The Oskaloosa herald., 1911-05-18

John D. Archbold. Oliver H. Payne
and Charles NJ. Pratt. all defendants
In the suit, denied the charges.
Gather Evidence for Months.
Months were devoted to gathering
evidence. The general line of attack
as shown by evidence presented by
the government was this:
1t Is held that about 1870 the Rookie
fellers and Flagler conceived the plan
of controlling the petroleum trade Of
the country, and little later entered
a conspiracy with Rogers, Archbold.
Payne and Pratt to gain control of the
oil business. To carry out this alleged
conspiracy. it was claimed, they first
pooled their interests, then put them
Into the hands of trustees or trusts
and. when the trust of 1882 was de-
clared void in a decision by the Ohio
supreme court in proceeding against
the Standard Oil company of Ohio,
reorganized the Standard Oil company
or New Jersey to take over their in.
terests and to assure monopoly
Evidence of rebating. of price cutting
and of the organization of secret con-
Germs to pose as Independents was
ELECTED to show that the Standard
was seeking by unfair means to re-
strain trade and to procure a .monop-
oily.
Tried to Disprove Conspiracy.
The Standard Oil company intro
duced evidence to show that there
had never been such a conspiracy. 1t
sought to prove that the Ohio Sill
preme court did not hold the trust
agreement Of 1882 void, but merely
required the Standard OIL company of
Ohio to withdraw from the trust.
Evidence was produced to show that
rebating had been the order of the
day among all commercial concerns
and that price cutting and secret con-
Germs were not the rule and were
used as legitimate instruments of com
petition.
1t was held by the circuit court that
the reorganization of Standard Oil
company of New Jersey in 1899 was
violation not only of the first section
of the act, which referred to re.
straints of trade, but of the second
section, which applied to the monop-
olizing. The Standard Oil company
had argued that there could be no ad
ditional restraint as a result of the
reorganization because the Standard
Oil company of New Jersey was
owned by a common body of owners
in exactly the same proportion as all
the subsidiary companies taken over
by this new organization had been
held by these common owners for
years.
The court held otherwise and said
that the combination In a single cor
poration or person by the exchange of
stock of the power Of many stockhold-
ers holding the same proportions re-
spectively of the majority of the
stock of each of the several corpora
tons engaged in commerce of the
same articles among the states, or
with foreign nations, to restrict COM
petition therein, rendered the power
thus vested in the corporation or per-
son greater. more easily exercised,
more durable, and more effective than
that previously held by the stockhold-
ers. IN these effects the court found
a restraint on commerce.
Wireless Decision Important.
The Supreme court also handed down
a decision unfolding the Judgment
of contempt in the case of Christopher
Z. Wilson. president of the United
Wireless company, for refusal to pro-
duce before New York grand jury
books of the company wanted in a
fraud investigation.
BY the decision the federal govern
ment won a far-reaching legal con-
troversy, in that officials of corpora
lions cannot refuse to give up posses
sion of corporation books for examina-
ton by grand juries, lest they them
selves be incriminated thereby.