The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-10
STANDARD OIL IN KANSAS.
SUNFLOWER STATE PRODUCERS
KEEP 1T GUESSING.
Unlike Any Other Producers 1t Has Done
business With--Storm Raised by Cut
in the Price OF OIL and Plans for Inde-
pendent Action-How the OIL ID Sold.

Unlike Any Other Producers 1t Has Done
business With.-Storm Raised by Cut
in the Price Of Oil and Plans for Inde-
pendent Action-How the OIL IL Sold.
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. Sept e.-The
producers OF the Kansas oil fields are work.
ing quietly to complete their organization
to combat the Standard Oil Company.
They are holding frequent meetings and are
moving slowly and carefully. hoping by
their caution to form an association that
shall servo their purpose.
In a few days representatives Of the
association will visit the different oil tow ms
and organize auxiliary lodges to strengthen
the main body. Since the permanent
organization was effected recently the
association has been working In secret
1t Is said by members Of the executive
committee that 1t Is only a question OF
short time until an independent refinery
Is constructed In Montgomery county.
probably in Independence. refinery
VIII require pipe lines.
This means competition for the Stand
ard The Standard does not want COM
petition. It has spent millions Of dollars
in building refineries, pipe lines and storage
stations in Kansas, and it Is trying to pre-
vent contamination Of the plans Of the
Western OIL Producers Association.
Things are 30 different in Kansas from
what they are anywhere else that the
Standard Is guessing what move to make.
The Standard has been sitting at the same
game for more than a quarter Of GEN.
tury, and knows every play on the board,
but II doesn't know this new player, or his
tricks, or his nerve. or his limit. And 20
the Standard player studies, and alternates
his smiles with frowns.
Various agents OF the Standard have
visited the Kansas oil fields and moved
around among the oil men and felt their
pulse, and they have gone away convinced
that Kansas Is great oil field, and more
mystiaed than ever as to just which way
the producer Is going to Jump next.
sYou see,' said one OF the Standard
officers, there are so many new men in
this field who do not know US or our
methods. They have been told wild stories
concerning the Standard. and they think
We are going to rob them OF their properties.
Now, II we had only the old-time producer
to deal with, we would have no trouble at
all. You cannot tell what these fellows
will do"
There's the rub. There are hundreds
OF shrewd business men dabbling in oil
in Kansas who have temporarily left a
law Office or a mill or some other line of
trade or some profession that requires
business aoumen. for a vacation as it were.
They have made large investments in oil
property, which they are afraid OF losing
through the manipulations Of the Standard.
and they are standing at attention ready
n
Thus when the recent meeting was held
at Independence to discuss the fifteen-cent
cut tn the price OF oil, 100 producers came
down from Chanute on a special train.
They had no intention Of accepting the
cut and they discussed means of restoring
the price.
And so It Is not surprising that the Stand
ard has inaugurated a campaign OF educa-
ton in Kansas by contracting for adver-
tising space In the leading newspapers
in which reading matter. historic. ex-
planatory and favorable to the Standard
ID to be printed.
It Ii strange fact, though, that while
the producer fee Is that the Standard Is
tricky and will resort to questionable
means and unsavory methods, he still
has firm confidence in It. Thus the Stand
srd has run his oil for yea 10, and he has
arrays found 1t honest in the management
Of its pipe line department.
The Standard is the producers banker,
and there Ia no banking institution In the
country which is more implicitly trusted.
Tho Standard sends its agent to the pro-
duoer's well. gauges the oil, turns 1t into
the pipe line, comes back and gauges the
tank again after the oil Is run, Issues a pipe
line statement Of the amount Of oil run,
and forty hours later the Standard buys
ie at the market price and the money is
ready ct the Standards office on demand.
II mau is about to sell his property he
givea the prospective purchaser an order
On the Standard and the pipe line depart
nent furnishes statement Of the runs OF
oil from the wells as far back as desired.
No one questions the accuracy Of the state
mont. Tho purchaser Is perfectly satisfied
With the evidence thus produced.
So far there has never been a serious
controversy betw cen the Standard and any
producer over he running OF oil. On
one or two occasions producers have been
known to wo,st the trust by turning the
OH bank .uro the tanks after 1t was supposed
70 have gone into the Standards line.
The Standards purchasing agent in
Kansas 10 the Prairie Oil and Gas Company.
The regulations Of this agency differ from
those Of Eastern agents, nd generally
In favor Of the producer.
The moment the oil Is taken into the
pipe line 1t belongs to the Standard, though
the producer may not elect to sell 1t for
sixty days. In the East when producer
allowed oil to stand In the Standards lines
he was charged storage II lightning struck
q tank Of oil or a pipe line burst, the loss
was prorated among the producers. It is
not 90 In Kansas. The Standard Is the
loser.
One reason for this is that the Prairie
Oh and Gas Company is not common
carrier; 1t Is producing company with
pipe line department. There are some
influential producers who think, for various
reasons. that it should be a common carrier
and 1t is more than probable the Legislature
next winter will be asked to declare II one.
When a company discovers oil the Stand
ard. through its agents, lays a pipe line to
the well and takes the oil, not until, how
ever, the company makes the following
application:
TO the Prairie Oh and Gas Co:
The undersigned certify and guarantee
that they are the legal owners Of - wells,
Nos. - and - upon the - farm. -