River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-07-27
PUBLIC GRIEVANCES.
The Monopoly in Petroleum..

The Monopoly in Petroleum.
New York Star.
In resuming the discussion of the
growth of monopolies, it becomes |
necessary to depart somewhat from the |
field of food products, so as to show |
that not alone in the necessaries which |
sustain life itself are combinations in
control, but in every other commodity
absolutely essential to the poor mans
existence. Prices in one necessity have
been cornered to such an extent as the
oil which forms the light for the mil
lions. 1t is comparatively few years
ago that a. man, while digging In the
soil of Pennsylvania, was driven back
from his work by q thick stream which
drove out his drills, and the fluid |
spurted up in such volume that he |
thought he had struck an artesian well. |
The peculiar odor which followed this |
stream dissipated the idea that it was
water that had been reached, and a |
further examination revealed the fact |
that a thick, gummy, resinous sub
stance which was flowing iii an appar-
emily inexhaustible volume surely was
oil. The excitement attendant upon |
this discovery was intense. Specula-
tors from the east flocked to the fields
which hitherto possessed little value,
bought them up at fabulous prices and
in short time shafts were being sunk
on hundreds of farms. The cheerful
fact was announced to the world that
on American soil there had been de-
veloped great industry, the product
of which had solved the problem of
cheap light. Homes which had NTH
erto been lighted by the tallow dip, by
the still less satisfactory and much
more filthy sperm oil, or by the more
dangerous combustible known as cam
phene, were promised light that
should be as cheap almost as the
air we breathe, and yet possess
ing sufficient illuminating power to fur
nish satisfactory substitute for gas.
Managers of gas com panies, which at
that time hid created monopoly in
| light, instantly took the alarm, and
great reduction in the price of gas was
made in advance of the introduction of
petroleum, which took the name of
kerosene oil. Two or three young men,
among whom were John A. Rocka-
Teller, Samuel Andrews and another
named Evans, conceived the idea of
creating corner in kerosene by which
the entire product should be monop-
olized and the price advanced SO as to
realize a fabulous profit. These young
men were either clerks or book-keepers
in on oil house in Cleveland, Ohio.
Rockefeller was noted even in his youth
as cold, calculating, scheming person,
with q speculative turn of mind, and
| utterly oblivious to the condition of his
associates. He was ambitious, and his
ambition took that sordid cast which
| cared not for whose body he walked
upon, SO that he should reach the
top round of the ladder. Consult
| ing with a number of capitilists,
among whom was ii. B. Payne
of Cleveland, a company was organ
lied, and Rockefeller was deputed
to visit the oil regions, buy up the
product, or resort to such means as he
might deem expedient to create a
monopoly in kerosene. Backed by an
abundance of money he started on his
mission. He found very many poor
people who owned small farms, beneath
the surface of which the great oil vein
ran, and, although they were the NOM
inal owners of undeveloped wealth,
they possessed no means with which TO
reach it. He loaned them money, took
mortgages upon this property in some
instances, and in others he advanced
the necessary means to enable them to
work their land, first securing a written
contract that his company should
have entire control of the pro-
duct. Every available acre of land
which bordered upon the great oil belt
of Pennsylvania was thus purchased,
until this company, then without a
name, became absolute owner of near
ly one third of the oil producing region,
and had either contract for the con-
troll of the product or a mortgage upon |
the product itself to fully another third.
The company was then organized and |
was given the name of the Standard |
Oil Company. Its operations were ex-
tended and enlarged until the Standard |
Company controlled not alone the pro-
duct in the oil fields, but included every |
ramification Ct the oil business.
Refneries had sprung up in the |
meantime, in order to transform the |
crude oil into condition fiji to enter
into home uses. But the re6ners could |
do nothing without the product, and in
their very incipiency they found them
selves crippled and at the absolute |
mercy of the Standard Oil Company.
This was Rockfeller's opportunity. He |
foresaw when he started his great
scheme precisely what the result
would be. The refiners for a time
were indignant, and positively refused
to enter into any combination, threat
ening to purchase property in the oil
regions, to work their own oil wells,
and thus secure the crude oil with |
which to set the wheels of their refiner
les in motion; but when they attempt
ed to do this they found that the rail-
roads, which were essential to convey
the fluid from the producing regions to
tide water, had already given the Stand
ard Gil monopoly exclusive rates and
absolute carrying facilities, and only
through the medium of this vast mo-
nopoly could the refners secure the
raw product. Here began one OF the
most oppressive monopolies that has
ever disgraced civilized community.
In the hands of few men to- day,
every one of whom counts his wealth by
tens of millions, the vast product of
the oil fields is vested. The Standard
Oil Company not alone controls the
product, but ii absolutely owns the
miles upon miles of pipes which con-
vey the oil to the various points at tide
water; it owns the tanks into which
the oil is emptied; it Owls the flat-cars
upon which the tanks are loaded;
it owns the refneries into which the
crude oil enters, Il dictates the price
at which the refined oil shall be sold TO
the middle-men and general dealers; it
absolutely forces the corner grocery
man to stand by a certain scheduled
price by which he must deal the oil by
the pint. quart or gallon to the ordina-
ry consumer: and last, but not least, it
it controls th2 millions of gallons of
oil which leave theee shores and enter
into and become part of the vast
American export system. 1t is said by