Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-08
OIL TRUST NOT EVIL!
Its Attorneys Say SO in Su-
preme Court Brief.
LUCK AND WISDOM UNITED
Benefactor to World in Introducing
Cheap Illuminant.
VICTORY OF CREATIVE SKILL
Business is Lawful, and Success Is
Due Largely to 1.-The Unexpect-
ed" and Not to Wicked Ways.
LUCK AND WISDOM UNITED
VICTORY OF CREATIVE SKILL

The Standard OIL today filed in the
Supreme Court of the United States its
brief in opposition to the attempt
of the government TO dissolve it as vio-
lating the Sherman antitrust law.
This comes as a prelude to the oral
argument of the case Monday by at
torneys for the defense and for the
government. The brief is the work of
ID. T. Watson. John NJ. Freeman anu
Ernest c. Irwin. The brief of the gov
eminent has not yet been filed.
The keynote of the defense is the So
called preservation of the ''righ.s of In
dividual citizens of the United States
Issue is Outlined.
The issue, according to this brief, Is
the charge, made In the petition, denied
in the answer and reasserted i'll the
replication, that the seven individual de-
fendants-John D. Rockefeller, William
X Rockefeller, John D. Archoold, Oliver
II. Payne, Henry NJ. Flagier, Charles NJ.
Pratt and Henry H Rogers-combined
and conspired, and continued to combine
and conspire at the time the PETITION was
fled to restrain inte.s ate trade in OIL
and to gain monopoly IF 1t.
The brief asserts that the circuit court
OF the UnlLed States LOT the eastern us
trict OF Missouri, whose adverse decree
the defendants seek to overturn, held that
solely because these individual joint own
ers of a group of non-compeutive proper
ties engaged for forty years in private
trade, instead OF continuing to hold
through trustees controlled by these seven
defendants, changed in 1899, as the brief
says 1.-The method of holding their prop
critics by conveying them to the Stand
ard Oil Company Of New Jersey, and that
such change was violation OF the Sher-
man antitrust act.
This decree is complained of I'M
just to the men, who. according to the
brief, were a lawful group. lawfully
doing business" and who, after what Is
described as mere conveyance, and
solely by reason thereof, became, it is
charged a group of lawless conspir-
ators.''
Ways and Means Defended.
The claim that the seven individuals
are engaged in lawful business is en-
phasized.
The Standard Oil business as it eX-
listed in 1896. and still exists. says the
brief. was the natural development and
outgrowth OF the business begun in 1862
and steadily pursued by the Rockefelers
and others.
by untiring energy with infinite skill.
with abundant capital ana the steady re-
investment of early profits these men and
their associates created out of entirely
new, unique and unprecedented produc-
ton of crude oil n new. universally used
and cheapest illuminant the world has
known.
by creative skill they secured from
refuse oil valuable by-products. They
invented the huge reservoirs for storing
oil-the combined pipe line system winC.l
gathers up and carries the natural prod
| ucts-the tank cars which carry the re-
| fined product
They created the export trade in oil.
| transporting it in ships of their own
construction and selling it in ASIA India,
China, Japan, Russia and all Europe.
They devised the trading stations--the
| tank delivery wagons-and used every
ity.
Success by Unexpected Means.
Prom 1862 to 1906 (forty-four years.
the work went on. They took the risk
of the failure in production, of destruc-
ton by force and tempest, besides all the
ordinary risks of trade. They met all
emergencies with competent skill and
sufficient funds.
"The unexpected enormous increase In
ness and added to it's Importance and
1
Joint properties and the management OF
| them were dictated by economic reasons
They used the best and cheapest
methods in the holding of titles. and In
the transportation. production. refining
and sale of oil. They sought to and did
always produce the best and cheapest
| product.
They competed with the same energy
and skill they built up.
They succeeded. as if one had devel-
oped Unexpectedly a gold or diamond
mine. and abundant revenue legitimately
became theirs
| Their business thus created was a law
full one. The owners thereof were and are
lawfully entitled to continue the same
IF in 1906, when the petition was filed,
they were not restricting interstate trade
or. by unlawful means. seeking monop-
oily (Which it was not), the court should
not have interfered with it,
| Levi jefferson Forester and Miss Irene
4 Lillian Dawson daughter of Mr. ana Mrs