The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-03-09
OIL TRUST FILES
BRIEF IN DEFENSE.
Makes individual Rights" the
Main Point Insisted Upon
in justification.
MEN WHO RUN COMBINE
ALLEGED TO BIZ UPRIGHT
Work in Developing Resources
and Perfecting Methods
Should Be Rewarded.

" y
STANDARD Oil' today filed i'll the SUI
preme court Of the United States ats
brief in opposition 10 the attempt OF
the government to dissolve !, as vlolat
ing the Sherman antitrust law.
This comes as n prelude to the oral
argument of the case made by attor-
news for the defense and for the gov
crnment. The brief is tho work of H.
7. Watson, John NJ. Freeman and Ern
est C.. Irwin. The brief of the govern
meut has not yet been filed.
The keynote Of the defense is the
so called preservation of the rnghts
of individual citizens of the United
States,
The issue, according TO this brief, is
the charge made in the petition, denied
in the answer and reassertcd III the
reply. that the seven individual de-
PENDANTS. John d. Rockefeller, William
X. Rsckcfeller. John D. Archbold, OH
yer ii. Payne. Henry M. FlaGler, Charles
NJ. Pratt and Henry II, Rogers, COM
biued and conspired, and continued to
combine 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 circult
court of the United States for the east
ern district of Missouri. whose adverse
decree the defendants seek to ovcrturn,
held that solely because these individual
Joint owners Of a group Of noncompet-
tive properties engaged for forty years
IN private trade instead OF continuing
TO hold through trustees controlled by
these defendants, changed IN 1899, as
the brief saws. Hthe method of holding
their properties by conveying them to
the Standard Oil company Of New Jer-
scy, and that such change was a viola
tion of the Sherman antitrust act"
Claim Obedience to Law,
This decree is complained Of as be
ing unjust 10 the men who, according
to the brief. "wcre a lawful group,
lawfully doing business, and who, aft
or what is described as a mere convey.
ance and solely by reason thereof be-
came group OF lawless consplrators,
1t is charged
The claim that the seven individuals
arc engaged i'll lawful business is en-
phasized.
"The STANDARD Oil business as it ex-
listed in 1906 and still exists says the
brief. twas the natural development
and outgrowth of the business begun in
1862 and steadily pursued by the Rock
efellcrs and others
BY untiring energy with infinite
skill. with abundant capital and the
steady reinvestment of earlier profits,
these men and their associates created
out of an entirely new, unique and I'M
preccdented production of crude oil a
new. universally used and the cheapest
illumnant the world has known. BY
creative skill they secured from refuse
oil valuable by products. They invent
ed the huge reservoirs for storing oil
the combined pipe line system which
GATHERS up and carries the natural prod
ucts-the tank cars which carry the re-
fined products,
"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 sta
tions-the tank delivery wagons-and
used every means TO cheaper the prod
uct and improve the quality.
Long Years of Risk.
"From 1862 TO 1906-forty-fo
vears-the work went on, They took
| the risk of the failure in production. of
destruction by fire and tempest, besides
all the ordinary risks of trade. They
met all emergencies with competent
| skill and sufficient funds. Tho unex
pected. enormous increase in produc.
]
added TO its Importance and profit.
'.Their methods Of holding their
! Joint properties and tho management
Of them were dictated by economic
reasons.
''They used the best aud cheapest
methods in the holding of titles and Ia
The transportation, production, refining
and sale Of oil, and they sought TO and
always did produce the best and cheap
est product o.,
ergv and skill they built up.
| NThey succeeded. as if one had de.
veloped Unexpectedly gold or dia-
mond mine, and abundant revenue
! Ilepitimatelv became theirs.
! ''Their business thus created, was a
/ lawful one and the owners th5reof
were and are lawfully entitled 10 con.
tinue the same. and If in 1906 when the
petition was fled they were not re,
strcting interstate trade or by unlaw.
| full means seeking a monopoly (Which
il was not). the court should not have
interfercd with it,
Only Change Of Method
! Point after point is made by coun-
sell in an attempt TO prove that the sew.
en- individual defendants did nothing
more than change their method of busi-
ness in 1899
Seven men, controlling for 5000 pep
! pie. seventy parcels Of property devoted
| to private business enterprise and fol
which the 5000 hold truss certificates OF
trustees, in 1899 determine that Shcre.
after the 5000 shall hold stock certifi
Gates Of the New Jerscy Standard Oil
| company for the same properties in the
same proportions and with the same
| power and management
''Ncither the 5000 owners nor tho
seven managers gained any new power
or property or changed their status oI
j al...... r...L.