The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-10
National Government Files It's
Brief in Case TO Dissolve
Great Oil Trust as a Viola
tion of the Sherman Law.
DECLARES BIG COMBINE
CRUSHES COMPETITORS
Standard Oil Is Alleged by I'm
Gle Sam to Have Practical
Monopoly in Many Sections
of the United States.
A STRONG CASE MADE OUT

w AsssHI5NNGToN. March s.-''Etber
" the Sherman act should be repeal
ed or 1t should be enforced IN A
manner 10 make the people respect it,
With this declaration, the depar tnerrt Of
justice today filed with the federal sH-
pIeme court OF the United States a thou
sand-page brief in support of its petition.
that Standard Oil" be dissolved a. h,
violation OF the Sherman antitrust law
Ihe brief viii be foundation OF the GOV
ernment'S oral argument at the hearing
next Monday. One Of the volumes Of the
orlet Is devoted 10 an analysis Of testi-
mony taken IN the circuit court OF the.
United states for the Eastern district OF
Missouri which decreed that STANDARD
OH be dissolved" The government de-
clares this testimony shows rebates ana
discriminatory rates were received By the
STANDARD Oil combination. not only during
It's formative period. but during the less
ten years. Whereby the Standard vas
enabled TO bring a large part OF the con-
Germs into the combination and 10 crush
cut and eliminate from the field Of COM
petition the principal part OF the ball
ance."
1t is claimed by the government that II
shows d system Of lowering prices where
competitors are doing business below The
cost of production. while raising the prices
in other parts Of the country until the
competitor is either eliminated or his busi-
ness brought to such a state that the
standard OIL company can control it. OF
petitlVe business, largely through bribing
railway employees, and using that secret
information TO procure counterme nding Of
orders OF independents and 70 facilitate
their system Of price cutting and Oppres-
sion; Of the use of so-ealied bogus inde-
pendent companies. whose operations are
predatory aud oppressive PRINCIPALLY 10
drive ont competition; and various other
means
In many districts the Standard oil
~ al
mean by absolute monopoly that Ia those
districts II does all of the business and
has eliminated every competitor. Prsc-
ucally this is the case throughout the
Rocky mountain country and most Of the
Pacific coast states. The percentage OF
Independent business throughout the en-
tire Southern states is very small"
In the second volume is a so-called
summary Of facts and a brief of the law
Here, too, repeated statements are made
OF the attitude Of the government toward
organized business. 1t is urged that II
the intent is clear to monOpohze any part
of the commerce Of the United States the
scheme is void in whatever form the sc-
ton is taken
The oft-repeated argument thst this
construction Of the law prevents the for
nation of partnerships and the legitimate
consolidation of business enterprises" said
the government. lis fallecious, for such
construction has no application where
enterprise is formed with the honest and
d
ness. not go beyond the bounds Of leeiti-
mate combination or directly or substaB-
TALLY suppress competition. Whenever
that acquisition is mere cloak to cover
the monepolizing Of commerce or to strike
down competition. il is illegal " follows
from this that the acquisition Of the same
property might. under some circum-
stances. be legal. while under other cir
cumstances. it will be Illegal
The brief replies to the argument ~
the Standard oil counsel that the cor
pOrations that entered into the orgaui-
zati0n in 1889 were not at that time com
peting with one another.
IT they were not competing" says the
government. lit was because OF an un-
lawful combna ton in the form OF trust
or during the liquidation period. because
of the conspiracy Of the individual stock
holders. We have seen this trust was
void. Certainly the conspiracy between
the stockholders OF these subsidiary cor
DOrations WAS directly inhibited by the
Sherman act
John D. Rockefeller. it is claimed bv
the government. testified that after the
trust solution was ordered IN 1882. each Of
the corporations. as controlled by its own
stockholders engs ged in its own branch
of the business OF purchasing. refining.
transporting and selling oil. and that they
were each competing with the other