Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-12

VII TASHINGTON, March 1.-THE
w most serious legal battle that
w STANDARD Oil' has ever faced
will confront it next Monday.
That is the day set by the supreme
court of the United States to hear
arguments on the appeal of the Stand
ard Oil company of New Jersey from
the adverse judgment of the United
States circuit court for the eastern dls-
trict of Missouri which ordered the
dissolution of the New Jersey corpora
ton as an illegal combination ana
rnonopoly in restraint of interstate
commerce.
To point out the alleged errors OF
the circuit court in it's findings and
in its Decree the keenest intellects
within command have been procured.
To argue for the affirmance of the de-
cision of the lower court, Mr.. Wicker
sham, the attorney general OF the
United States, himself will head bril-
liant array of counsel for the govern
ment.
Findings of Circuit Court
The circuit court announced grave
findings against the seven indlVidual
defendants, John d. Rockefeller, VIII
liam Rockefeller, Henry M. Flagler'
Henry H. Rogers, John d. Arehbold
oliver H. Payne and Charles M. Pratt
the Standard Oil company OF New Jer-
sey and other defendant companies.
The court found that in 1899, by an
exchange of stock by the seven in
dividuals, the Standard Oil company OF
New Jersey acquired the legal title to
a majority of the stock of nineteen
companies, which in turn controlled a
large number of others, all but one en-
gagged in the oil business.
What it found as to this combination
was this:
That since 1899 the affairs of all
these companies have been managed
by the principal company as the busi-
ness of a single person, so as to fix
for them the price of crude oil, the
rates for transportation and the sell
ing prices of it's products.
Fifty Million increase
That the par value of the combined
capital stock in 1899 was about $780,
900, 900, and that in 1908 1t was
S15O, ,O0O, 900.
That twelve of these companies
owned 54,565 miles of pipe lines.
That six of these companies had 3574
selling stations throughout the United
States.
That these companies, from 1899 tc
1907, produced more than one-tenth OF
the crude oil obtained in this country
That they owned and operated more
than one-half of all the tank cars used
to distribute it's products.
That they transported more than
four-ffths of the petroleum derived
from the Pennsylvania and Indiana oil
fields.
That they marketed more than four
fifths of all the Illuminating oil sold in
the United States.
That they exported more than four
fifths of all the Illuminating oil sent
forth from the United States.
That they sold more than four-fifths
of all the naphtha sold in the United
States.
That they sold more than nine-tenths
of all the lubricating oil sold to rail-
road companies in the United States.
On this finding the court decreed
That the organization of 1899 was a
combination or conspiracy in restraint
of interstate commerce in petroleum
and its products, such as the first sec
ton of the Sherman antitrust act
declares is illegal; that the seven in
dividual defendants, the Standard Oil
company of New Jersey and thirty
nine other companies had entered into
a combination or conspiracy to monop-
olize and had in fact monopolized a
substantial part of interstate COM
merce in violation of the second sec
ton of the Sherman antitrust act;
that thirty-three other companies ac-
cused were proven not to be in this
combination.
The court enjoined the principal
CONTINUED on Page Three)