The Washington times., 1909-11-21
GOVERNMENTS VICTORY
OVER STANDARD OIL.

Not since the Sherman law was en-
acted has the Government achieved as
important "a victory over a gigantic
combination of capital as the one it
has achieved over the Standard Oil
Company.
The decision of the circuit court at
st. Louis is sweeping, and leaves no
doubt that the combination in the eyes
of the law is illegal, and that it is to
be dissolved 1t is the opinion Of
capable lawyers that the Supreme
Court of the United States viii stand
by the decision of the lower court.
In more ways than one this decision
is momentous. It marks an important
milestone in the history of the struggle
of the American people to prevent them
selves from being Overmastered by ire
mendous aggregations of wealth. When
the suit against the Standard Oil Com
pany was begun, it was the disposition
of many to look on that monopoly as
invulnerable. The suit was to a con-
siderable extent looked on as a test
of the strength OF the Sherman law.
Had the Government failed TO win the
case. there would have been widespread
exultation on the part Of those elements
which are opposed to the public exer-
cising any restriction over combinations
of capital 1t Is when one contem-
plates the moral and legal effects of a
decision adverse to the Government in
TINS action that the Importance of the
finding in favor of the Government is
best understood.
For more than a third of a century
John d. Rockefeller and a combination
of the most powerful capitalists in this
country have devoted their energies to
the building up of the Standard Oil
monopoly. 1t is something for the pub
lie to be able 20 realize that even these
men, with the vast forces of capital at
their command, have not been able to
rear up a fabric which is above the
law. In this there is a valuable lesson
alike for the public and for the great
financial powers of the country.
That the decision of the circuit court,
which was a unanimous one, means
much in a strictly legal way is also
true. just now there is a suit pending
in the Supreme Court against the To-
bacco trust. Indications are that the
Standard Oil decision means the disso-
luton of the Tobacco trust. Solicitor
General Bowers points out that the
Standard Oil case and that against the
Tobacco trust are the first attacks upon
an aggregation Of several industrial com
panies into a combination through stock
proprietorship and stock agreements.
The decision amounts to new and
important application of the Sherman
act. It viii be Of the greatest impor-
lance in other proceedings under the
Sherman law. Attorney General Wick
ersham pronounces it zone Of the most
important decisions ever rendered in
this country"
Should the Supreme Court affirm the
circuit court, it will be worth while 10
see whether the decree of dissolution
accompIishes what it sets out to accom-
plish, and whether there is a restoration
Of a measure of competition i'm that
part of the oil business now controlled
by Standard Oil influences.
The decision viii doubtless increase
the efforts from various quarters to get
the Sherman law modified, and it will
probably have the effect, too, to make
Congress extremely doubtful about try
ing to extract any of the teeth from
the law in question.