Smyrna times., 1909-11-24
Decree DiSSO.Ying It to Go to
U. S. Supreme Court.
The DECISION UNANIMOUS
The Worlds Greatest Corporation Vio-
lated the Sherman Antitrust Law
and Is Shattered by Decree of Cir
cult Court-May End Monopoly.


St. Paul. Nov. 22.-The Standard
Oil company will appeal to the United
States supreme court from the decis-
ion of the court here dissolving the
trust It is said the appeal will be
made regardless Of the nature of the
decree or the grounds on which it IS
based.
The case was heard in the United
States circuit court at ST. Louis in
April, 1909, by Circuit Judges San
born. of ST. Paul; Van Devanter OF
Cheyenne; Hook, of Leavenworth, and
Adams, of St Louis.
Judge Sanborn, of St. Paul, the pre-
siding Judge, wrote the opinion and
the decree, in which all the judges
concur, and sent them with a concur
ring opinion of Judge Hook to Judge
Adams. in St. Louis, who filed them
and entered the decree in that city.
The decree declared the Standard
OIL company to be a combination in
restraint of trade, within the meaning
of the Sherman antitrust law of July
2, 1890
By the decree the company is re-
strained from continuing in interstate
business, together with all its subsi
diaries, until after the dissolution or
dered in the decree has been accom-
plished, the decree to go into effect in
thirty days unless an appeal is taken
in the meantime.
VIII End Monopoly
It appears from the concurring opin.
ion written by Judge Hook that the
company cannot do business under any
other form with the object of sitting
competition, for he says on this sub
ject that It is thought that with the
end of the company the monopoly will
naturally disappear, but should it not
do so, and the members of the com
bination retire from it. except one
who might perpetuate the monopoly
by the aggregation of the physical
properties and instrumentalities it
would constitute a violation of the
decree of the court.
In the trial of the case the point
was made that the Standard Oil com
that It, by reason of economy of oper
alton, reduced the price of it's pro
duct. This, Judge Hook says, can have
no weight.
It is not a criminal case, nor has II
anything to do with the famous $29.
900 900 fine. AS it is a civil suit, nc
penalty will fall upon either the cor
poration itself or the seven men nam
ed as the chief conspirators.
The case was argued by Frank Is
Kellogg. of St. Paul, and Charles B
Morrison. of Chicago. for the Unitet
States. and John T. Milburn, of Buf
falo; David T. Watson, of Pittsburg;
Moritz RosenthaI. of Chicago. am
John G. Johnson. of Philadelphia. OF
behalf of the defendants. It wa:
brought to enjoin John D. Rockefeller
William Rockefeller. Henry NJ. Flag
Ter. Henry H. Rogers. John D. Arch
bold. Oliver II Payne, Charles NJ
Pratt, the Standard Oil Company o
New Jersey. and about seventy othe
corporations. from maintaining a com
bination and conspiracy in restraint o
trade. to mcnopolize interstate and in
ternational commerce, and the decree
grants the injunction sought by tn
government.
The case is also one of the mos
notable in the history of the natiol
on account Of the important industria
and legal questions and the vast faar
cial interests involved.