The Topeka state journal., 1905-02-24
Hiss Ida TarbelI Sets Forth
Methods of Octopus.
How It Grinds Down Poor and
STILES Competition.
CALLS 1T CONSPIRACY.
To Drive Men Out of Business by
Illegal Action.
Discusses the Oil Situation in
81 Kansas Fields.

on the workings and methods of The
Standard Oil company. Miss Ida Tar
bell says the company is grinding
down the poor. sitting competition
and shuts out the independent re-
dners whenever and wherever it wills
Miss TarbelI declares that the Stand
ard Oil company can even keep an in
dependent refiner from getting all the
crude oil he wants to refine, by simply
refusing to give it to him. Its control
Of transportation in pipe lines is Sc
complete that practically all the oil
produced goes at once into its cars. If
a rival refiner seems to be growing,
the Standard Oil company can stop
his growth by refusing to give him oil.
Here are the additional statements of
Miss Tarbell:
eAt refiners in Ohio and Pennsylvania
have been on a short supply of crude
oil because the Standard refused to let
them have any more.
Today. as in the past the Standard
Oil company follows every independ-
ent of shipment of oil into a. new mar
ket and fights it by underselling for
sake of destroying its rival There are
such cases of predatory competition
today in Massachusetts. in Pennsyl-
Nania and all over the west
Naturally enough. it wins out, for it
has a war budget of unlimited size set
aside on purpose TO drive people out
OF business. It can sell below cost
longer than its competitors can, and
when it has won out, it raises prices
and forces the consumer to pay for
These are the ways the Standard
takes to keep everybody but itself
from refining oil These are the
methods by which it has reached
practical monopoly of making oil
products. These are the methods by
which it keeps that monopoly
Fz-rf ;, 4rDFr
gpiracy to be applied to an effort to
drive men out of business by Illegal
rebates. by spying, by bribing and by
criminal underselling-
a In the same way that il has fought
60 keep men from refining oil it has
fought persistently TO keep men from
building pipelines in which to carry oil
The first pipeline ever laid to the sea-
cy by the Standard Oil company. When
st failed to ruin the plucky men who
were laying the lines it secretly bought
their stock until it forced them into a
combination to keep up prices
The Standard Oil company owns to-
day a system of pipes nearly 10000
miles long. These pipes gather practi-
CallV all the oil produced. What is the
result of this control of transportation?
The Standard Oil company refuses to
take the oil from the wells if it wills,
thus forcing the oil producer to shut
down his wells or let his oil run on the
ground.
The recent refusal of the Standard
Oil company to gather the oil of the
Kansas fields is one of the natural
abuses which comes from allowing any
body of men autocratic power over a
great system of interstate tranSpOrta-
ton The Standard Oil company can
shut off any oil field in the country
from the market if it will. and there
A.. no way to punish it by law, nothing
but the impotent rage of those injured,
and the uncertain and short lived in
dignation of the pubhc-tO all of which
1T has become hardened by 80 years of
experience. (.
. For years the oil producers Of north
western Pennsylvania have had to sub
init to terms the Standard imposed up
on them because they had no other way
of getting their oil away from the wells
The oil men pay now the same price
Tor having oil taken from their wells
that they did 20 years ago. and this in
spite of an enormous increase in the
system and great reductions in the cost
Of piping.
The railroad offers no relief. The
pine line pools with the railroads to
keep up prices to outsiders. 1t has
done this for twenty years Pooling
Between railroads is illegal But the
pine lines are a law unto themselves
The pipe lines, although forming
vast system of interstate transporta-
ton, are not subject to the regulations
OF the interstate commerce commits
sion. They can pool with the railroads
TO keep up prices. The commission is
pOwerless to help those who suffer.
There is certainly no name for this
but conspiracy in restraint of trade,
ana the laws of the United States call
a. conspiracy to restrain trade a crime.
believe that there can be no man
ner of doubt that vigorous and in
Telligent investigation of the present
practices of the Standard Oil COM
pany, taken in connection with the
proved facts of its past. Will lead to
the conclusion that it is an illegal con-
gern and subject to restraint and pun
ishment under the Sherman antitrust
law.
believe the Standard Oil company
ievies an unjust tax on the people of
the United States by keeping up the
prices of refined oil higher than they
would under free and unrestrained
competition.
Why should oil fan from thirteen
cents to seven cents the other day in
the country around Wilkesbarre, Pa ?
Because the Pure Oil company. the
only Independent concern in the coun-
try which has had the courage and
patience to fight its way with a pipe
hne to the sea, tapped its line and Of
Tered competition. Let independents
into market and the Standard Oil
company always gives cheaper oil
This is not defamation. 1t is fact,
and is proved by figures 4~
Now, what does it rneaah asa keen nv,
the price of refined Oil-asaHs #-pssitvt ~
life of the poor It means darkness and
cold for those who must look at every
penny they spend The 80, 40 and IS
per cent dividends the Standard oil
company pays are wrung from the poor
who burn oil. not from the rich. who
use gas and electricity and candles. Re
call the coal strike of 1923. when the
poor often were forced to do without
other heat than the oil stove With oil
cunning to waste in many parts of the
world. the Standard Oil comnauv
added to the horrors Of that hard win
ter by putting up the price of oil and
even of the stoves in which to burn it.
And not the consumer alone PAYS the
tax TO the Standard The oil producer