Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21
HAS DOUBLE IMPORT
Government View of Standard
Oil Decision.
lit FIXES A PRINCIPLE
Potent Support in the Prosecution Of
Other Combines.
APPEAL IS TO BE EXPEDITED
APPEAL IS TO BE EXPEDITED
Decision by Supreme Court Not I'm
probable This Winter, Is Opin-
ion Of Wade H. Ellis.

| There is a feeling in the Department
of Justice that the decision against the
| Standard Oil Company in the United
States circuit court at st. Paul yesterday
is a signal victory with a double i'm
portance for the government. Not only
does 1T furnish the basis upon which
Wade H. Ellis, the assistant to the At
torney General, in charge of the trust
prosecutions, believes the government
| will be successful in the United States
Supreme Court. but it establishes this
principle that the government has been
| fighting for in all the trust proceed
| ings-that a combination which exists
| by the means of a corporation owning
| the stock of others is contrary to the
Sherman law. and that such stock own
| ership may. be a device that constitutes
| a stock agreement in restraint of trade.
Aside from being probably the most i'm
| portant victory in all the government
proceedings SO far in the Oil cases, the
decision is held by the attorneys of the
department as one of the most potent sup
ports the government will have in the
| case against the so-called tobacco trust,
| which comes up for argument December
| 13, and it is considered to have an equally
| important bearing on the Union Pacinc
case, and, in fact, all other cases OF d
| like nature now pending
Method of Dissolution.
Mr. Ellis said last night that the appeal
to the Supreme Court Of the United States
will be expedited for the Standard Oil
case, and it is not unlikely that decision
will be reached this winter.
A victory there for the government will
mean that those corporations held by yes
| terday's decision to be part of the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
will have to be released from the stock
control of the holding company. and their
stock will Of necessity revert to the orlgl-
nal corporations. The method of disso-
luton to be followed would probably take
| the form of trust created by the court
! charged with the duty Of returning the
separate corporations to their original
status.
Mr.. Ellis, when attorney general of
Ohio, conducted the custer suit in that
state which resulted in the dissolution of
the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and
the creation of the Standard OIL Company
of New Jersey. Much of the action de-
cided yesterday at st. Paul in the govern
ment's favor was built upon the evidence
| of the Ohio case.
! Bill Considered Moderate.
The bill against the oil corporation was
more moderate than those in the toba eco
case or in the powder case, which is also
peHuIns. II olIeFeo III iWo ieSPccls' -
did not ask for the appointment of re-
ceiver. and it did not ask that the oil
company be enjoined from engaging in in
terstate commerce. The latter was, how
ever, demanded in the brief and granted
by the court. In the tobacco case, where
the defendants were enjoined from engag-
| ing in interstate commerce. the court
gave q stay pending a decision of the
Supreme Court. Notice of an appeal in
| the oil case would operate to the same
end.
When Mr.. Ellis was asked for his opin-
ion of the decision, he replied that he was
highly satisfied and that the decision OF
the court is all the government asked for.
While the decree of the court does not
include all the corporations named in the
governments bill, it does enjoin all those
persons or corporations of substantial i'm
portance controlled through the stock of
the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.