The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-01-03
Ghs G~mtalIiqsaGer.
mr., Caludsn's Connection With rhs oil
l~nIeFtAiS.
PARxERssuRa, December %, 1880.

EdltnEI lntslliEHnesr.
It seems to DO an admitted fact that Mr.
Camden Is the possessor Of q ''bar'I." We
would like to have your readers under
stand how 1t was allied.
In 1875 the following legislation was In
force, ostenSibly to protect the people
from death by FIRE, but actually to force
the entire oil trade Of Cincinnati into the
hands Of Alex, Mcdonald & Co., Sgentl
tOrthe Standard Oil Company. The steam
boats were in the habit Of carrying oil tc
Cincinnati from PArkeEsburgin lots Of any
size from 1--WE barrels to Ave hundred al
the same rate per barrel, say 25 cents The
railroad would carry it IN car lots, Of htty
bArreIs each, Tor 30 cents per barrel, but
anything less than flty barrels would be
charged pound rates, which were very
much higher. A steamboat law waS passed
prohibiting boats from carrying oil be-
tween points which hrd railroad COnneC
lions. A city ordinance was then passed
prohibiting any dealer from holding In
stOTe more than Eve barrels Of carbon oil
At any M time, unless he had . cellar Of
the kind described 10 the ordinance, aud
u certain distance from any other building
A, Mcdonald 4 20 had the only storage
place in the city which did not contiG
with the specifications OF the ordinance
The dealers who had been In the habit oil
buying car lots were thus compelled IL
buy in Gve.bArrel lots; these they could
| .,nF nN.lnR farm Nhn rAHuAR haN.NSun Nku
steamboat law prohibited them from ship.
ment hy river, and the pound rates pre-
vented the shipment OF small lots by rail
and 80 the Standard Company hsd US all
ION the hip" We had to dodge the
steamboat law by shippi 9 to points like
G~AlhpoliS, which had then no railroad Con.
neCtion, and re.shipping to Cincinnati, and
men like r. NJ. Bishop 4 Co. had to roll
live barrels 10 the EeiRhUOr on the right,
five barrels to the left, five barrels oveI
he way, and hide the remainder In the
back yard-in justice lo"UnCle Dick" VIZ
will safe that, the "wiCked pSr ner" vii.
liam T., had charge oil the oil department
The hOlloWneSB Of the pIetense that thefe
WAS dagger In shipping oil by boat and
storing 1t In the city wal apparent from
the fact that no such precautions were con
,idered Necessary In the shipping aud
storing OF hay, cotton, t%urpentlne and
whisky, any u Of which IL live times as
d ,nvCn us aa the Ohio test oil.
How sollCitous the Standard Company
really WAS ABOUT death by tire viii appear
as We proceed. Messrs, Chess, Oarlsy & 90
are the Louisville branch Of the S~taudaud
70 (; they monopOli2e the oil trade la thar
lection Of the country lying south Of Louis
vile and east Of the Mississippi river. In
the Spring Of 1875 the leading Wholesale
dealer in carbon oils at Memphis, who
had been dealing extensively with Chess,
Uarley & Co., l. formed the writer thai
hey sold oil ri 0O' fire test, al hough the
laws required lgO0, aud that they gagged
he barrels two gallons up and filled them
two gallons out, that IL 70 say, they made
their customers pay Tor three gallons thai
were not in the barrel, In the s4nIe year
evefal lives were lost Ia Tennessee
by the explosion Of lamps. Under
he pressure Of popular excitement
aused thereby a State Inspector
WAS appointed, and their uils were found
10 be from 80 10 40 degrees below the law.
I'll test. WhGn the writer offered bis oil
i lawful test and correct gauge 10 the
Iealers in Memphis and Nashville, he
wAa Informed by the dealers that they
we're afraid to buy outside oil, for Carley
threatened to ruin their trade II they did,
and they knew he could and would do IT.
hey sometimes bought a little outside oil
II ,n,,U could keep tho fact hidden from
Gartsv. ,he.- also exhibited letters written
q them by Carit;;S; openly making such
la The spring OF 1875 a rate OF tweuty'
five cents per barrel was Obtained from tTS
Wheeling TOw6oSt and Buge Company
from Pafkersburg to Louisville. The writer
having, up to that time, sold large quaint
ties Of oil in the market, went to the deal
era and offered 1t to his old customers at
the lowest Cleveland quotations, they to
have the iuil benefit OF tho low rate OF
they could not take the oil be
cause they had entered into an agreement
% buy Of no one but Chess Carley Il Co
the writer that the Camden Com
pany had agreed to Insure them eXclnslve
Of the entire trade OF that section
by protecting them against the competi'
ion Of the Parkersbutg T%etinets, and TO-
day, while the refinery which W. L. Poole
built In PArkersbulg IL rotting down,
Cleveland r%tiinRrs ATE sending carbon oil
to LOniayillp, filling II into barrels branded
"W. Y. Poole, | Y. l. Oil, PArkers6nrg,"
ard supplying the trade which MIR. Poole
had built up by years OF perseveting In
Driven out OF Louisville, Memphis and
Nashville the writer then went To ST,
Louis with q fifty cent rate Of freight;
there, one solitary dealer was found who
had refused to contract with the Waters
Pierce Oil Company, the st. Louis branch
u the Standard Company. 10 him the
writer soId Ave hundred barrels Of oil at
Lowest Cleveland qnutRtisns, dividing with
him the d ference between river freight,
lihy cents, aud railroad freight, 81 20. After
lie oil was delivered the Waters Pierce
Company, Of which ". p. Thompson is a
Director, pu the price Of oil down so low
hat II was sold at \ lOts, drove the writer's
at customer out Of business, and another
PAfkersbutg refinery, like P%uOle's, is rot.
tiny down, monuments Of Mr.. C'mden'H
peculiar manner Of fostering Vest Vlr.
t,nia industries. BY ,hGso aid kindred
measures the patketpburg rn cries we're
driven from the markets ri Cincinnati,
Lnnisville and 81. Louis, and by the middle
Of July, 1876, the StandMd O.. had virtual
control Of the entire refining business Of
the country; then came the corner IN
which profits were Icrced up to four dol.
lars per barrel. Every one, both at home
and abroad, who consumed a barrel Of oil,
alter pay Ink the real value, was Compblled
10 contribute from three u tnut dollars VI
his earnings to swell the private %lOr'unes
i these gentlemen with abnormal deGifes
fnr "gpiiing n little aherd" Baltimore
was the field allotted to the Camden Com.
pany for its phate in getting up the COT.
ner. It ia within the Knowledge ui the
Sriter that, while the corner held, tue
Camden Com pany cent from their ttiinGf.
lea in rarkersbnig thousands NJ barrels III
oil that would not stand Gvrf D5' fire test
IN conversation SIh Colonel Thompson
he was informed that there was no FuCh
hing M brLHiup. there W,s simuly u little
,,.t,tt % . ,Iuvil Ia fin nil uIftI,