The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-11-23

st. Paul, Minn-The United States
Circuit Court for the Eastern Dis
trict of Missouri declared the Stand
ard Oil Company of New Jersey an
illegal combination operating in re-
straint of trade, and ordered it's dis
solution. The opinion was written
by Judge Walter H. Sanborn, of st.
Paul, and concurred in by Judges
Willis Vandevanter, William C. Hook
and Elmer B. Adams, with special
concurring opinion by Judge Hook.
The opinion of the Court was filed
simultaneously in st. Louis, Mo, and
st. Paul, MINI.
In this decision the Government of
the United States wins a sweeping
victory, and, according to Frank B.
Kellogg, of this city, who was the
Governments special prosecuting
officer, it has won every point for
which it commended.
The case will be appealed direct to
the United States Supreme Court, as
the Judges who signed the decree
are in effect the Judges of the United
States Circuit Court of Appeals, al
though they were sitting for the pur-
pose of trying this case as the Circuit
Court for the Eastern District of Mis-
souri,.
The decree of the Court dissolying
the Standard Oil Company becomes
effective in thirty days, when, no
doubt, stay will be granted for the
purpose of an appeal.
When the decree takes effect, un-
less stay is granted, an injunction
will issue restraining the Standard
Oil Company from further continu-
ance Of its business under it's present
formation.
1t appears from the concurring
opinion written by Judge Hook that
the company cannot do business I'M
der any other form with the object
of sitting competition, for he says
on this subject it is thought that with
the end of the combination the
monopoly will naturally disappear,
but should it not do so and the mem
bers of the combination retire from
it, except one who might perpetuate
the monopoly by the aggregation Of
the physical properties and instru-
mentalities, 1t would constitute a vio-
lation of the decree of the Court.
In the trial of the case the point
was made that the Standard Oil Com
pany was beneficent corporation in
that it, by reason of economy in
operation, reduced the price of it's
product. This Judge Hook says can
have no weight.
The suit was begun by direction OF
the Attorney General of the United
States in st. Louis, on November is,
1906. Frank B. Kellogg, of st. Paul,
was appointed special prosecutor, as
sisted by Charles B. Morrison, of Chi
cago; Frank H. Poole and j. H.
Graves, of the Department of Justice;
w. H. Higgins, Of Minneapolis, and
Cordenio A. Severance, of st. Paul
The Standard Oil Company pre-
sented a formidable array OF counsel,
led by John G. Milburn, of New York
City. The defense was that the pres
ent organization of the corporation
was the result Of the natural growth
of great industry, and that no law
had been violated
The complaint was directed against
the parent organization, known as the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey,
with its various subsidiary corpora
tions. 1t was also directed against
seven individuals-namely, John d.
Rockefeller, William Rockefeller,
Henry M. Flagler, Henry H. Rogers
l(now dead), John D. Archbold, Oliver
II. Payne and Charles M. Pratt. The
main company, its branches and these
individuals were charged with having
entered into an agreement, combine
tion and conspiracy to restrain trade
and commerce among the several
States, to monopolize the trade in
petroleum, in its purchase and its
shipment and transportation by pipe
line, steamships and by rail, also in
the manufacture and refining of
petroleum.
The United States asked for a per-
petual injunction and for the dissolu-
ton of the Standard Oil combination.