Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-24
FAVORING THE BILL.
Legislative Sentiment Strongly
on the Side of the
Burdick Measure.
AIMS OF THE PRODUCERS.
The New Pipe Line Bill Is Strongly
Backed by Them, and
ITS PASSAGE APPEARS CERTAIN.
Ems1y's Part in 1t Will Not lnjure the
Bills Chances.
ITS PASSAGE APPEARS CERTAIN.
Em9ys Part in 1t Will Not lnjure the
Bills Chances.
DANGER FROM RADICAL LEGISLATION


three from the Producers Protective Asso-
citation will visit Harrisburg to work for the
measure. The probabilities are that this
committee will appear early on the scene.
SO will the representatives, Of the Standard
Oil Company.
As to what proportions the conflict be-
tween the monopoly and the independent
oil producers will reach remains to be seen.
The fact that the present Legislature leans
toward radical legislation on all subjects,
encourages the friends of the new pipe line
bill to feel confident. Some information
riven me this evening bv a gentleman in
the Senate clears up much of the unneces-
sarv mystery that has been made at the Cap
itol about the backing which the Burdick
bill has He said:
a Bill That Means Something.
THE bill comes here with an honest pur-
pose 1t was prepared under the auspices
Of the Producers Protective Association
after careful consultation with oil operators
in Pittsburg, Butler county and Washing
ton county. Its strongest friends, though,
are in the upper oil country, but it has the
Endorsement of the largest producers In
Pittsburg and the adjacent counties.
You sec the Biiliugsley bill came to the
Legislature in 1887 under a cloud. 1t
turned out at first to be pincher, but Lew
Emery took hold of il and put good blood
into it. Ii then became legitimate meas
ure. and should have passed. Ii
did pass the House and was killed
in the Senate. An outgrowth
of that bill and its failure was the organiza-
tiou Of the Producers Protective Associa-
tion, which soon acquired membership of
over 900. The organization became power
iul. 1t brought about the shutdown and
sbut-in movements, bv which stocks were
reduced Is, 900, 600 barrels in IS months. 1t
proposed to back legislation OF this sort this
wear. a committee of three was appointed
TO watch the progress of the bill after 1t got
properly before the Legislature"
Emery Back of the Bill.
"Who compose the committee ?' I asked.
"Their names are not public property"
was the replv: ''but you can say that two OF
them are ex-members of the Legislature.
1T is said that Lew Emery, of Bradford,
is the chief man back of the Burdick bill.
and that be has assurance from Governor
Pattison that the Executive will give ali
possible aid to the Legislature in passing
the bill. Is that true7"
Nv informant laughed and said that Gov
erner Pattison's well-known antipathy for
all monopolistic rule and laws had no doubt
given rise to the story of his proffered as
sistance to Emery. Emery is back of the
bill, however," said the gentleman. "He is
one of the many Bradford oil operators vino
will work heart and soul for the passage of
a pipe line law"
"Did he draw up:the bill presented by
Burdick?" mo, he did not do that. l
have an idea the bill was drawn up by ex-
Senator J. W. Lee, OF Bradford"
''Will Mr.. Emerv's part in the last
GuHernatorial campaign hurt the prospects
OF the bill if he is known in the Inatter?'
VIII Not Dare Kill IL.
"Not bv any means The Republican
party must do something along this line for
the oil business. 1t was Senator Delamater's
part in killing the Billingsley bill that pre-
vented his election as Governor. That fact
cannot be forgotten, and as the bill passed
the House before, l think that in the light
OF the recent defeat of Mr.. Delamater, it
will pass the House with a much larger ma
ioritv. And / hardly think the Senate
would dare to kill it,
rs Representative Burdick connected
with the Producers Protective AssocIa-
tion?"
''Yes. sir; he is President of the Duke
Center Assembly of the Producers Protec-
tive Association, and was elected on the
knowledge that he would do all he could for
the passage of law of this kind. ! would
not be surprised if the bill meets with but
little opposition. The aim Of the Producers
Protective Association is not so much to fix
a scale OF prices for transportation of oil, as
it IS to fix limit above which pipe line
company cannot go. Let competition regu-
late prices as it will below that figure, but
when they reach the limit there they would
have the law stop 1t.
Another Object in View.
The second great object of the bill is to
make pipe line a common carrier, Just as
railroads, so that when producer wants
30, 600 barrels shipped, say to Harrisburg,
be may have it delivered at Harrisburg,
and not at Philadelphia, as the Standard
would do now. Besides that, this law will
compel the pipe lines to deliver just what
oil is ordered, and no other. In all. its
elements it is bound to become popular
throughout the oil region.
YES, L have no doubt the prices in the
Burdick bill at present will meet with op-
position, but producers generally will not
object to A reasonable amendment 1t is a
limit, rather than the schedule, thev are
AFTER AS the Standard people will see in
minute that they will suffer no more than
the independent operators in restricting
competition to a certain extent, they NAV
say well, we can stand it as well as they,
and offer no great objection. All that, how
ever remains to be seem
| interviewed a number of House MEM
bers for The DISPATCH, and the result was
that at this initial stage of legislation there
is a very favorable sentiment toward the
bill. II this sentiment can be kept from the
blight OF mouopolistic arguments there
would be no question of the bill passing.
But alas, this Legislature has five or six
months Of its career before it yet.
Radical Legislation in Demand.
One o. the most thoughtIul members of
the House, who is a friend of such a meas
ure as the Burdick bill, and who will no
doubt vote for it, said this without any
reference to that measure: 'The temper of
this House is to pass radical legislation
with rush. All the undercurrent is vio-
lent and revolutionary. Unless it is con-
trolied by few men who must de-
Yelop as leaders and who must possess the
moral courage to face such feeling for the
sake of good, the State will not escape some
bad laws going on the statute books as the
result of this Legislature
Il do not mean that there is a corrupt
tendency. 1t is the ambition of the politi-
clan to please the political elements now
holding power. The late Gubernatorial
election, the Grangers' sudden rise, the in
!jectioa OF the labor agitation into politics
ali these are what is squirting on this
T.o-ic1,fF,ro r,dtna1 e