Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/189

 the law of its creation and forfeits all rights to its franchises, and judgment of ouster should be entered against it.

"Even if the statute which prescribes a time within which an action against a corporation for forfeiture of its charter shall be commenced, be applicable to a case of this kind, yet, where the offences or acts committed or omitted by a corporation for which forfeiture of its charter is sought at the suit of the state, are concealed, or are of such character as to conceal themselves, such offences and acts as against the state are frauds, and such statute does not begin to run until the frauds are discovered."

Joseph H. Choate appeared for the defence. The most eminent lawyer in the country, his argument must have been anxiously awaited by Mr. Watson. Curiously enough, as it seems to the non-legal mind, Mr. Choate began his plea by a prayer for mercy. Whatever the sins of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, pleaded Mr. Choate, do not take away its charter. Mr. Choate then proceeded with a strong argument in which he claimed "absolute innocence and absolute merit for everything we have done within the scope of the matters brought before the court by these pleadings."

The argument did not convince the court of the innocence of the Standard in the questions at issue. The court showed, out of the mouth of the trust agreement itself, that the Standard Oil Company of Ohio was "managed in the interest of the Standard Oil Trust—irrespective of what might be its duties to the people of the state from which it derives its corporate life." The court gave as its opinion that an act of a majority of the stockholders of a corporation affects the property of a company in the same way that a resolution by the board of directors affects it. "By this agreement," said the court, "indirectly, it is true, but none the less effectually, the defendant is controlled and managed by the Standard Oil Trust, an association with its principal place of business in New York City, and organised for a purpose contrary to the policy of our laws. Its object was to establish a virtual monopoly of the business of producing petroleum, and of manufacturing, refining and dealing in it and all its products, throughout