Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-08-12
Standard Oil Reorganization

The Standard on Company Of New
Jersey has announced in a communi-
cation to its stockholders the way IL
intends to reorganize to meet the pro-
visions Of the Sherman antitrust law.
The plan provides that stock in the
thirty-fve subsidiary companies shall
be distributed ratably among the
stockholders in the parent company.
Dissolution Will be about Dec. L
The detailed plan showing what pre-
rata shares in the subsidiary company
the Standard Oil stakeholder may ex.
pect under the reorganization will be
made known later.
This is matter Of computation and
viii require some time, but the COM
munication shows in outline the man.
ner in which the company proposes to
reorganize.
The decimal OF distribution, it is
said, VIII be FIVE shares of Standard
Oil stock. On a basis of five shares
Of stock of the parent company a hold
er Will receive fractional shares of
thirty-two subsidiary companies and
one full share or more in each of three
constituent companies The reorgani-
cation, it is reported. involves the dis
tributiOn of approximately 100000 GER
tificates, representing the thirty-ive
companies. compared with n little over
5000 certificates of the parent compa-
ny now outstanding.
The accountants viii have some in
triCate work to do in figuring out the
fractional shares in the minor corpora
tons which the stockholders IN the
present Standard Oil Company Of New
Jersey will have when the dissolution
is completed. The basis OF figuring
must necessarily be on a single share
of Standard Oil Of New Jersey stock.
OF the 5000 shareholders there are
many who own small lots ranging from
a single share to ten or a dozen.
A man owning a single share OF
stock, which could be bought now on
the curb for about 1868, will have aft
er Dec. next a share in Standard Oh
Of New Jersey worth at par 500. He
will have a tenth OF a share in the
Southern Pipe Line company, $40; a
tri1e more than a quarter of a share
in the National Transit company, $50
AS; three-twentieths Of a share in the
Standard Oil Company Of New York,
SIS; in the Chesebrough Menufactur-
ing company, which makes vaseline, %
cents worth at par: in the Colonial
Oil company, about % cents worth at
par; In the South Pennsylvania Oil
company, a fortieth OF a share, $3.50.
Among the twenty-six other corpora
tons in which he Will have stock Will
be the Swan and Finch company, in
which he will have 10 cents worth;
the Washington or company, in which,
to be precise, he will have 1880
cents worth.
OF the total capitalization of the
Standard Oil Company of New. Jersey
there Is outstanding SOS, 33S,3Oo. Ac-
cording to recently published figures,
more than half of this is held by
twelve persons or estates. John D.
Rockfeller's holdings amount to 247,-
692 shares. The estate Of Charles
Pratt comes next, with 52,SO2 shares.
G. W. Hardness has 42,4OO shares;
Colonel Oliver II. Payne, 10000; Hen
~ NJ Flagler, 10000: Henry H. Rog-
ers, 1920; w. L. Hardness, ID, 100;
the estate of II. III. Houston, 11,775;
William Rockefeller IL 100; L. 81. Sew
erance, 1924; V. E. Macy, 1900, and
the estate OF John Huntington, $500
This is total of 5012l3 out of a total
issue of 100000 shares.
Wall street is not ready to prophesy
what the effect of this scheme of dis |
solution viii be. Some speakers in
sist that the liberation Of the subsidi- |
airy companies from close supervision !
by the Standard of New Jersey will !
open the doors wide to competition. |
This in turn, it is declared, will lead |
to unsettlement of prices and unsta- !
bility in the trade. But there are many |
who are unwilling to believe that there |
will be many changes.