DOWNFALL OF THE OIL TRUST

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 3, 28 June 1911, Page 7

DOWNFALL OF THE OIL TRUST

THE STANDARD OIL CASE. \ San Francisco, May 17. The unanimous decision of the l.nited States Supreme Court ordering that, the Stands i d < )il Company, universally known as the Oil Trust, be "dissolved within six months, constitutes a notable victory for the Federal Government. It. is, in fact, I the 'lAost : important event thus far re-1 corded in the fight against the giant, business combines begun, !>y Theodore! Roosevelt nine years ago.. The Oil Trust! will be a thing'of the past at the end of] six mont[is. The Court's decision in-1 sists that the 7(1 constituent''companies, of which the'lmge combination is formed, shall, in elfcei, become competing entities. The method by which the trust has operated so as to control practically B."> per cent, of the oil business of the I'nifed States has been as follows:—The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, known as the parent company, anel the capital stock in which is owned by a little group of multi-millionaires, of which the Ilocrcefellcrs form the nucleus, possesses a controlling interest, of stock in the 70 subsidiary companies. Thus the latter have been subject to the policies enforced by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which, in elVect, meiuw that the Rockefellers and their associates have lioeit masters of the situation.

liy the decision of the Supreme Court, the'stock held by the New Jersey company in the subsidiary corporations must be returned to the latter at a valuation. The dissolution of the trust, it is hoped, by the Government, will lie iollowed by a general reduction in the retail price of oil. If this is not the result of the decision, it is dillicult to perceive wherein the public will benefit by the king and expensive lawsuit. The case has been pending in the Courts for lour years, and the record of the testimony is as big as a moderate-sized library.