Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-03-08
OIL TRUST BEGINS
BATTLE AGAINST
DISSOLUTION WRIT
Bases Claim on Preservation OF
Rights OF Individual Citi=
Zens of u. S.

~ ali. o. " III
STANDARD Or today filed in the Su-
preme Court of the United States lis
brief in opposition TO the attempt OF
the government to dissolve it, as yio-
lating the Sherman antitrust law.
This comes as a prelude to the oral
argument of the case Monday by attor-
neys for the defense and for the gov
The brief is the work OF IL.
L. Watson, John NJ. Freeman an
Ernest IRWIN. The brief OF tile co.
IN has not yet been filed.
The keynote of the defense is the So
called preservation of the rights OF
individual citizens of the Gnite1
States
The issue, according to this brief. is
the charge made in the petition, denic1
in the answer and reasserted In the
replication, that the seven Individual
defendants, John d. Rockefeller. Will
lam r. Rockefeller. John d. ArcnbolG.
Oliver Fl. Payne. Henry NJ. Fiagler,
Charles NJ. Pratt and Henry II. Rogers.
combined and %conspired. and continued
to conbin and conspire at the time the
petition was filed to restrain Interstate
trade in oil and to gain a monopoly
OF it.
The brief asserts That the Circuit
Court of the United States for The east
ern district Of Missouri. whose adverse
decree the defendants seek to overturn.
held that solely because these individual
joint owners of a group of non-coln-
petitive properties ngage for forty
years in private trade instead of con-
tinuing to hold through trustees con-
trolled by these seven defendants.
changed in 1899, as the brief says, "ths
method of holding their properties by
covering them to the Standard OIL
Company of New Jersey. and that such
change was a violation of the sherman
antitrust act"
This decree is complained of as beir.
unjust to the men who. according -
the brief. were a lawful group, law
fully doing business and who. after
what is described rs a mere onveN-
ance and solely by reason thereof, be-
came a group of lawless conspirators." !
it is charged. y
Business Is Lawful.
The claim that the seven individua1s
are engaged in lawful business is EN-
phasized. THE standard Oil BUSINESS
as it existed in 1906 and still exists
says the brief, was the natural de-
velopment and outgrowth Of the bust
ness begun in 1852 and steadily pur-
sued by the Rocllefellers ard others.
By untiring energy, with infinite skill,
with abundant capital and the steady
reinvestment Of early proits~ these men
and their associates. created out of an
entirely new, unique and unprecedented
production of crude oil a new, uni
versally used and cheapest illuminant
the world has known.
HRv oraatiya chill thew ooenrad fr,,,%,
refuse oil valuable by-products. They
invented he huge reservoirs for stor-
ing ofl-lthe combined pipeline system
which gathers up and carries the natu-
raj produets--the tank cars which carly
the refined products They created the
export trade in oil. transporting i. in
ships of their own construction and
selling it in Asia, India. China, Japan.
Russia and all Europe. They devised
the trading s~tations-the tank delivery
wagons-and used every means to
cheaper the product II the quality.
From 1852 to 1906 ga years. the work
went on. They took the risk of the
failure in production. of destruction by
fire and tempest, besides all the ordi-
nary risks of trade. They met all
emergencies with competent skill and
sufficient funds. The unexpected nor
nous increase IN PRODUCTION greatly fn-
creased their business and added TO its
Importance and profit. Their methods
of holding their joint properties and
the management of them were dictated
by economic reasons. They used tho
best and cheapest methods in the hold
ing of titles and in the transportation,
production, refining and sale of oil, and
they sought to and did always produce
the best and cheapest product.
"They competed with the same
energy n skill they built up.
"They succeeded, as il one had de-
veloped unexpectedly a gold or dfa-
mond mine, and abundant revenue
legitimately became theirs.
"Their business thus created was a
lawful one, and the owners thereof
| were and are lawfully untitled to con
tinue the same, and IL in 1905, when
the petition was filed. they were not
restricting interstate trade or by un-
lawful means seeking a monopoly
(which it was not). the court should
not have interfered with It,"
TO CURE A OLE IN ONE DAY
NO. 7 ~AnIxyU- DDONIn O,ini,o r-al H..