Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-24
Standard OIL and AmeIi-
can Tobacco Co. Gases.
Wickersham Suggests They
Be Considered Together.
Present Entire Range Of Modern
Industrial Organizations.


vouchsafed no intimation on the sub
iect it is generally supposed here that
the decision in the case of the Ameri-
can Tobacco Company, which has al
ready been argued before the court,
will not be handed down at least until
after the argument IL the case of the
standard Oil Company, which is set
for March IA. Attorney General Wick
ersham, in his motion to advance the
hearing of the latter case. described
the two as essentially kindred, and
suggested to the court that they be
considered together.
LAWYERS here generally concur in
tho statement made by Mr.. Wicker
sham to the court, that these two cas-
IS together present for it's considera-
ton "nractically the entire range of
modern Industrial organiZ3 tons in this
country" and substantially every fea-
turc of the trust question:" so far az
il falls within the purview of the Sher-
man antitrust law. Yet they are not
precisely alike: indeed. it is said that
in some particulars they are so dis
similar that the court might find in
favor of the government in one case,
ana dEdlIISl IL IA VIC otiiCt.
The two cases are alike in that they
are proceedings in equity 10 enjoin all
legged violations of the law of the land
neither is in It's essence q criminal &C
ton. in neither does the government
seek TO procure either Imprisonment of
Individuals or exemplary fines upon the
defendants. In both suits the charges
pressed are those alleging unlawful
combination and conspiracy in re-
strairt If interstate trade and COM
rncrce and continuing monopoly or at
tempted monopoly, of important ele-
ments in interstate commerce.
The standard Oil Company of New
Jersey is attacked as holding COM
many" out of it's $1,000 900 capital
stock, over $97 900, 900 was exchanged
in 1899, according to the government
figures, for stock in nineteen other cor
porations. engaged in the various bran
ches of the petroleum business.
The American Tobacco Company is
alleged to be both a holding and an
operating company. 1t is actively en-
gagged in the tobacco business. owns
its own shops and sells the manufac-
tured products In the case of the
Standard Oil Company, the raw prod
uct is to an extent produced by the cor
poration; in that of the tobacco COM
binaton the raw material is purchased
While the Sherman law does not spe-
officially prohibit the organization of
holding companies, the Supreme Court
declared in the Northern Securities
case that the holding company constl-
tited an organization in restraint OF
trade ard commerce.
The government charges that from
the time of the organization OF the
standard Oil Company in 1899, mon
0poly was obtained that in fact TOT
years prior to that virtual mchopcly
had existed, and that the various forms
which the conspiracy alleged against
the oil company has taken, have been
merely ada ntatiorS to the changing
needs and conditions of the times
In the Tobacco case, it is alleged that
originally when the merger was con-
sumnated in 1890. there was mono
nolv ONLY in the cigarette trade: the
defendants claim that the control OF
the business th6n secured has since
materially Iwindled.
Tn, Standard Oils counsel have con-
tended that the corporations "flch III
1899 entered into the agreements com
planned Of had long since ceased to De
councillors In the Tobacco case, the
defendants contend that their acts
have been confined merely to the ac-
aaisition of manufacturing property
that manufacturing corporations are
under no legal obligation to compete
the prohibition being against speclhc
agreements to suppress competitors
non -con,netition as the result OF the
acquisition of property is, the deich"-
ants insist. not n violation of the sta
tute
Another difference between the two
cases lies in the fact that the standard
Oil Company is charged with oHchse
against the sherman law alone: lhe
Tobacco corporations are charged WIN
offending also the Wilson tariff act OF
1894. which extended the application Oh
the antitrust law to any conspiracy IN
restraint OF trade. one party to whieh
was an importer. Furthermore, the
government is seeking to establish the
rule that a corporation entering into an
agreement abroad when III pun po'e
snonfiicts with American law. gains nv
immunity from the lt,cl ti'''' ""
agreement is lawful in the i"reis"
country.
1t is suggested that the commodities
handled by the Standard Oil Company
may lie more properly called "Necessa-
ries OF life" than those dealt i'll by the
tobacco corporations.
Attorney General Wicke, sham in ms
argument of the Tobacco case eN-
pressed the opinion that different ele-
ment would enter into the trade IN an
absolute necessity of life. as ois'ih-
guished from one that was not nee
essitv, because such a commodity was
charged with a public use. just as
much, if not more. than what IS cal'eo
public utility companies"
As the result of the hearing IN the
circuit courts. other differences were
either made or became apparent
In the Tobacco suit. the court did not
find sufficient evidence to hold that
there was a monopoly in the trade in
question. although it did hold that
there was combination in restraint
of trade. In the standard Oil case. the
court was unanimous in finding that
there was an illegal monopoly, in addi-