The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-11
f f;S;ES; RAILROADS. PET.
How They Favor the Standard
Oil Monopoly.
HAULING It's TANk-ChRS FREE.
Sealing the Overland Freight Tariff to
Suit lis Convenience.
| HISTORY OF RINK DISCRIMINATION.
The STANDARD Freezing Out Its Competitors
In the Oil Business on This
Coast, One by One.
HISTORY OF RINK DISCRIMINATION.

A giant monopoly rules the petroleum
trade Of tie Coast. Its name is the Stand
ard on Company. and its chief is John d.
Rockefeller.
bat what do we care?" says some ad-
vanced thinker. This is not an oil age
Ii is an age of gas and electricity. Such a
monopoly ought not TO bother people"
Still il does bother people. particularly
PEOPLE who are trying to make living in
the oil business in this State, and who see
the Standard Oil Company closing all the
avenues of trade against them, one by one.
Then, too. although this is the day of gas
ard electricity, the rural districts continue
the use of petroleum. and hundreds Of
thousands of gallons Of it are used in cities.
Instead of decreasing in general use, coal
oil is increasing.
California uses i2.000,0 900 gallons OF East
ern petroleum year, TO say nothing of the
native product little Of which is yet used
for illuminating purposes Of this the
Standard Oil Company handles three
fouTths. Let US set the figures down in
rows and see bow they look;
Total consumption of Eastern oil in
California Geo, 900
Supplied by the Standard Oil Com
pauE Observation-Disclosures. S.thn.WnN
Supplied by other c0neerns........... 100000
This is pitiable showing for those not in
tie Standard On ring. 1t is a beautiful
showing for the monopolists, who rule the
trade.
The Standard Oil Company has enjoyed a
monopoly on this Coast for years, but it is
now getting to be more and more naughty
and dictatoTial, and more and more inclined
TO run things TO suit its own sweet will.
For its power is Increasing daily. 1t has
recently taken hold OF the very small retail
trade, and il threatens to gobble the whole
oil business Of the Coast The other oil
companies here-there are about dozen of
them in all-see their trade declining and
their profits cut of, and they are making
great storm about it.
The Standard will freeze US all out in
short time, unless we can DO something t.
prevent II" said one independent dealer
yesterday.
Other dealers who were seen were equally
disconsolate. There is only one firm of the
whole dozen that has fought the big COM
bination with any show Of success. But
compared with the Standard this firm is as
pygmy to a giant.
The Standard has already frozen out many
c0al-oit companies on this Coast or driven
them into other lines of business. Nathan
& Bockmhn WAS the most extensive oil.
dealing concern On the Coast some years
ago, and it was utterly run out of business
How has the Standard continued to mo-
uOpolize the Coast?
Easily enough answered. 1t has eniayed
all along the benefits Of railroad diScrmina-
tlon IN its favor. a more perfect illustra-
ton Of the fact that monopoly aids monopoly
cannot be found anywhere. The Trans.
continental Association, the Western Traf-
&c Association and all the other railroad
com binations that are in the feld to keep
up rates and make small shippers shake in
iher shoes are hand in glove with the
Standard Oil Company. What Is the object
OF ms Nobody but the interested parties
know. But II IS not reasonable to suppose
that 1t Is done for love and affection, That
Is not the way railroads do business
Rates of freight per 100 pounds on oil from
Chicago 10 San Francisco:
For the Standard Oil Company 721h
RoI every pouy eise....... 20
That was the arrangement by special
contract between the TranscontineDtaI As
soclaton and the great oil monopoly for
seteIal years. besides this, the Standard
had an agreement with the Lake Shore and
Mlchigan Southern Railroad by which it
ran It's oil from its Cleveland works to
Chlcago at 10 cents barrel less than anv
otner concerns freight could be haul ed for.
FROM the day that the Transcontinentai
association was formed up until the time of
the passage OF the interstate commerce law
the faiiroao combination had an arrange.
ment with the lines between Chicago and
The Missouri River by which oil could he
shipped to this city by the Standard at 72lb
cents hundred pounds, while every otIleT
shipper. great small ha6 IN oo
Inc arrangement was such that whether
the Standard wished to ship It's oil nv The
Northern Pacific or the Union Pacific and
oregon snort Line to Tacoma. Seattle or
Son.ianG, ny the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe or the Southern Pacific to Los
Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardiho or San
Diego; by the Union and Central Pacific m
San Francisco, San Jose, Stockton. Lathron
or Sacramento, the rates were kept awav
aoWn low Tor the big. fat Standard oil
monopoty, ana away up high for every
poor, struggling shipper who was In the
teld against the company.
Ugiy though they seem. they are facts.
lie position assumed by the raflToads
was arbitrary In the extreme, and still re.
mains so, although the same rate condition.
do not prevail, for the Interstate commarco
law declares that rates shall be the same to
All. ,unoer like circumstances and condi-
tlons. How arbitrary is this stand in
FAVOR Oh the OIL monopoly is evidenced by
~ 80 ma tnsIc ale thirty Independent
TehnerIes in the United States. whose own.
ers would gladly avail t.. emselves OF an on
pOrtunlIy 10 supply this Coast with il at low
prices, but they have been and are still
disseminated against by the raIIroads
Unoer present conditions of trade. Eastern
petroleum must come here by rail, 1t can
not De shipped here by sea to any asvan-
tsge. Even If it could be, the railroads con-
troi every leading line, either bv the Horn
or py the isthmus, and the shipper could do
nothlDg against their opposition When
one means Of favoring the Standard oil
company has been permitted to fall into
ihnocuous desuetude another has been Il ken
up. III takes lively shipper and one with
very hlgh forehead TO find out what the
standard Is doing; but he ALWAYS has one
solio TACT 70 rely upon in the midst Of go
inuch tnat tends to bewilder: whether il
ue openly or secretly, the railroads favor
'nx Standard Oll monopoly every time.
state commerce law?
Ihe Shippers fully hoped for time that
the enactment OK that law would be of great
Denent 10 them, but the wiser ONES said
just walt and see how the law will he
evaaed. Inc Standard will get its low rates.
somehow or other, 10 spite Of all laws"
Ihe Shippers waited and watched Thew
any more trade than before. The St.nd9 -
could lay Oil down here at two to three Gents
gallon cheaper than any other concern. in
spite OF the fact that IL could be houoht ~
rival companies In thu East at eoual RATA
and sometimes lower.
linen the jobbers said very bad worde
ABOUT the law, and declared tina; so far &c
me OIL trade on this Coast was Concerned II
was OF no earthly benefit 10 anybody EXCEPT
the m0nop0ilsts. If the Standard enid
$500