The morning call., 1891-07-08
THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD.

On this side of the continent people hear
little of the Standard Oil Company. An ar
Iangement which seems to be satisfactory
to our domestic oiLproducers has obviated
the warfare which the oil trust has con-
Quoted in the Eastern States The public
pay more than they should for their oil, but
they are SO used in this city to paying two
prices for many commodities which they
consume that nobody rebels over his oil
bills. and the re is little talk, one way Or the
other, about the Standard oil monopoly.
1t is instructive, however, to keep track
of :he progress of that gigantic combination
toward the conquest of the world. Vast
quantities OF coal oil are consumed in Eu-
rope; Germany alone takes 100000 tons a
year. The only large source of supply in
Europe is the wells at Blku, in Russia, and
their product is not much over 500, 600 bar
rels year. All the rest comes from the
United States, aud is distributed from Bre-
men, Hamburg, Gristemunde, Rotterdam,
Antwerp, Venice, Genoa and few smaller
points. The Standard Oil Company has
now induced the importers of oil at these
points to join 1t in transferring the whole
business to corporations in which ii is the
largest stakeholder. In Germany the cor
poration is called the Characterization Pc
troleum Company. In Italy it is the Italo-
American Petroleum Company. In Holland
it is known by Dutch name. But all the
companies are controlled by the Standard
Oil, and are in effect branches of that insti-
tuition. When their organization is com
plete the entire oil trade of Germany, Hol-
land, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Switzer-
land will be regulated at the Office OF the
Standard Oil Company in Pennsylvania,
and the price Of oil in Europe will be deter
mined by the same little party of Directors
who fix the price of oil in the United States.
When the German-Amercan Company
was formed the merchants of Berlin took
the alarm, and the Board of Elders was d.
rected 10 report what measures were neces-
sary to protect the German oil.dealers.
Some time has elapsed since then. and no
report has appeared. simultaneously with
the merchants action the German Minister
of Commerce, Herr Won Berlepsch, ordered
an investigation of the subject, and allowed
1t to be known that he would not permit an
American monopoly to take root on Ger
man soil. But ON inquiry be discovered that
the new corporation had been organized in
strict accordance with German law, and that
there was apparently no ground on which it
could be molested by the Government 1t
Dau SOHe lulO d COllucIcial operation III
close conformity with the statutes which
govern the organization of mercantile corpo-
rations. The German Government finds
itself precisely in the position where the
Pennsylvania Legislature and Congress
landed when they undertook to overhaul the
Standard Oil Company some eight or ten
| years ago.
The Germans, Hollanders and Italians
will discover as they probe the subject that
relief from monopoly exaction must be
sought not In direct assaults upon the or
ganization of companies which have been
careful to violate no statute, but in invoking
the broad principle Of law which is common
| TO all codes, and which forbids the infiicton
| Of hardship on the masses for the emolu-
ment Of a few. II has been decided in this
| country that, while no law forbids n combi-
nation of producers, whenever that comb-
| nation tends TO restrict trade or to add to
the cost of living it places itself outside the
pale of the law and cannot invoke the help
OF the courts TO carry out operations which
| are Illegal in principle though not literally