The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-14

res pect to monopoly. The Standard has
talked them into the belief that it is the
only concern on earth that Is worth tying
to, and that if they undertake to deal with
anybody else terrible things will happen in
the oil market here. and so the small deal
ers get the idea that the Standard will pun
ish them in some way If they do not buy of
1t. When you once get this notion into the
head of small dealer he will never deal
with any body but the agents OF tho monop-
ely. Now. when an independent oil-dealer
goes 10 merchant and wants to sell him
oil. the Gilman says: You see readily
enough that it is the little competition there
is in the market that keeps the prices of oil
down as low for you as they are. III that
competition were withdrawn, the Standard
would make petroleum rates TO suit itself.
You would have TO pay anything it demand
ed. Why do you not buy from usS He
may receive the reply: oh, | can get my
oil the way | want it from the Standard. 1t
will take car of oil and store it for me. and
let me draw out oil when | please. VERY
WELL. says the independent oil dealer, i
VIII store car OF oil or three or four OF
them for you. and you can have access TO
the warehouse at any time and draw your
oil whenever you may desire. You know
well enough that my oil is as good as the
Standards. Now give me your order But
the small dealer VIII not give II. In his SUI
perior wisdom he decides TO deal with the
monopoly, and so he keeps on aiding 1t and
building up the price of oil for himself and
for the consumer. Short-sighted as thi
policy is il is continued all the time, for it
is part of the business OF the agents Of the
trust TO talk very smoothly, and TO convince
the retailers that by dealing with them they
will gain something. Just what that some
thing is. no one is able to find out.
Now, as TO those tankcars. Do you un-
derstand tie extent of the discrimination
that is practiced by the railroads against
the Independent oil merchants aud agents
on this Coast? The tanks on each car
weigh $500 pounds, and the boxcar in
which they are placed weigh the same as
any other bcXcar, and is similarly con-
structed. And yet the railroads, in their
kindness to the Standard Oil Trust. haul
these tankcars both ways free ou the film sy
pretext that they can load the cars with
other freight on the return trip. Consider
what 1t means 10 load ordinary freight in a
keToseue-car, where the odor of the liquid
Is constantly present, and would be I'M
parted to The other freight, as We'll as the
taste of kerosene, in case the cars were
Loaded with eatables. and you VIII see at
once how fimsy is the pretext that the cars
are, as rule, loaded with freight. True
there may be certain kinds of mater ial that
would not suffer from the kerosene taste or
smell, or be damag ed In any way by what
oil happened 10 filter Ia upon II, but. as q
matter of fact, not one of those tankcarS
are loaded with freight by the railroads
nowadays, and there never were more than
one-tenth of them so loaded at any time
during car famines, as the railroad people
call the occasional shortages of rolling
stock. Another thing: There is always a
discrepancy In favor Of the Standard Oil
people in the matter of weighing their
FIRE ishts."