East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-05-15
Standard Oil Company is
Killed by Decision Of ST.
preme Court Today
DISSOLUTION OF COMPANY
is ORDERED BY COURT
Decision of United States Circuit
Court is Upheld. Which Branded
Trust as MOnOpOly-Fuling Means
End Of large Number of Smaller
Monopolies Which Control Business.

ard Oil trust was killed this afternoon
when the supreme court upheld the
decision of the eighth United States
circuit court, rendered I'm St Louis,
November, 1909, branding the trust
as a monopoly and ordering its dis
solution under the Sherman anti.
trust law. Only small audience of
lawyers and business men heard the
death sentence Of half billion dol
lar trust and ruling which means the
end of large number OF smaller mo-
nopolics which control the business
I'm the United States.
Affects Other Concerns.
The decision rendered today direct
ly affects the biggest business COM
bine In the United States, and, indi-
rectly, nearly a hundred other busi-
ness combines, modelled on the same
lines.
II is the elimination of a legal bat
tie which has been fought all over
the country for four and a half years.
Attorney General Wickershami ideclar-
ed II to be perhaps the most import
ant case ever taken before the highest
court
The, case had its inception in the
filing of n bill of complaint in No
vember. 1905, before the circuit court
for the eastern district of Missouri,
against 143 corporations and seven
individuals. on the ground that they
We're a Combination in restraint of
trade" and therefore violating the
Sherman antitrust law. John d.
Rockefeller. VIM. G.. Rockefeller,
Henry II. Rogers, Henry NJ. Flagler,
oliver II. Payne and Charles n.
Pratt were among the individuals
made defendants by the suit.
For nearly two years prior to the
filing Of the suit, government agents
had been gathering evidence all over
the country. The bill of complaint
embodied much of this evidence. 1t
covered 220 closely printed pages, and
purported to give a history OF the
growth OF the "oil trust" from It's
inception in 1876.
The issues in the case were of such
magnitude. and the resume" of facts
expected to be proved by the govern
ment so voluminous. that the court
appointed a master to take the testi-
mony. over two years was spent in
this task. Witnesses were examined
all over the country. Frank B. Kel-
logg was the governments attorney,
and opposing him was Morlitz Ros-
enthal. who was reputed to have been
paid $1,000 for every day he appeared
in court. There were four or five
other legal assistants.
At the actual trial, before the cir
cult court, the trust was represented
by John G. Johnson OF Philadelphia
and John G. Mllburn of New York
two of the greatest corporation attor-
neys in the country. Kellogg argued
In behalf of the government.
on November 90, 1909, the court
sustained practically every conten-
tion made by the government, ad-
judged the combine a trust in re-
straint OF trade and reading the Sher-
fan law law broadly, ordered the alb
solute dissolution of the combine. BY
its decree the "holding company" the
Standard Oil of New Jersey was en-.
Joined from voting the shares of stock
in any of the companies controlled
by 1t, or from receiving any dividend:
therefrom.