STANDARD OIL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 454, 12 March 1909, Page 5

STANDARD OIL.

FAILURE OF RE-TRIAL PROCEEDINGS. AN ACQUITTAL, NEW LEGISLATION REQUIRED. (lIV TELKGIUHI-ritESB Assbw/TION-COPTUIOOT.) (Rec. March -11, 10.10 p.m.) Now York, March 11. In the re-trial of tho caso in which tho Standard Oil Trust was recently fined 29 million dollars, Judge Anderson, at Chicago, directed tho jury to acquit. This direction is tho outcome of his obedience to the rulings of tho Court of Appeal, which laid down tho procedure. _, London, March 11. Iho Washington correspondent of "The Tunes" reports that this ignominious collapso of tho re-trial caused no surprise in Washington. It confirms President Taft's view of tho necessity for additional legislation. TRUST LAW-PLATFORMS COMPARED. The appeal of the Standard Oil Comninr against fte fine of M,240,000 dol ars, mposed bv Judge Landis in ISO 7. was upheld by thfuM !sy°V MM C °". rt ° f A P?»I » ChienTS Pr&irlonf- R i -i n n T . tr,al ms °r ( 'e«d. the Shirmi ' 1,16 to admit that the fahermtm anti-trust law is useless, admits that it needs amendment, Ihouqli lie has not iC h t°rt Iy Mlm tfie «««end" »l in thnt n »rh? P V tf Ca " stl,nd P oillt a s set out mutual party s platform :— l PUbUca " -R Miy pasSecl tho firman » f J i •«. « nv £ r Deul °oratio opposition, and enforced it after Democratic dereliction. It his been a wholesome instrument for good in the hands of a wise and fearless administration. !«.„ I^ x P e , nenc , 9 , hl >s shown that its effectiveness I can be strengthened, and its real objects totter , attained by such amendments as will give to ! the federal government greater supervision and control over, and secure greater publicity in, the management of that class of corporations engaged in inter-State commerce having power and opportunity to effect monopo »es." lne Democratic platform, with more definiteness, specifies three remedies: "First, a law preventing a duplication of directors among competing corporations; seoond, a license svsi cll Wl1 '' witllo,lt bridging the right "of eacn btate to creato corporations, or its right to regulate as it will foreign corporations doing business within its limits, make it necessary for a mantifacturng or trading corporation engaged in inter-Stato commerce to take out a federal license before it shall be permitted to control as much as 25 per cent, of tho product in which it deals, tho license to protect tho public from watered stock, and to prohibit tho control of such corporation of moro than 50 per cent, of the total- amount of any product consumed in tho United States j and, third, a law compelling such licensed corporations to sell to all purchasers in all'parts of the country on the same terms, after making due allowance for cost of transportaton."