The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-07
MONOPOLY'S GRIP ON OIL
a CONTRACTOR TELLS HOW THE
OUTPUT IS RESTRICTED.

Two Million Barrels Set Aside for the
Benefit of the Laborers Thrown Out
of Employment by the Shut Downs
-Labor's Combine to Keep Down the
Supply of Skilled Hands.
WASHINGTON, April 6.-The House Com
mittee on Manufactures to-day began an
inquiry into the alleged Standard Oil Trust,
under authority conferred upon the COM
mittee by the House to investigate all
trusts or combinations.
Henry Webster, of Bradford, Pa, a con-
tractor for drilling oil wells, testified that
he was member of the Oil Well Drillers
Union, labor organization composed of
nine lodges, representing practically the en-
tire northern Pennsylvania and southern
New York oil field. 1t was an entirely sep
arate body from the so called Producers
Association. The union was organized De-
cember 8, 1887, and numbered between 2, 200
and 2, 400 men.
Before the formation of the union work
in drilling and cleaning out oil wells had
become very slack, owing to the determine
tion of the Producers Association to dimin-
ish the production of oil. 1t was under
stood that 10000 barrels of oil had been
set apart by the Standard Oil Company
and l 1000, 900 barrels by the Producers As
sociation for the benefit of laboring men
thrown out by this shutting down.
OBJECT OF THE UNION
The Oil Drillers' Union was formed to
secure the benefit of this action. The wit
ness had done no work since that date and
had received $75 as his share of the amount
set aside for those thrown out of work.
The witness laid before the committee a
copy Of the agreement entered into on Oct
%, 1887, between the Executive Board
of the Producers Protective Association
and the Executive Board of the Well
Drillers' Union. This contract provides that
the Producers Association shall pay to the
Well Drillers' Union the profits on 900, 900
barrels Of oil and the residue on the other
million barrels that may remain after ad-
justing and paying the other classes of
labor injured by the shutdown movemenC.
The producers are to advance to the mem
bers of this union s per day so long as they
are unemployed ON account of the prospec-
tive profits of the aforementioned oil, and
the residue of the profit is to be divided
among the beneficiaries pro rata. The
drilling contractors are also to be compen-
sated for loss on their working plant.
ACTING AS POLICE.
The drillerS agree to act as a sort of police
to detect and prevent drilling by people not
parties to the agreement. The agreement
shall continue in force until Sept. 1888,
but may be terminated by the Producers
Association giving ten days notice.
Previous to the expiration of this con-
tract the parties to the agreement shall meet
and fix the scale of prices on just and equi-
table terms to both parties, which shall be
carried out in good faith.
Chairman Bacon read a newspaper ex-
tract giving an account of an oil 'rign
which had been blown up near West Branch,
the reason being stated to be because its
owner refused to join the union and shut
down. The witness stated that the reports
were exaggerated according to the current
reports in the neighborhood.
OBJECT OF THE SHUT DOWN
The purpose of the shut down was to
dimish production and afford an opportunity
TO decrease the surplus of oil. In reply to
further questions the witness said GAS near
as ! understand it, there were about q, ,000,-
600 barrels of oil on hand. The cost of
carrying it, storage, etc, was considerable
1t was gambled on the markets every day,
and 1t gave the short interest or bears great
power to sell OIL The bear interest was so
great that it was hard to keep the price of
oil up. 1t would go down from 9Oc to 6Oc
and tiuctuate. The object, | understand,
was to have a more uniform and graded
price"
In reply to questions from Representative
Smith, the witness denied that the union
used any means except persuasion to pre-
vent wells being drilled.
KEEPING DOWN THE LABOR SUPPLY.
A copy of the constitution and bylaws of
the Well Drillers' Union was put in evil
dence. Section 3 of the bylaws reads:
SHOULD any member undertake to instruct
an unskilled workman ii any branch of
this craft, it shall be the duty of any mem
Der to report such member to the executive
board Of the district, and they shall at
once notify him that such proceedings can
not be tolerated. Should he still per
sist in doing 50 charges shall be
preferred against him, and he shall be ex-
PEELED from the ORDER The witness ex-
planned that the motive for tlis clause was
III fact that work grew scarce, and they
wished to restrict the growth of the supply
of skilled labor.
j. n. Bennett, of Bradford, contractor.
had, like the previous witness, received SIS
up to March 10 from the union.