The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-14
A TOO SOLID TRUST.
Nothing VIII Break Up the
Great Standard Oil.
80 THE LOCAL DEALERS DECLARE.
Railroad FayOritiSm to MOnOpOliSt
Rockefeller.
AStriking Case Of the Inequality Of Freight
Rates to Suit the Stand.
ard People.
50 THE LOCAL DEALERS DECLARE.

the Standard Oil people going ont OF busi-
ness, or any Of those other absurd tales
that have come here by telegraph about the
hig oil trust of late," said leading indie
peudent petroleum dealer yesterday, you
have good deal OF credulity."
"What. John a. Rockefeller go out OF
business?" said another oil merchant, ST
ting near at hand. you might as we'll look
for Jay Gould or any other man worth over
500, GOO, coo 10 stop accommodating wealth.
When man gets that far along in the race
for riches. nothing 10 the world can stop
him. 1t may be that there are going to be
some big changes in the trust or in Its meth
DDS Of CARRYING on business, but you can
rest assured that the Standard Oh Company
will continue to monopOliZe the oil trade
as long as there is any petroleum TO be got
out of the ground.
a. Do you know that great deal OF the
s125. O00, coo that stands in ROckefeller's
name was made by his big monopoly OF the
petroleum trade If TIE Pacific Coast? Well,
that's fact. He has not been able to stand
In with any other railroad combination as
effectively as he has with the TRANSCRIPT
mental Association. and that means that
there has been no field of trade in which be
has enjoyed such a great advantage over his
competitors as be has here. We OF the
West are ant-monopolists, but we have
been very hard-rldden by the Standard OIL
monopoly, which is one Of the most colossal
trusts in the country.
"In last Fridays CALL, there was an ar
tcle that told something OF the doings Of
the Standard, and of how it contriveS TO
manipulate transportation rates to suit its
own sweet will. That chapter of the story
~ iau nf no bnl fol
is known TO the oil men Of this city. 1t
would take big book to tell it all OF course.
Il is as The CALL says. about the diScTim-
nation in The tariff of freight rates. by first
making them higher for everybody else
than for the Standard, then by hauling its
tank cars free while il charges all other
shippers Tor the tare Of their packages. and
then by the scaling IF rates TO SUIT the
monopoly when the Standard ran its pipe
line into Chicago.
The merchants, each talking in turn,
made out case against the Standard Oil
Company which it would be very interesting
reading. but fer the fact that those who
poTuSe The CALL know in a general way.
from what has already been printed, what
tbc dark ways Of the monopoly with
tho railroad pool are and what methods are
TesoTted 10 in gaining control OF every inch
of Territory which the great oil trust can
command on this coast. Sill there were
many points brought out that have not been
touched upon before.
Before the rates were scaled" said one
of the oimen, "aDd lille the railroads 10
the TTanScnntinental Association were
charging 81 % a hundred pounds on petro-
leum from all Eastern points TO the Pacific
Coast terminals, the companies in the pool
made tie claim that the rates on oil were
established by water competition and that
the rates could not be scaled. That is TO
say, hen we went to the agents Of the rail-
roads and asked them 10 give us lower
rate from Cleveland than from New York,
they would say that the tariff would not
admit Of ii, and that it was SO arranged that
the steamer and clipper lines might be able
to handle tie business. Now we did not see
the force Of that argument, but still We
were forced to accept the situation and take
as high rates Of freight on our oil from New
York as from Cleveland or even from
Chicago, though the latter points were much
nearer to this city.
Now there was no change In the water
competition situation after the Standard
had run its pipelines into Chicago. but the
railroads scaled the rates at once TO meet
the Standards requirements, and made
lower rates from Chicago than from Cleye-
land or from New York, keeping the New
York rate above 81 and putting the Cleye-
land and Chicago rates below that figure
What does all this show? Merely that the
pretexts by which the Transcontinental
Association lines try TO meet the requests of
shippers who are honestly endeavOring to
receive fair treatment at their hands ale
very slim. Why does not water connect
tlon demand the same rates all around at
this. time just as it did then? No railroad
man can answer that question, and vet we
arc expected TO take what they say as an
thoTitative when il comes to seeking iufor-
Daticn as to this point or that which we do
not understand. 1t is all humbuggery of
the worst sort
"Tske that rate of 9G cents hundred
pounds, which is charged by the Transcon-
tinental Associations tariff on petroleum
from Cleveland to San Francisco, and then
contrast il with the actual rate conditions
met on the local roads in the East. and
what do We find? Simply that the Trans
continental Association has gone out of its
way 10 make rates against the independent
oildealers. How do know this? Because
i have letter from MY correspondent in
Cleveland which says that he can make
lower rate TO San Francisco by not using
the transcontinental tariff, but taking the
local rates Of freight, quoted by the lines
there whose agents have not been in
sirneted as to the proper course to pursue
10 favor the monopoly. Let ME illustrate
this in the following way:
Transeohtinental tariff rate from Cleve-
Land to San Francisco. ...........-..... sec
Transeontinental tariff rate from Chi.
cago to San Francisco. .7SI2c
bherehce' ..'...'.........-.....17 LIE
Local rate from Cleveland TO Chicago. ..12 1-2c
Difference. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. &c
$50 you see that In its eagerness to make
its tariff 10 suit the Standard Oil shippers
from Chicago and 10 discriminate against
those OF Cleveland, and to other Eastern
points, The ,TranscOntnental actually IN ,kes
higher rates from Cleveland TO San Fran
cisco than are justified by the local freight
rate tariffs. 1t charges shippers 17Jx cents
on oil destined from Cleveland 10 San Fran.
cisco. for the haul from Cleveland To Chi
cago, while the local lines charge only 12h
cents by discovering this we are able 10
peat the game by cents a hundred pounds
Tor we ship our oil that is destined to San
Francisco to Chicago and then reshin n Of
Chicago for this city. 1t is some tronhle for
us to DO this, but 1t pays. and we are mighty
willing to do IL for the sake Of the cents q
hundred pounds. for the Standard so r,,les
rates as to make our lives a burden some.
times oy It's oppressive monopoly, and every
Httle chaDce that we can get in our fayfw we
grasp Tor eagerly.
But does 1t not seem strange-rajlroads
tnat are depending 80 much upon tbi,
Coast Tor their traffic to favor mononoIv 70
this extent and charge San Francitcans for
their Oil rates more than they charge others2
Inroagh rates are always supposed to be
cheaper pr0portionately than are IocaI
rates, but here is case where a railroad
combination, In order to favor mouopoIv
actually makes through rats that is higher
than an existing rate"
a CaHf0rnia-street petroleum. dealer said.
Il wish that the buyers of oil in business IN
THIS Coast could be made to understand
their duty oy the people, particularly the
consumers. Ii Is largely to their apsthy
that this state Of things exists here with
DTuD DD0