The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-03-24
and for week tho railroad, which had .ala /,


to keep them gong. Mr.. Alexander, Of clevo-
land, tells how no was informed by Rockefeller,
of tlic Standard, that II hc would not n ont
he should bc crushed out. Tho standard had
4 contract with the railroads which made then,
master. lie had to take their terms, aud sell
for COT, 900 refinery which cost HIM si5o, 900,
and WAS making money. llcilncr after rciiner
IN Pittsburgh, buying his crude oil IN tho opn
market. manufacturing il At his works, ship
ping il to the seaboard, met with continued
succession Of Losses, and WAS forced into
bankruptcy or sale OF bis works. to tho
Standard, who always had buyer on tho spot
1t the right timo Tho great NAL ,rity of these
reAnctics, when bought by the Standard. were
dismantled aud the Junk WAS hauled IL 9TH
Or rcineries Tho vestA aud Cosmos refine.
ries, which cost e6oO, 900, were sold ~ sheriff
sale to tho Standard tor ts0.0OO, ana are now
run vigorously by that company. The Cor
mania, which WAS run to its full capacity "a
long ~ the Pennsylvania railroad gave its pro.
prictor transportation, IL now leased To the
Standard. but stands Idle, ~ that concern cah
make moro money BY limiting tho production
and maintaining an artliiciai price than ~
giving the people cheap light. The standard
became practically the only rcfiner Of oil in
Western Pcnnsylvania, and IT.. ralo was bank
rnptcy TO oil attempting 70 lead An indepcnd-
cnt existence. d. r.. Rcichafdt tells lis how
tho agents Of the Standard ran,c to him with
the threat that II he did not come Into the
combination they would drive him 10 the wall.
Tho Standard called upon this free man TO
choose between financial ruin and joining them
on these terms. He was to refine only half M
much ~ he had been doing, and was TO pay
thcm tribute Of cent gallon, 4 tax of 70
II per cent. Tho selling, storing, transporting
aud price OF his oil he was to leave entirely to
the STANDARD. This testimony with regard 10
the regulation Of prices BY the Standard II con-
hrmed by the unwilling eytdente Of Mr. ]. ].
Yandergrift, President Of the Standards Unit
ard. who said that the Standard fixcs for the
other reiners hi the combination how much
they shall produce each month, thus .kecping
up the price," Il In also proved 10 have manip-
ulatcd the price Of Oh on the exchanges by tho
issue OF fictitious pipeline certificates to the
amount Of hundreds Of thousands OF jollars.
The Pittsburgh Chamber Of Commerce re-
ported, April s. 1876, that there were twcnty-one
oil r.tinciics idle IN that city, owing 10 freight
determinations and combinations. There ", n
-, 900 invested In these irnncrios, aud II
III operation they would have required the Ia
Dor directly OF S.0ao men, beside the much
larger number OF carpenters. masons, bricklay-
ers, boiler makers. pump makers and other
workingmcn who would have employment il tho
minute prepared in 1879 By the Hon Lewis
Emery, Jr., member Of the Pennsylvania Leg
islatnre, showed that Of the ffty-cight lctincr-
les in Pittsburgh in 1867 twenty-eisht have been
crushed out and disMantled. and that of tho
remaining thirty twenty-ninc have been bought
mp or leased by the great monopoly. A partial
lis, prepared by Mr.. Emery Of 1.-The petroleum
n ilieries in Pcnnsy lvania bankrupttd. squeezed
ont, bought up. leased or dismantled" hy the
which thirty-one were dismantled. twenty. four
leased or bought, some to be run and some 10
be shut down, and twenty.onc were driven out
Of business.
