Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-10
Briefs in Dissolution Point
to Celebrated Knight
Case
WHERE U. S. LOST OUT
Governments Papers in Same
Connection Cover ThouS-
and Pages.

Washington, March 10.-The second
brief in the Standard Oil appea! to the
supreme court OF the United States
was filed today by it's counsel. 1t is in
addition to that filed Tuesday. and it is
signed by John G. Johnson of Philadel-
phia, John g. Milburn and Frank l.
Crawford OF New Yoch
Follows knight Case.
Much reliance is placed in the brief
on the decision of the supreme court
In the famous unsuccessful attempt
of the government to dissolve the
American Sugar Refining company
known as the Knight case. 1t is
argued ''the business of the Stan
dard Oil organization is business
of manufacturing out of crude pc
troleum by various processes a great
variety of products a similar de-
fense being made in the Knight
cases.
Within the Principles.
Manufacturing and producing
companies in the Standard Oil it is
claimed, "are clearly within the
principle of the knight case, and if
there were anything illegal in the
acquisition of transportation and
marketing companies, which is de-
MED, that illegality would only JUS
tify proper decree as to them"
Called Brfbtng Monopoly.
Washington, March 10.-Brand-
Ing the Standard Oil company brib=
ing monopoly and declaring that the
Sherman act should be repealed or
be enforced SO that the people would
be made to respect it, the department
of justice yesterday filed with the
supreme court of the United States
a thousand-page brief in support of
it's petition that Standard Oir' be
dissolved as in violation of the Sher-
man antitrust law.
The brief, which is to be the foun-
dation of the governments oral ar
gament at the hearing of the case
next Monday, bears the names of At
torney General Wickersham and of
Frank B. Kellogg, Charles B. Morri-
son and Cordenio A. Severance as
special assistants.
No Chance for Others.
One of the two thick volumes of
the brief is devoted to an analysis of
testimony taken in the circuit court
of the United States for the eastern
district Of Missouri, which decreed
that Standard Oil'' be dissolved. 1t
represents years of governmental in
vestigation of the oil business.
It is claimed by the government
that It shows "a system of lowering
the prices, where competitors are do
ing business, below the cost of the
product, while keeping up or rails
ing the prices in other parts of the /
country until the competitor is either /
eliminated or his business brought !
within a compass so that the Stan /
dard Oil company can control it;
Of obtaining secret information as /
to competitive business, largely through +
bribing railway employees and using
that secret Information to procure
countermanding of orders of inde
pendents and to facilitate their sys-
tenn of price-cutting and oppression;
Of the use of so-called bogus indie
pendent companies, whose operations
are predatory and oppressive, prin-
cipally used to drive out competitors
and various other means
Represents Much work.
I'VE do not wish to be understood
as discouraging enterprise" says the
government, ''or as taking posi-
tion against legitimate competition,
but If the Sherman act means any
thing in this country, it means a
monopoly acquired by such methods
of competition as this. Unless it is
enforced the small corporation or in
dividual who wishes to engage in
business will have absolutely no OPP ,
portunity at all.
s'In many districts the Standard
Oil company has an absolutely mon ,
opoly. We mean by absolute monop-
oily that in those districts it does all
Of the business and has eliminated
every competitor"