The Washington herald., 1911-05-16
Continued from Page One.

cree or the CIRCUIT court Oh Appears LUZ
the Eighth circuit, which ordered the
dissolution of the Standard Oil Corpora
ton of New Jersey, as an unlawful con-
spiracy in restraint of trade, In violation
of the Sherman antitrust law.
THE record is inordinately volumin-
ous," said the Chief Justice, consisting
If twenty-three volumes of printed mat
ter, aggregating about 1900 pages. con-
tanning a vast amount Of confusing and
conflicting testimony relating to tnnu-
merable complex and varied business
transactions, extending over period OF
nearly forty yeaEs."
The bill on behaf Of the government
was filed on November Is, 1906. The bill
and exhibits covered 10 pages Of the
printed record. 1t was divided into thirty
numbered sections and asked relief upon
the theory that the various defendants
were engaged in conspiring ito restrain
the trade and commerce in petroleum,
commonly called crude OIL in refined
Gil, and in the other products Of petro-
leum, among the several States and Ter
ritories Of the United States and the Dis
trict of Columbia, and with foreign ma
ticns, and to monopolize the said COM
merce."
Form Combine in 1870.
The governments bill alleged that the
conspiracy was formed in or about the
year 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. WILL
lam Rockefeller. and Henry NJ. Flagler.
The averments in the governments bill
to support the alleged conspiracy were
arranged with reference to three periods,
the first from 1870 to 1852, the second
from 1852 to 1899. and the third from 1899
to the time of the filing of the bill The
government alleged that in the period
from 1870 to 1882, the defendants 'in con-
nection with the Standard Oil Company
OF Ohio, purchased and obtained the in
terests through stock ownership and
otherwise and entered into agreements
with various persons, firms, corporations.
and limited partnership, engaged in pur-
chasing, shipping refining. and selling
petrolev1I and its products among the
variousS Sgtates for the purpose of fixing
the price of crude and refined oil and the
products thereof, limiting the production
thereof. and controlling the transporta-
ton therein. and thereby restraining
trade and commerce among the several
States and monopolizing the said COM
merce."
The basis of this averment was the
formation of the Standard Oil Company
of Ohio in 1870, which took over the busi-
ness Of the partnerships that had existed
before. By means of this combination
the Standard Oil Company of Ohio had
within two years acquired substantially
all but three or four of tie thirty-five or
forty oil refneries located in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The bill charged that among the first
acts in pursuance of this conspiracy
was the obtaining of large preferential
rates and rebates over competitors from
railroads, in the getting of which devious
methods were employed. and as a result
of which the competitors were forced
into the combination.
Combination Extends.
From Cleveland the combination ex-
tended its acquisitions into the States of
New York. Pennsylvania. and Ohio, and
while the properties acquired were all
held for the benefit of the combination.
there were ostensibly divergently con-
trolled, some being held in the name Oh
the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, and
others in the name of other corporations
or partnerships, and some being retained
in the name of the original owners
The control of pipe line facilities were
added to the other advantages until at
the end of the first period OF the exist
ence of the alleged conspiracy 1t con-
trolled 90 per cent of the business of pro-
ducing, shipping. refining, and selling
petroleum and its products.
The second period covered by the gov
ernment's bill relates to the formation OF
the trust agreement in which nine trus-
tees took over the business of the various
controlled by the Standard
Oil Company of Ohio. This trust agree
ment was made in 1882, and the parties
interested in the formation of 1t were
given trust certificates to represent their
interest therein.
1t was this trust agreement against
which quo warranto proceedings We're
commenced by the attorney general Of
Ohio and the trust agreement adjudged to
be void
The contempt proceedings brought by
the attorney general of Ohio are recited
as proof of one of the acts in the con-
spiracy. Following this came the char
tering of the Standard Oil Company or
New Jersey in 1892. which has since con-
tinued as the nucleus of the power of the
Standard Oil monopoly.
Lower Court Sustained.
In the decision of the Circuit Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit the many
acts of alleged wrong doing, recited in
the governments bill, were put aside as
not material, so far as they occurred
before the passage of the Sherman anti
trust law, except as evidence of their
(the defendants) purpose of continuing
their conduct and of its effect
BY the decree of the lower court, which
was affirmed yesterday. the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey, seven individual
including the Rockefellers,
thirty-six domestic companies, and one
foreign company, were held to be parties
to an unlawful combination.
Under the decree the Standard OIL
Company of New Jersey was enjoined |
from voting the stocks or exerting any
control over the thirty-seven subsidiary
companies, and these subsidiaries in turn
were enjoined from paying dividends to /
the Standard Company or permitting II |
to exercise any control over them.
The individuals and corporations were |
also enjoined from entering into or car
rying into effect any like combination |
which would evade the decree. The de-
were also enjoined from en-
gaging or continuing in interstate COM
merce In petroleum or its products dur
ing the continuance Of the illegal COM
bination.
1t was this feature of the decree Of |
the lower court that the United Staes |
Supreme Court yesterday modified be-
cause II was held that II would i'm /
peril the business of the country in /
petroleum IL the defendants, with their
large interests, were entirely excluded
from interstate commerce
The first question the court disposed /
of was that as to jurisdiction. When
the bill was first filed in the United |
States Circuit Court for the Eighth cir
cult a service was had only upon the
Oil Company, one of the
rhe court. however, took Jurisdiction
oyer the cause and had servico t..,oa