Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-06-03

John D. Rockefeller, William Rocke feller and Henry M. Flagler were named as the orlginators ot the al legged conspiracy. The bill claimed that between 1870 and 1882 Henry II. Rog CTS, John D. Archbold, Oliver H. Payne and Charles NJ. Pratt joined the con. { spiracy which eliminated with the or ganization of the New Jersey coproa ton in 1899.
 Three periods of development are al. legged in the complaint. The first, that | preceding 1882, was marked, it is as serted, by the activities of the indiv d. ual defendants in connection with tue Standard Oil company of Ohio, in ac. | quiring interests in, or entering agree. | ments with, various competing hrms corporations and individuals engaged in | the oil business.
 From 1882 to 1889, the complaint re- cited, the affairs of the varIous con- cerns and individuals were under tine | management of nine trustees by a thrust agreement" alleged to be Gin restraint of trade and commerce and in violation of law"
 Since 1899, it was alleged, the de | fendants, have acted ,''thIough the Standard Oil company of New Jersey as a holding rpolation, which com pany acquned the majority of stock In various corporations and manag> them In violation ot law
 It was charged also that in their al. | legged efforts to monopolize the oil bus. mess, the defendants mad solicited and received rebates on shipments not only or tnelr own products but also on those of competitors and later acquired coh- trol ot various pipe lines winch were merged into the National Transit com pany.
 from the inception of the case, Frank B. Kellogg, St. Paul and Charles B. Morrison, Cnicago, have appeared on behalf ot the government as special as- sistants to the attorney general of the unIted States. John C. Milburn, New York; Moritz Rosenthal, Chicago, and John G. Johnson, Philadelphia, have headed the defendants long list of attorneys.
 me judges who have considered the case are: Walter H. Sanborn, St. Paul Elmer B. Adams, St. Louis; Willis A vandevanter, Cheyenne, Wyoming; and William c. Hook, Leavenwortn, Kansas.
 Service was had on the defendants in December of 1906, and the first legal battle came in the following month when the defense tried unsuccessfully to have the service revoked on all con cerned save the Waters-Pierce Oil com pany of Missouri, because, it was | claimed, it was the only defendant res ident in the judicial district in which the suit was filed. This contention was oyerruled, and the company s answer of sixty-six printed pages was filed April 9, 1907. Thirty-seven exceptions to the government s petition was in. cluded in this document. Argument on these took place at St. Paul May 24, 1907. The four judges overruled all the exceptions, and July b, 1907, an additional answer was filed covering the points to which the defense had at first declined to plead.
 The answers admitted certain conten- tions regarding stock ownership and or ganization and that the seven individ- ual defendants were members of the company, but generally denied the main allegations of the government peti- tion, especially those charging conspir- acy to control trade, crush competition, receive rebates and monopolize the oil business.
 The taking of testimony was en- trusted to Franklin Ferriss, St. Louis, who was appointed special master in I chancery in June, 1907.
 The broad generalities of the com plaint and answer presaged consid' erable latitude in the statements of wit nesses which was borne out when the hearings began September l, 1907, in New York.
 From then until the final testimony was given in Chicago on January 22, 1909, 444 persons answered questions before Judge Ferriss. The result was record of 25,000 printed pages of tes' timony and exhibits which was filed in St. Louis on March 22, 1909. Hearings were held in Cleveland and Washington also. The bulk of the tes' timony by the defense was given in | New York. The hearings reached their climax when the defense called to the stand Charles H. Pratt, John D. Rocke- feller and John D. Archbold. Exhibits were introduced showing that in seven years the profits of the business had totalled nearly $5OO,OOO,O0o, the state ment of the Standard oil company of Indiana alone showing profits in 1906 of more than $10,000,O00 on a capi. talization of one-tenth that amount.
 John D. Rockefeller took the stand