Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-16
Interesting Facts Told to the Indus
trial Commission.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF Ohio TESTIFIES
oise'i"'ds''ef Of the Railroads
and Its Effect.
BEATING otr. COMPETITION

Attorney General Frank S. Monnett of
Ohio gave some interesting testimony be-
fore the industrial commission this morn
ing on the subject of the Standard Oil
Company. Mr.. Monnett has had wide ex-
perience with the trusts, having been en-
gagged in litigation with these combinations
in very prominent way.
Upon going on the stand the witness re-
counted his connection with litigation in
Ohio relating to the Standard OIL Company.
Through it's tank line the company re-
ceives discriminating rate for loading and
unloading its own product. In the case
of parts of car loads the discrimination
1t receives in rates is much as 400 per
cent against the small producer, and which,
1t Is said, Is of the means by which
1t defeats competition, and by which dis
ordinations 1t could maintain a monop-
oily of the transportation Of crude Oil. 1t
receives favors by various devices, he said,
even by statutes, which should be re-
pealed. In this statement he referred to
the state of Ohio solely.
The Standard Oil Company was originally
organized in 1870. There were thirty-nine
companies, which were later merged into
twenty constituent companies. and only
twenty companies kept up their organiza-
ticn.
Mr.. Monnett read extensively from rec
oiuS III CouTt proceedings from 1857 10 1881
Mr.. d. K. Watson, attorney general of
Ohio from 1888 to 1892, was present during
the hearing.
The witness said that in the combination
of oil companies John D. Rockefeller is
practically the one man who controls in all
things, fixing salaries and all other matters
as he sees fit.
The decree" he said, referring to the
action of the supreme court of Ohio, has
not bothered them except in the matter of
bookkeeping"
How Abuse Could BE stopped.
Mr. Monnett said if the law were enforced
against the railroad companies that make
determinations such abuses could soon be
stopped. He said the roads should be
obliged to maintain free competition, and
if that We're done such disturbances are
brought about by the trusts would not be
known.
The Standard Oil Company sells oil as
low as cents a gallon where there is com
petition, and as high as from to II cents
a gallon The tendency to the closing of
refineries operated to throw great many
people out of employment
While testimony was being taken at
Marietta, Ohio, an advertising agency was
found and through it, contracts were made
with papers by which the products of the
Standard Oil Company were to Be adver-
tiSed. and a second clause provided tnat
certain news favorable to the trust was
to be published. Matter favorable to the
trust was sent out in various publications
through the country.
The suit now pending in Ohio and prose-
cuted by the witness relates to the trans
portation of crude oil. and the Standard Oil
Company could not exist if it had not con-
troll of this transportation. If these suits,
which come up I'M June, are won, it would
result in preventing the control of such
transportation by the company.
After the Recess.
The commission took recess of one hour
and reassemb.ed at > O'Clock. Mr.. Monnett
said the gross receipts of Ohio oil alone
based upon the non-competitive price of oil,
would be s12o,eoo,0O0 The Ohio oil is 10
per cent of all the, oil produced in the
United States. AS it can be retailed at
cents in the larger centers with a profit,
the profits on the entire Ohio product would
be 0.000. 600
He said testimony was of record that the
Standard Oil Company had hired agents
to furnish information in regard to what
their competitors were doing, and had Sc
cured from men on railroads Information
in regard to shipments of oil made by their
rivals and its destination.
Discoveries Caused Lower Prices,
He did not think the Standard Oil Com
pany entitled to credit for the reduc-
ton in the price of OIL They had con-
stantly kept above the ordinary connect
Five prices, and they could not claim credit
for the decrease in the price They might
as well attempt to claim credit for lowering
prices in other commodities when discoy-
cries had caused reductions
The witness said that in some pIaces If
had been shown that the COMPANY had
charged three or four different prices for
oil taken from the same spigot. Prices in
different towns In the same vicinity had
SHOWN variation from % to ~ cents a gal
Ion, according to the competition thew met
They have what are called "buzzards.r who
follow the wagons of competitors and fur
nlsh the names OF their patrons to a CEN
trail office, and later the company's agents
offer to sell to these dealers cheaper than
they secure oil from the opposition dealers
The Standard OIL Company directly or in
all the crude product of oil In Ohio the
company owns mere than half of the
sources of supply of OIL
The witness was still giving his testimony
when The Stars report was closed