The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-18
THE JOKE ABOUT THE OIL SUIT.

Il
to try and follow the Standard Oil case.
Everybody who tried has failed. Soon
after the case was opened 1t was OBJ
! secured In maze of writs Of error, re-
| hearings, appeals, arguments and more
] writs that made every layman thank
Heaven he was not a lawyer In the
case, forced to understand what 1t was
ali about and compelled to remember
where the whole affair stood.
1t really seems now as If the legal
side the case Is to be finished. The
lawyers are running on their second
wind and arc making such time in
their arguments as would indicate
that they know the goal is near. OF
course. there is the prospect that when
the case is argued some OF the lawyers
may find grounds to arguoit all over
again, just to show they can: but we.
trust this is unlikely. Sooner or later
tho Justices of the Supreme Court will
have the briefs drayed to their resi-
dences and will begin to wonder what
they can do Will, the case.
will begin. If the court think the
grounds are valid, thenit can order tho
trust dissolved aid can call tho Stand
ard Oil Company a thing OF the past,
Nothing will be easier. The case Is
proyed, let us say, and the statute Is
plain. Justice Fuller rises In his
might and declares the Standard OIL
Company. from and after April Is. does
not exist. The clerks certify it, the
lawyers draw their fees and-thc
Standard Oil still does business in the
same old way. This is really the Joke
about the whole matter. Congress has
given us the way and Congress, by q
fine-spun legal web. defined tho
grounds on which such suit may be
brought. but Congress has altogether
failed to tell us what We can do with
| the corporation after it is dissolved.
Somebody owns the Standard OIL
\ stock. Somebody paid money for 1t.
Somebody has right TO what he owns
and what he paid money for. This
collapse OF the law indicates fine
.Aldr!chian hand. The law, of course
: intended. on its face, that the stock
which had been pooled and converted
? into the stock Of the trust should re-
e vert to the original owners who should
v take in place OF 1t the stock they had
. originally given up. If all these men
e were still alive, there might be some
D chance that this could be done and
3 some prospect that the law might be
more than a farce: but many of the
original owners are dead and gone.
Others sold their stock to men who
sold 1t to other men who sold 1t n
Ihalf-doze times before it reached the
4 present owners. None knoweth where
& this stock has been or what It has
done since the day it was originally
i issued as the stock of some concern
now part Of the Standard Oil Com
/. pany. To return it Is impossible, to
destroy it is unjust.
And so 1t goes. II the court decides
that the trust do not exist, the trust
does not exist The court has said So
and that settled It. The stock. how
= exist and must still draw its dividends
and carry its votes. SO far as the ulti-
mate outcome of the whole affair Is
concerned, the company might as well
have let the suit go on uncontesteG
and Nigh: have asked what the court
proposed to do about 1t when the
issue was decided. 1t would have beer
the same in the end and good dca
cheaper.
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