Its genius for MONOPOLY has given the Stand.
ard control Of moe than the plodu 4 Of oil and
it, manufacture. Wholesale merchants In all
the cities Of the country. except New York.
have to buy and sell At the prices il makes
Merchants who buy oil Of the Standard are not
allowed to sell to dealers who buy OF liz few
competitors. 6ome who have done 10 have
been warned not ~ repeat the offcnsc, and
have been informed that, il they did "a, the
Standard, though under contract to supply
them Nith oil, would cut them on. and would
fight any sNlt they might bring through ali
the courts without regard to expchse. Al,
least one case il known where tho Deputy Oil
Inspector. in 4 city to which oil had lccn
shipped by an outside dealer, received from the
State Inspector peremptory trlers Ly ,ele-
graph. before the oil had arrived, to condemn
II. In the South the Standards control Ii ali.
solute. 1t has nov stretched ont its hands 10
grasp the turpentine trade, and its peeuliar
tactics have already been disastrouslv felt in
the tnrpcntine market.
These oil producers and rcin, r. whom the
Standard was robbing with and without forms
Of Law fought with every Weapon they could
command. The struggle has been going on
continuously for nine years. All that men
could do who were fighting for self -preservat,on
Was done. They caused 10 be introduced into
Congress the first original hill to regulate rail-
roads in interstate commerce. The outragcs
done by the roads and the Standard were
proved before an investigating committee Of
Congress, hut Congress did nothing. The Leg.
islature Of Pennsylvania was besonghs To pass
laws 10 enforce the con stitutionsl provision for
equal rights on the railroads Of the State, but
the money OF the Standard was more powerful
than the petition Of business men who asked
only for . fair chance. Numbers OF euits were
brought by individuals and noniinally BY the
State, but BY the harmonious efforts II thu
Governor, The Attorney General, the courts and
the defendants they were prevented from COM
ing 70 ANY conclusion. Indictments for Grim
inal conspiracy were found BY I Grand Jury,
but, when Gov. Hoyt, Of Fennsylvania, in
due course OF law, WAS called upon 10 issue
reqnisitions for the extradition VI the two
Rockcfellers and their Acccmplicea, no refused
to do 30. Worst failure o. Ill, the Supreme
Court OF Pennsylvania stayed the trial Of the
most important Of the cases. in progress in
lower court, and No brought the legal proved
ings against the Standard aud the railroads to
an end, in striking agreement with the pro.
diction of one of the defendants that . tho case
would never he tried" In short, the plun-
dercd found that the courts, the Governor and
the Legislature Of their State, and the Con-
gress Of the rMted States were the tools Of the
pannderers. and were forced TO compromise
~ r.t
victory IN forcing pledge from the Standard
and the railroads Of the abandonment Of the
worst u their practices. bat there lies in Il as
IN most compromises, germ Ut dieastsr. II
permits the standard 10 receive any rebate the
railroads have right 10 grant, and allows the
railroad ~ give rebates To large shippers. VI
whom there il but one--the Standard Tnis Is
the relative position Of the parties to-day. The
Standard holds it, vantage -grolna. and Amer
ica has the proud satisfaction III having fnr.
nished the world with the greatest, wis.sl and
neanest monopoly known to history.
To-day, IN every part Of the United States
people who burn kerosene are pAviag the
Standard Oil Company ! tax on evr,v gallon
amounting 10 several tiince its original eos, 10
that concern. The aSefage price OF crude OIL u,
the wells or n Cleveland, IA the railroads ear,
the crude free to the Standards rcfinc,i.s, Mas
IN December last about 3 cents gallon. The
price of refined at Cleveland Was "a cents sal.
lon. OH that the Standard sslls lii New York
q pr0fit at 1Osf centt gallon. they charge
1874 cents fur IN Chicago The average east.
last December. Of the one and third barrels
" petroleum needed To make barrel IL Aero-
sene WAS SlO5 II Cleveland Tho eoSt or rc,in.
my, barreling. and al expenses, Including NJ
liners prodt u 30 cents barrel. il. aceeriin,
70 the Testimony Of expsriA e2.fa = barrel. 10
bring II BY rail- to Chicago costs 10 cents, MIX,
ing the total cost ea.S0 Tor bart~l Of ilty cal,