The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1905-02-21
WAGE WAR
ON OCTOPUS
INVESTIGATION OF STANDARD
OIL is BEGUN.
METHODS OF THE COMPANY
Issues Edct Forbldding Agents Pur-
chasing Crude Oil In Kan
sas Field.

Washington, Feb. 19.-When young |
sent his extraordinary tele- /
grams to his friends in the United |
States senate protesting against the
creation of the bureau of corporations
he must have had a prophetic vision
OF what was coming to the Standard
Oil company when the people really
understood their rights and their pow
ers.
The happenings in Kansas resulted
in swift action in the house of repre-
sentatives as a result of which the
Standard Oil company may be brought
to book even sooner than people haa
expected.
There was a little joker in the law
creating the bureau of corporations as
part of the department of commerce
and labor Mr. Rockefeller did not
know it, but in every investigation of
corporations engaged in interstate
commerce the president and house of
representatives are absolutely indie
pendent of the senate.
Make Inquiry Under Law.
The secretary of commerce and Ia
Dor is obliged by law to make investi-
cation whenever requested to do SO by
the house or by the president, and it
was under this almost forgotten pro.
vision of the law that a resolution
swiftly was passed in the house with
out even reference to a committee re-
quiring Secretary Metcalf to invest1,
gate the oil situation, particularly in
the Kansas field
When the Standard Oil company un-
dertook to boycott and blacklist the
Oil producers of Kansas it evidently
did not realize the storm it would
raise. The situation in Kansas has
from the outset and a report seems to
indicate that the Standard Oil COM
pany has acted in a manner which is
even more outrageous than its GUS
tomary methods.
People have been driven from their
homes Private property has been de-
stroyed, business in oil towns has
come to a standstill, and there are
said to be, without eXaggeration, thou
sands of people who have lost their all
as a result of the attempt of this
greedy monopoly TO capture the oil
fields for it's own use and profit.
Campbell In Earnest.
Representative Campbell is in dead,
/ ly earnest and he thinks a trail has
/ been struck at last which may bring
the Standard Oil company to it's knees
begging for mercy.
"The Standard Oil company is mere
ly commercial bully he said last
evening in talking about the purpose
of his resolution. "It has resorted to
all sorts of unlawful means to destroy
competition. 1t has robbed the people
OF my section of employment, ruined
others, and generally acted in restraint
of trade. We want to find out, once
for all, whether the United States OF
America or the Standard Oil company
is the bigger concern, and whether
Theodore Roosevelt has more power
than John Rockefeller.
This resolution" continued Repre-
sentative Campbell, was inspired
merely by the condition of affairs
brought about n my state by the un
i lawful and arbitrary acts of the Stan
dard Oil company. When oil was dis
covered in Kansas its development;
was undertaken by the farmers who
owned the land. They sank their own
wells, and whenever one was shot al
agent of the Standard Oil company
was on hand to pat the farmer on the
back and tell him to go ahead. They
furnished the money in advance, took
the oil at dollar a barrel, and shipped
it to Kansas City, thus encouraging
production and stimulating the dig
ging of wells throughout the whole
field.
"Then came the Standard Oil com
pany's pipe line. The owners equipped
! their wells, made the necessary con
, nections at their own expense. ant
, prepared to ship their oil, with Wis