Arizona republican., 1902-02-10
STANDARDS
 TEXAS GRIP
A Recent Mysterious Tying Up of the Outlet At
 Sabine Pass
Men Interested in the Beaumont Oil Field Say That Only the Great Oil Combine Ie Interested in Such a Move

Beaumont. Tex. Feb. 9.-The Soand- ard is getting in it's work in the Beau mont field and has practically tied up Sabine Pass. one of the principal ou- lets to the sea. This has been done through Kountze Bros. of New York. who own all Of Sabine and Sabine Pass except what they have given the Southern Pacific.
 Ten days ago the port was open to all the oil companies who wished to take advantage Of the harbor and Kountze Bros. were very energetic in inducing oil companies to build pipe lines to that port instead oi Port Arthur. The first iHtimat tiCn that the combine had sc cured contro! of the port was made manifest by the failure of a New York and Beaumont transportation company to secure storage room and wharf rriviieges after it had been promised by Eo0ntze BrCs. that the water facili- tics at Sabine Pass were open.
 John T. Gaffey. a California operator. who hg. considerable interests in the field. and New York associates. had practically arranged fer the incorpora- ton cf a large producing and dist.fbut- ing company with view of reaching the sea by way of Sabine Pass.
 Mir. Martin CT New York called on Kountzc Bros. who assured him that they would be glad to let the company have all the storage rocm needed. with wharfase. Mir GaTey left immediately for New York to close up the deal but but the time he arrived another power was in control or the port.
 When We called upon MT. Kountze. ." said MT. Gaffey. ito close up the deal. he infofined us that Ee had parted with the power to grant concession at Sabine Bass and-i is now impossible for him to carry cilt his verbal agreement. We sIg3SNted that he inform us to whom their holdings had been transferred. that we might continue negotiations. H stated -i hat he was not at liberty to give the names of those who had Sc cured contr1l-'--
 Kcuntze Bros. practically own bolt Sabine and Sabine Pass. together with several thousand acres surrounding. In the eastern part Of the state. whe." considers ble prospecting is being done, their Holdings run into the thousands Of acres. and altogether they are the largest land owner in the eastern part Of Texas. The closing of Sabine Pass tC the oil CCmTlnias is a stab to the de- V5.~rment Of these properties.
 
 company is-the only concern interest ed with the means to make it Of interest to Eountze Bro=- 10 bottle up the poTs- The interest of all the other oil com panies in the field would be directly an- '. tsEonistic to anything that would re t1rd the development of the field, and for this reason there is no doubt in MT. Ganey's mind and in oil circles that the Standard oil company is back of the scheme.
 The Standard has control of several hundred acres of land in the vicinity Of Port Arthur. and with the control of Sabine Pass it will nave accomplished more toward getting control ot the Beaumont field than was thought pos s;blc under Texas laws. Il has been commonly charged that the Texas Fuel company and Producers oil company, two concerns organized by ]. s. Gull linan and members or the HoGe Swayne syndicate, have an understand ing with the Standard. This work has all been done quietly and no opening has been left to discover what interest the Standard may hold.
 Ordinarily the bCtJling up Of Sa abine Pass would amount to very little. as the wharves are under the jurisdiction of the railroad commission. But there has been very little legislation in Texas governing the oil industry. and oil ulen fear that the way things have been manipulated it will call forth a flood of 1 legislation on this point and result in many bills being passed that win prove a hindrance to the development of the field.
 To condemn a right of way under the, 1 Texas laws for pipe line a company must constitute itself strictly pipe line company and become a common