The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1904-09-07
MORE EXPENSIVE KEROSENE
Query rs to Why South Dakota Con
SINNERS Pay More Than Others.

SINNERS Pay More Than Others.
81 wonder how long the people Of
South Dakota will continue to pay this
extra 3 or A cents a gallon for their ker.
osene, without getting any greater safety
or better service" commented a traveller
as he looked up from his newspaper.
One of his listeners remarked that con-
sumers probably would have to pay
whatever producers might demand.
Perhaps that true, as a general prop
osition," was the reply. Particularly is
it true where a less expensive product is
barred from the markets. AS / under
stand it, from osme newspaper reading |
have been doing, this extra charge Of 3
or 4 cents a gallon is peculiar to South
Dakota, and it is due entirely to a law
passed by the last legislature, that cuts
out Of the market Of this state all the
oil from the great fields of Kansas and
Indiana, which can be furnished at a
cheaper rate than now charged, and COM
pels the people to buy Pennsylvania oil,
which 10 more expensive"
"Is the Kansas or Indiana oil inst as
good?"
THAT is what the experts say. They
declare it to be just as safe, and that it
furnishes absolutely as good illumination
and is as satisfactory in every particu-
lar"
..Then how can it be furnished more
cheaply?"
Because the crude supply is much
more copious, and the methods Of REIN
ing are less expensive, and the freight
rates are lower from either the Indiana
or the Kansas fields than from Pennsyl-
vania."
but how can this South Dakota stat
ute cut these Kansas and Indiana oils
out of the market, and compel the people
to buy the expensive Pennsylvania oifY"
"Well you see, the Pennsylvania oil is
slightly heavier than the others, and the
gravity test fixed by the statute is just
sufficient to let it in and keep the less eX-
pensive Kansas and Indiana oils out. The
small difference in gravity, amounting to
only one or two degrees, cuts absolutely
no figure whatever in the safety or the
suficiency of the oil. The difference in
the gravity Of the eastern and western
oils is due wholly to the difference in the
crude petroleum as it comes from the
ground, and not at all to any difference
in refning-just, for instance, as the soft
wheat grown in South Dakota differs
from the hard wheat of North Dakota"
you think, then, that this law against
selling the lighter oil is on a par with
legislation prohibiting the sale of soft
wheat -four, thus compelling consumers
to buy the North Dakota product instead
Of the South Dakota product?"
Precisely. 1t is all right to enact laws
to prevent the sale Of unwholesome or
fraudulent -four, or unsafe or adulterated
kerosene, or anything else that may be
dangerous or counterfeit. Blu it isn't
right to enact laws which do not afford
any such protection, but merely compel
people to pay more for the light they use
in their homes, offices and stores
You suspect, then, that that South
Dakota legislation of 1908, regarding
gravity test of kerosene, must have been
lobbied through by somebody who want
ed to open up an exclusive market out
here for oil which Oh its own merits and
price couldn't compete with the Indiana
or Kansas oilsT"
"Well, i don't believe that any legis-
lature, entirely on it's own original mo-
ton, would enact a law which benefits
nobody but those who deal exclusively in
high priced oil, and which law compels
consumers to buy that or nothing, but
still gives no additional safety or serv-
ice."