The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1903-12-16

the greatest Oulcfy. 1t was the feature
OF Mr. Cassatts revelations in 1877
which dumfounded the public and
which no one would believe until they
saw the actual agreements Mr.. Cassatt
presented.
The oil regions as a whole did not
hesitate to say that they believed this
practice was still in operation, but nat
urally proof was most difficult to Sc
cure. The demonstration came in 1880
through one of the most aggressive and
violent independents which the war in
oil has produced, Mr.. George Rice of
Marietta, .. Mr.. Rice an oil producer.
had built refinery at Marietta in
1873. He sold his oil in the state. the
west and south. Six years later his
business was practically stopped by a
sudden rise in rates on the Ohio roads.
an advance of fully 100 per cent being
made on freights from Marietta, where
there were several independent rcfiner-
les, although no similar advance was
made from Wheeling and Cleveland,
where the tandard refineries were To-
Gated These determinations were fully
shown in an investigation by the Ohio
state legislature in 1879. From that
time on Mr.. Rice was in constant diff
Guilty about rates.
In 1883 Mr. Rice began to draw the
crude supply for his refinery from his
own production in the Macksburg field
OF southeastern Ohio, not far from
NJ tn ,,Ia a,.J
that time taken its pipe lines in the
Macksburg field, and the oil was gath
cred by line owned by Mr. A. ].
Brundred and carried 10 the Cincin
natl and Marietta railroad Now, Mr..
Bvlndred had made a contract with
this railroad by which his oil was to be
carried for - cents IA barrel, and all
other shippers were TO pay 80 cents.
Rice, who conveyed his oil TO the rail
road by his own pipe line. got a rate
of % cents by using his own tank car
Later he succeeded in getting a rate
of liz cents. Thus the rebate system
was established on this road from the
opening of the Macksburg field.
In 1883 the Standard Oil company
took their line into the field. and soon
after Brundred retired from the pipe
line business there. When he went
out he tried TO sell the Standard peo-
pie his contract with the railroad. but
they refused ii. They describe this
contract rs the worst they ever saw,
but they seem TO have gone Mr.. Brun-
dred one better, for they Immediately
contracted with the road for rate of
10 cents on their own oil instead of the
10 cents he was getting and Il rate of
35 cents on independent oil And in
addition they asked that the extra %
cents the independents paid he turned
over To them. If this WAS not done
the Standard would be under the pain
ful necessity of taking away its ship
ments and building pipe lines To Ma
rietta.
The Cincinnati and Marietta railroad
at that time was in the hands of re-
ceiver. described as "fussy old gen
tleman proud Of his position and fond
of riding up and down the road in his
private car" 1t is probably "A good
description. Certainly it is evident
from what follows that the receiver
was much ''fussed up ethically. Anx-
ious to keep up the income of his road,
he finally consented to the arrange
ment the Standard demanded But he
was worried lest his immoral arrange
ment be dragged into court and wrote
to his counsel asking il there was any
way of evading conviction in case of
discovery
Upon my taking possession of this
road" the receiver wrote, "the question
came up as to whether j would agree to
carry the Standard company's oil to Mari
eta for 10 cents per barrel in lieu of their
laying a pipe line and piping their oil.
/, of course, assented to this the mat
ter had been fully talked over with the
Western and Lake Erie company before
my taking possession of the read. and !
wanted all the revenue that could be had
in this trade.
Mr. O'Day. manager of the Standard
OIL company, met the general freight
agent of the w. and l.. Il. railroad and
our Mr.. Terry at Toledo about Feb. II
and made an agreement tverbaD to carry
their oil at 10 cents per barrel, but Mr..
O'Day compelled Mr.. Terry 10 make a
thirty-fve cent rate on all other oil going
to Marietta and that we should make the
rebate . cents per barrel on all oil ship
ped by other parties and that the rebate
should be paid over to them tthe Standard
Oil company, thus giving us 10 cents per
barrel for all oil shipped to Marietta and
the rebate of % cents per barrel going to
the Standard Oil company. making that
company. say. S25 per day. clear money
on Mr.. George Rice's oil alone.
"In order TO save the oil trade along our
line and especially To save the Standard
Oil trade, which would amount to seven
times as much as Mr. Rices. Mr.. Terry
verbally agreed to the arrangement,
which upon his report to me, reluctantly
acquiesced in feeling that / could not af-
ford to lose the shipment of 700 barrels per
day from the Standard OIL company. But
when Mr.. Terry issued instructions that
on and after Feb. 3 the rate of oil would
be So cents per barrel to Marietta MIR.
George Rice, who has a refinery in Mari
etta, very naturally called on me yester-
day and notified me that he would not
submit to the advance. because the busi-
ness would not justify 1t, and that the
move was made by the Standard Oil COM
pany to crush him out. TOO true.l Mr..
Rice said, L am willing to continue the
seventeen and a half cent rate, which /
have been paying from December to this
date