New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-16
STANDARD OILS BATTLE
Suit Begun in United States
Courts of Missouri in 1906.
AGAINST JERSEY COMPANY
Combination Formed About 1870
Largest Record Ever Pre-
pared in American Suit.

nared in American Suit.
-. s,.,dsrd oil suit was instituted
.-.-.se, 4 100. I'm the United Sta'e'
c.'-1,,i, covr, FOR the Eastern District o.
,,ts.o.--f II was brought in the name o.
-. r-,,.AS States. The immediate oo!e'
- g. dissolve me STANDARD OF toInPaH'
q View Jersey. 1000 a,5
r,,o-, ,ba ,e-v beginning the business en-
the Legal worlds recognized tnat -.
=. e.. Sherman snti-trus; law Z" t'- "i'
49, to-, n which ~ had been sn''e
re law rad been On the s'a'''
.,,~. -s.a and lad been the bass o.
e.zh,eer suits finally passed upo" ~
SUPREME court 4 the Ini'ed o'@''S-
80 Law. was constitutional was accep's" -
.e,,Ied bv these decisions; but. Simple
.ta ,,or6s OF the statute seemed. 'h7ir
&, absence q unanimity IN reeolo '' ''S
s-..-....io, With that situation con-
fronting the government and the oels'u
ants. tho suit was begun with the genera /.
rsref that ,he entire business world wouio
,eei The effect of the outcome ~ the gigah'
to struggle.
The government alleged that two sections
o. the sherman antitrust a." hao neeh
violated. The FIRST section reads a. follow =
p.vs-,- contract. combination. in The form
% irus, OF otherwise. or Conspiracy. IN =
straint n trade or commerce anong u
se,e-si states or with foreign aaN'is' y
hereby declared 20 - Illegal
The second section reads:
vve-v person (which subsequently vas
s,ulsfreS IN the statute 70 lrc.ioe -ul
rors,ionsl who shall m9nopo-i1- y, nh
srv o,hs- rerscn or parsons 70 inohol,p -
snv part ~ trade or commerce among .,o 80,
several states. or with io'-3e.
srsV ~ deemed guilty % 11i-de'nsshoI'
The STANDARD oil Company q New Jer-
.av. some seventy subsidiary corpofations
Jorn n Rockefeller. William Rockefeller.
Henry y Flager. Henry y. Rogers John
= Archboid. Oliver r. Payne and Charles
= Pratt sn defendants IN the suit denied
tie charges
Months Gathering Evidence.
rc-trs were spent in gathering evidence
The general line % attack as shown hy
ey15erce presented ny the government vas
THIS. = alleged hat about the year lHo
the pockefslers and Fiasier conceived the
,aea % controlling the petroleum trade Of
-. country. and a little later entered into
conspiracy with Rogers. Archoolh'
ps,~e and Pratt 20 gain control Of The
81 rusfn 81 To carry out this alleged con
s,irso,- e., was asserted. they first pooled
-reir interests then puf them into Inc
hands ~ trustees o. trusts and finally.
v.rer The trust" ~ 1sS2 was declared
void I'm decision by the ONO Supreme
Court In a proceeding against tia Standard
Oil company Of Ohio reOrganized the
standard OF Company 81 New jersey 70
take over their interests and 20 secure
monopoly. Evidence Of reoatinE. % price
cutting and ~ the organization n secret
concerns 70 pose as independents was
elected 70 show that the Standard was
seeking By unfair means 20 restrain trade
snd 20 procure 2 monopoly.
STANDARD Oil" introduced evidence 70
show that there had never been such a
conspiracy. II sought TO prove that the
Ohio Supreme Court did not hold the trust
agreement Of 1852 void but merely required
the Standard oil Company Of ONO 70
Withdraw from the trust
Evidence was produced 10 show that re-
batting had been the order Of the day
among all commercial concerns; that price
cutting and secret concerns were not the
rule and were used as legitimate instru-
ments Of competition.
Hearings Here end in ST. Louis.
The preliminary hearings in the govern
rrent suit were begun in this city on Sep
TENDER l.. 1907. before ex-JIdge Franklin
Ferriss. Of St Louis. as special examiner
=, hear testimony. Frank p. Kellogg. Of
So Paul. and Charles =. Morrison. OF Chi
tsso special Assistant Attorney General
represented tho government assisted by J.
Harwood Graves. special assistant Attorney
General. J.. Dana D1rsrd then Deputy
Commissioner Of Corporations and ". b.
Hunter. special agent q The Bureau Of Cor
pcratons Moritz Rosen'hal. now a part
ner in the banking firm of Ladenburg Thai
mann & Co. John q Milburn. John : Nil
Ter and Frank L. Crawford appeared for
the standard oil Company.
The hearings proceeded from September
Il n October IS. being then adjourned un-
I'll May =. 1908. The last testimony taken
IN this city was on January Is. 1909. a few
witnesses being heard subsequently in Chi
oago. Among those on the witness stand
here were John y. Rockefeller. John D.
Archbold. William 9. Rockefeller. Charles
NJ Pratt. Henry NJ Tilford. the late Wes-
ley n. Tilford and Anthony n. Brady.
Up 10 the close Of the hearings in New
York about 100000 words Of testimony
had been taken. with II, 900. 900 words in
the exhibit. and the cost OF the suit was
estimated by Mr. Kellogg at s10,00O.oOO
These were record figures for cost and for
volume % testimony. The government fled
100 exhibits and the Standard Oil Com
pany 397. The original complaint filed
277 pages.
John D. Rockefeller on Stand.
The most interesting as we'll AS the most
important witness was John D. Rockefeller
whose examination and cross-examination
consumed nearly five days Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter. whose serenity was never rufied during
the long ordeal. was as cautious under cross
examination as he was open in his answers
10 his own attorneys replying 10 searching
questions OF Mr.. Kellogg with That could
rot say" cit may be so. I cannot sthte.
or ct cannot recall" And again. in re-
spouse 10 questions. he would say, 80 II
esys in this book" or The figures are SC
given here" instead az answering the
queries directly I'm the affirmative.
Mr.. Rockefeller described I'm detail his
early years in the oil business. which he
entered between 1850 and 1852. and the for
nation in 1870 Of the Standard OIL Com