Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-03-31
GOVERNMENT HOT,
after sTANDARDOll
Decision Of Supreme Court. Awaited
With Much Expectancy = Will
Affect Many Other Monopoly
Concerns on Same Lines.
lspecIal Correspondence.l


reaching will be decision Of the Uni
ted States Supreme Court adverse to
the Standard OIL Company In the case
in which briefs for both the govern.
ment and the company have just been
filed and which, were argued March
IA. The government charges that the
Standard OIL Company Is In existence
In violation OF the Sherman antitrust
law and Is a conspiracy In restraint Of
trade and to destroy It's competitors In
the oil trade. The eighth judicial cir.
cult court sustained the governments
contention and ordered the dissolution
Of the company and the case was APP
pealed to the Supreme Court.
This and the American Tobacco
Company case are considered the most
important ever brought under the Sher
man act. The tobacco case Is on an
peal from the second judicial circui,
and has been argued. When de-,
cisions in these cases, but particularly
In the Standard OIL case. are handed
down It Is expected that they will for
the first time define exactly what a
trust is and the extent to which the
government can go in regulating cor.
porations. The decisions will also
have an important bearing on the ad
ministration's immediate program Of
further prosecutions of certain com.
binations which are now being investi.
gated by the Department of Justice.
It Is now pretty well conceded that
the action on the administration fed.
eral incorporation bill will be deferred
pending the decisions OF the Supreme
Court In the tobacco and oil cases.
In view Of the fact that there are
hundreds of corporations. great and
small scattered throughout the coun.
try whose organization and methods
are similar to those of the Standard
OIL Company and American Tobacco
Company. the decisions will mean
much because It will force them to
change their organizations and style
OF doing business II Il Is adverse to
the two companies named. The brief
nled In the Standard Oh case by the
government was in two volumes and
over thousand pages. A comprehen-
sive history Of the company is CIV
en-. and John d. Rockefeller, William
r., Rockefeller, John ID. iArchibold, oil.
ver H. Payne. Henry NJ, Fiagier
Charles M. Pratt, and Henry II. Rog
ers. are charged with having consplrcd
from 1899 to monopolise. the oil bust.
ness. Since the institution Of the suit
Henry H.. Rogers has died. The com
pany is severely scored In the govern.
ment's brief
THE Standard OIL Company, It
says, keeps a secret department In
New York known as its statistical de-
partment. Through this department II
has a complete system OF espionage
upon its competitors all over the Uni.
ted States. II was with great difIiculty
that the government succeeded In
nncovering this system. Many of the
leading men connected with the
Standard OIL Company were placed on
the stand and denied knowing any.
thing about the department until they
were confronted with certain reports
and statements which came into the
governments hands. II appears by
this testimony that the Standard Oh
Company has a system OF reports
whereby every salesman and local
agont procures Information az to the
shipments Of oil by independents into
his district. These are procured b,
bribing railway employees to report
competitors shipments; by keeping
men around railway stations to learn
tho shipping directions on barrels OF
cars; by following the tank wagons
anc statesmen OF independents; by em
ploying detectives to procure the In
formation from the independents EN-
ployes and by following other disreput
able means"
With this Information. the brief says
II Ia obvious that the Standard has q
great advantage In determining when
and where to cut prices In order ia
destroy competition and then to boost
them back again when competition
was wiped out. President Taft and
Attorney General Wickersham are
awaiting the decision of the court In
these cases with the keenest inter
est, and II they come down the wa,
they believe and expect they will II
Is likely that this country will see an
unprecedented change In the way OF