The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-30
OIL TRUST HEADS
SAFE AS In FORT
Rockefeller, Rogers, and Associate
Monarchs of Standard Oil
Safeguarded.
May Be So Hedged About that
Prosecution Is Impos-
IL SAS~' - 49,.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
Chicago, Dec. 3O.-Raymond, in a
Philadelphia special to the Tribune.
says: +s
There never was better name for
the Standard Oil company than the
@System,' for system it certainly Is,
In the full extent Of the word.
The investigation into its methods
, by agents of the United States govern
ment has developed a series OF extra"
ordinary complications in its business
management. When the report of Com
missioner Garfield is made public, 1T
will disclose the existence OF a Devil
dering number of corporations. societies
and associations, all of them organ,
lied in the interest of the Standard
Oil company, but many of them mas
uuerading under curious local titles.
The government investigation has
shown that Rockefeller, Rogers and
Gother masters Of the Standard Oil sell
dom appear personally in any trans
action. They have created network
of companies, one dependent upon, the
other, but all working toward a COM
mon end, which is the enrichment OF
the already rich oil magnates.
Yelled In Secrecy.
Even the most patient inquiry by the
government secret service officers has
failed to unravel the complete tangle of
these affiliated companies. Almost
every state has a separate corporation
of it's own, and in many cities there
concerns overlap each other so that it
has been extremely difficult for the
agents Of the government to secure &C
tual evidence of the operations Of the
great Standard Oil company itself.
It may in the long run be impossible
to attack the real heads of Standard
Oil, because they act thru such indirect
means. There is, it has been discovered,
the original holding company, organ
lied under the laws of New Jersey, the
state which is owned body and soul by
the great corporations and which
licenses a corrupt insurance company
or a desperate oil combination with
equal indifference. In this New Jcr
sey holding company there are said t.
be interested only the men who actual
" control Standard Oil They are the
big fellows. and tho New Jersey corpor
alton is the one which handles the ulti
mate profits of the system thruout the
country.
>Other companies pay toll into this
great funnel. and into its treasury. il
poured all the extraordinary profits
which the oil business Of the United
States, under the monopolistic contro
of the "System," has been able tt
produce.
Taking the country over, it will b.
shown by Commissioner. Garfeld's re
port that the profit turned into tn
holding company in New Jersey will
average As or 50 per cent on the &C
tual capital invested. That Is to say
after making a liberal estimate Of tn
cost Of all the refneries, tank lines
tank cars, office expenses, administra
tive outputs and similar items, tn
profit amounts to nearly half or al
the money the Standard Oil compan,
could be sold for, on the basis Of it
tangible assets.
This average, large as it is. would b
still greater, were it not for the neces
sity which the "System" is under o
controlling the production and distribu
ton Of oil at all hazards. In Ney
York state, for instance. the figure
show, and the government report vii
so declare, think, that the five sut
sidiary companies Of recent year
turned over to the holding company i
New Jersey an average Of 100 per cen
dividend on its entire capital stock.