The times., 1899-09-09
ARCHBOLD is PERSONAL
An Industrial Commission Witness
Makes Charges

Makes Charges
The testimony given yesterday before the
Industrial Commission by John d. Arch
bold Vice President OF the Standard Oil
Company in New York. was somewhat SEN
sational throughout In Il were personal
charges uneompiimentary in their nature
against both Acting Chairman Phillips. OF
the Commission. and former State Senator
Lee. Of Pennsylvania. who was present at
the hearing. Mr.. Phillips Is a large owner
of the stock OF the most active opposition
company to the Standard. and the witness
charges that the acting chairman had
personally made overtures to him to di-
vide up the field and also propositions to
sell out. Mr. Phillips endeavorsd to make
statement in reference to the matter.
but objection was made By several mem
bers OF the Commission. and he declared
that he would take the witness stand today
in his own behalf
Mr. Arehboid used what might be termed
harsh language in reference to Mr.. Lees
testimony before the Commission DENYING
much Of il and saying that Mr. Lee GER
tainly knew that what he had said was
not true. The morning session was prac
tieslly taken up in this manner. and it was
began
giving his testimony direct. The afternoon
testimony was begun by q reference to the
ease Of George Rice, an Independent oil re-
finer OF Marietta. Ohio, who has been fight
ing the Standard Oil Company for many
years. and whose case had been presented
to the Commission BY Mr.. Lockwood. Por-
ticRs Of Mr.. Lockwood's testimony were
read By Mr.. ArchboId and branded as
false. He dwelt particularly on the claim
ttat Mr. Rice had been Disseminated
against by the railroads In the matter OF
rates. and that the Standard oil Company
had made the railroads divide with thsm the
charge they had collected from Mr.. Rice
Ar. archbold admitted that their agent had
received something like $3.50 in this way.
| but said the money had been refunded to
the railroad on the advice OF their lawyer.
Mr. Archhold charged Mr.. Rice with run
ming his business not for the legitimate
profits in it, but for the purpose OF selling
out to the Standard people at an immense
profit At this juncture Mr. Archbold read
what he termed a general statement II
was IN the nature OF defence sf the stand
ard Oil Company. and was intended to be
his concluding remarks before the Com
mission, but subsequent questions brought
cut large mass OF information in regard
| TO foreign trade In the statement read
Mr. Archbold recommended legislation
/ looking to national or Federal CORPORA
tions- He said that il such corporations
were made possible any branch Of business
could be freely entered into By all comers
and the talk Of monopoly would forever be
done away with The present system of
State corporations was pronounced by the
witness as vexatIOus. He believed this
plan would settle the whole difficulty OF
trusts Mr. ArehboId indicated that the
American interest in the petroleum indus
try abroad was greatly threatened by the
rapid development of foreign oil fields The
largest of these are In Russia where 160-
Geo barrels are produced daily. These fields
are practically controlled by the Roth
schilds. The East Indies produce 81 000.-
coo barrels annually, and Japan 1000 bar
reis per day. Other fields are in GaIicia,
R0umania. BOrneo. British India. Alease.
Java. and Sumatra-
To further illustrate this point Mr..
Archbold gave the amount OF the iIlumin-
ating oil consumed in 1897. together with
the percentage supplied by zach country, as
follows: Total consumption in the world
of refined petroleum during the year 1897.
SO, S3S. 9s1 barrels of so gallons each, sup
piled as follows: United States. g. 81 per
cent; Russia, 232S per cent: France. 325
per cent; Austria-Hungary. 2s5 per cent;
Sumatra. 2-32 per cent. and the remaining
countries less than per cent The diSpssi-
ton OF the by-prodgets Of the crude petr0-
leum was then discussed by the witness
He said that with recent Developments the
value of the by-pTOduets was equal to the
refined oil used for Illuminating purposes
Mr.. Archbold denied that his company
hired spies to ascertain the nature or vol
une of competitors business He also said
there had been no discrimination in favor
Of the Standard company since the inter
state commerce law was passed This law
he said, had done much to build up the
business, as it had made a uniform rate at
all times. In speaking Of the organization
of the Standard Oil Company he said it ex-
listed as trust from 1892 20 1892 It was
then dissolved into large number OF sep
arate companies The directors in the trust
were the principal stockholders IN these
companies, and harmony OF action was Sc
cured just as well now as in the trust
form. The organization which is now GO
ing on under the New Jersey laws is for
the purpose of consolidating under one
company the stock of the various cornpa-
MES The new company has a capital OF
s100. 100000 of common stock and SO 0O0-
eco of preferred No new stock is to be
issued by this company. It viii simply ab-
sorb the stock of the individual companies
which We're formerly in the trust.
AT the conclusion OF Mr.. ArehboId's tes-
timony Acting Chairman Phillips stated
! that at the conclusion OF the testimony OF
Mr.. Rogers. who viii go on the stand to-
day. he wished to make statement in
connection with his relations with the oil
( business. He said he considered IL due
} to the Commission that the statmsnts made
/ in the morning should be answered by him.
/ The Commission then adjourned