The herald., 1898-12-04
From an Oil Man

To the Editor Of the Los Angeles Herald:
The Times in its issue of this date takes
exception to the oil men endorsing Hon. NJ.
p. SNYDER for may or, and asks why they have
taken this stand.
As an oil man, | take pleasure i'll enhghten-
ing the Times as to our cause of grievance
against Mr.. Eaton. Ordinance No. ALL (new
series was framed by committee of the
council in March, 1897. This committee re-
ouested the presence at its sessions of oil
men and those opposed to the oil industry,
among which latter class was Mr.. Eaton. In
all the sessions of the committee he was the
most eager to impose prohibitive restrictions
on the oil business, and claims credit for
having helped frame the ordinance. That
he is proud of such production shows
mental bias which should not be shown by
the head of the city government toward any
industry which has done so much to keep
the city alive during the hard times of the
past four years.
Let us look at some of the features of this
ordinance OF which Mr.. Eaton is so proud.
Section 67. subdivision c, makes it unlaw-
full for any person, firm or corporation TO
permit any smoke, SCOT, gases or noxious
fumes to be emitted by any boiler within
a certain specified district. except when gen
Grating steam from cold boiler. The dis
trict specified leaves out the principal busi-
ness and residence portions OF the town,
wherein, it is fair to assume, that anyone
may burn soft coal regardless of the nui-
sance to neighbors from smoke and SCOT,
notable instance being the Bradbury block.
This discrimination is such transparency
intentional slap at the oil men and shows
such petty desire to bother us in every
way possible, that we can hardly be expected
to give the glad hand" to the man who
boasts of being responsible for it.
Subdivision Z makes it unlawful to load
oil in any wagon upon any graded street of
the city, unless in cans or receptacles of not
over fifty gallons capacity. " 'Tis Solomon
iv a regulation. | should like to be in
throjuced to the man that secreted ut, as
Mulvaney would say Take Court street,
from Boylston to Lakeshore; Cotton street,
from Ohio to Patton; Edgeware road, from
Illinois to Court; no one uses them except
oil men and oil teams, yet it is unlawful to
load on to a wagon on any of those streets
one of the common iron l05-gallon drums, so
largely used by the small consumers, while
anv old. leakv wooden barrel of less than
fifty gallons capacity, can be used with i'm
punity Why should oil wagons be pro
hibited from loading on these streets? Why
is the unloading of oil not prohibited: Be.
cause it was the desire of Mr.. Eaton and his
CLIQUE. as shown clearly in the committee
meetings. to bother oil producers-not con-
sumers This may show a statesmanlike
mind but we fail to see it in that light.
Subdivision G. makes it unlawful to store
'any oil. crude petroleum or the products
thereof other than refined kerosene oil, - in
larger quantities than thirty gallons within
one hundred feet of any frame or wooden
building, unless kept in tanks buried at
least two feet under ground. Here is an.
ether exhibition of Solomon-like wisdom.
Crude oil. that cannot be ignited by blaze
at less than 200 degrees Fahr., is classed with
gasoline, which will ignite at 80 degrees
Fahr., and "refined kerosene" that will ig-
mite at 60 degrees Fahr., is exempted from
the restrictions of the ordinance. The rela
tive position OF tank and house is not con.
sidered. A tank may be twenty-five feet
lower on hillside than house, but in the
light of this ordinance is just as dangerous.
I might put up tank beyond the hundred
foot limit and anyone owning or renting a
lot within one hundred feet of my tank could
put up any sort Of "shack" and compel me
to either buy him out at an exorbtant fig
ure or go to the expense of burying my tank
This places a premium on blackmail.
The provisions above mentioned were
strenuously urged by Mr.. Eaton, and con.
stitute the reason for our opposing him,
though he claims, understand, that our op-
position is based solely oD his support of the
''I6OO-foot limit ordinance.
If this is the only point on which he is op-
posed to us, why does the Eaton family
"wish that every oil man in the city would
get sick and die" when the people to whom
this charitable and broad-minded wish was
expressed were drilling outside of the 1900
foot limit and no drilling had at that time
commenced within the limit? As to this
l600-foot, | wish to say that while we be-
lieve that ordinance can be defeated in
court, 80 per cent of the oil men in this
city would prefer to see it sustained so
far as it affects the Westlake park section.
[ know whereof ] speak in this respect, hav-
ing discussed the matter with nearly every
producer in the field.
Mr. Eaton and his friends claim that the
oil men are trying to ruin the city. We
claim that we have aided very materially in
keeping the city running for the past four
years, during which time we have paid out
an average of not less than $4,000 per
month for wages. We have prevented the
sending abroad of SlSO00O per month for
coal, and the cheap fuel furnished has en-
abled the street railway companies to ex-
tend their lines at least % per cent in excess
of what they would have done had they been
using SO coal. Aside from the above, I know
of no effort on the part of the oil men to run
the city.
We have no more pledge that we will
town. Mr.. Snyder than that we will Gown"
Mr.. Baker No pledges have been asked or
given in either case, but both have been
| tried and both have tried to get justice