
Competition is the most ruthless.
harshest law that the human mind
ever conceived he declared 1T is
the ruthless theory of the survival OF
the fittest.
Humanity is not like nature. II pre-
serves and protects the weak. IL tends
towards cooperation. The trust
agreement under which we are
brought to this court. provides for CO
operation.
When we come TO our real senses
we will have law TO permit such pro-
lection. IL will increase the produc-
ton OF the country"
Miss Ida Tarbell, the magazine writ
cr who. created sensation by her ar
ticles against John ID. Rockefeller
and to whom Attorney John G. Mil
burn directed his denunciation. was
expected to come in for a further ver-
bal drubbing today when the Stand
ards lawyes resumed his argument
for the defense in the government
suit to dissolve the concern.
Miss Tarbell, In the opinion of the
oil companys counsel, is responsible
for much of the unjust. unfair and
destructive criticism that has been
aimed at the country's greatest indus
try" Incidentally. editors, political
economists and reformers who attack
American institutions because OF the
growth of such corporations. will be
excoriated.
Before court opened. the Standard
lawyers expressed the belief that no
graver menace TO the future prosper
ify Of the nation exists than the con-
tfnued efforts OF writer's to create pre-
judice against Industrial corporations
as plundering trusts. Such persons
are playing into the hands of those
who would bring about an upheaval of
society. the lawyers believe.