Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-10-05
TIE STANDARlJ,
Monopoly In Kerosene.

From the New York anti-Monopoly Address.
Under the operations OF monopolies
everything conducive to existence has been
seized upon, except the air we breathe,
and even this has been shut out
of our dwellings and stores by
railroad encrOachmcnts along our lead
ing thcroughfares, their unsightly struct-
urca destroying natural easements and
their putting engines filling our lungs with
cindcrs and coal dust. Instead of purchas-
ing the right of way they have taken
possession Of tho public highways,
and arc using them as their per-
sonal property. When in the soil
Of Pennsylvania tho ingenuity Of man
discovered and utilized the inexhaustible
oil springs, We saw what was to become
the peoples light all over the world. 1t
was planted there by tho great architect
of the universe for the use of untold gen.
eratiOns, and made 50 easy of access that
it would be almost as cheap as water or
air. It has expanded into a vast industry
and has become one of the leading staples
of American commerce. Iu this country
alone 800, 600, 900 gallons of petroleum arc
annually consumed, while twice that
amount is sent abroad as an article of cx-
port. This production, SO essential as an
article of daily consumption, is con-
trolled, aud for many years has been
under tho absolute dictatorship of
the most mcrcenary, corrupt and heart
less monopoly the world ever saw.
Working on a nominal capital Of So, 5OO,-
600, it cxtorts from the many millions of
consumers enough to divide among a few
owners almost fabulous profits. Rivals
have been crushed out with savagencss
that smacks of tho heartlessness with
which the freebooters of Olden times made
their victims walk the plank, and when
opponents have proven too formidable, as
high as 81, ,0O0, 900 has been paid for their
abandonment of the field. Even railroad
directors bow to the rising SUI of tho
Standard oil monopoly, make special
transportation contracts, and thus aid
this giant monopoly in carrying
out its nefarious designs. It is
an incontrovertible fact that tho
Standard oil company really produces
only one-sixtieth of the staple it deals in,
ana yet So great is its power that it ac-
tually dictates the price of the entire pro
duction, both crude and refined. It con-
trolls the pipo lines that carry tho native
Oil as it issues from tho soil it monop-
oiizes the iron tanks in which it is trans
ported over the rOi! it dictates the price
to be charged on the clarified product as
it comes from the refinery, and in fact
even the corner groceryman who deals it
out in small quantities to the consumer is
forced by this monopoly to sell at stated
price under penalty of a withdrawal of
the product. Samuel Andrews and
John Rockefeller and II. b. Payne of
Cleveland, Ohio, are the head and front of
this monopoly, and so wealthy have they
become that it is said by those who know
that only Vanderbilt can count more mil
lions than they. Their associates embrace
members of Congress, state legislators and
judges on the bench. Congressional inves-
tions have been sti!lcd, legislative inquiries
have been bushed. Judges have been ST.
silenced and rivals have been squelched by
the free use Of money in the hands of agents
Of this monstrous enemy of the rights of
the people. Rockefeller has bccn able to
force Jewett, Scott and Garrett to terms,
and tho late Commodore Vanderbilt once
said " Rockefeller is the only man who
can dictate to me-" This corporation has
not paid a dollar of tax to the state of
Pennsylvania for the past ten years. The