Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1905-03-24
OIL PRODUCERS MEET.


last Saturday. The organization which was
effected in Topeka during the session of the
legislature was made permanent. Headquar-
tiers will be maintained at Independence, and
the association is prepared to wage an aggres-
sive warfare or he Standard Oil Company dur
ing the next two years. J. NJ Parker, secretary
of the association, will have charge of the
work at independence, and H. 4. West, presi-
dent, will keep his headquarters III Peru.
This convention was composed mainly OF
business men, and their acts went to show that
they were there for business.
Among the prominent men present were
Governor Hocb, Congressman Phil Campbell,
of The Third district; Congressman-at-La
Scott, of lola and Miss Ida M. Tarbell, who,
tor more than year, in McClure's Magazine,
has been holding the Standard Oil Company up
10 the public gaze aud exposing its rottenness.
Miss Tarbeil was invited to address the conven-
ton, but she declined. But shc wrote letter,
which was read. In this letter, she said:
"PREsIDENT THE On. PRODUCERS Assoc1A-
TIoN My Dear Sir: / have just received
your card announcing that am 10 speak at the
oil producers meeting at lnde pendence. l
nave repeatedly declined the invitation which
your committee gave me to speak at this gath
ering, and do not see my way to reconsider
tina! declination. l came to Kansas to learn,
rot to teach; to hear, not 10 be heard. Your
representative urges me, howeve., to write you
letter on the oil situation as see ito give
YOU my opinion OH the recent Oh legislation,
and my view OF what the oil prlducers should
do now. can hardly hope that ny views will
be of the least assistance. They are still I'M
formed, for have not learned as much of the
situation as must before making up my mind,
but such as they l am glad to give them
to you.
GAS to your legislature, it seems to me to
have struck the fundamental principles OF free
circulation 1t aims 10 give you. First, free
competition in manufacture. Second, 1t puts
stop to the prohiblory and discriminating rates
ON oil freight Third, it aims 10 stop the cut
throat competition in the markets. Fourth, it
makes the great system of pipes on which the
oil industry depends for reaching the market
common carrier. There may be practical dlttl-
cultes in working out some OF these bills. 1t
will not be surprising; indeed, IT is to be ex-
pected that mistakes will be mace in the effort
to crystalze these principles into practical re-
suits.
"The great question is not whether you have
made mistakes, bat whether YOU discover
vour mistakes and correct them The great
thing is that you should not give up your
effort 10 establish freedom in the oil industry IN
your state The great thing is that your prin-
cples are right. What should you do now?
Generally, should say you should get down to
business. Please note that the time you spend
~: IrIe the ~ audard Oil
Company spends in putting up one or more
40, oco barrel tanks and laying, ready for use,
ten or twenty miles of pipe line, and refining
tens of thousands of barrels Of oil. 1t is keep
ing quiet and doing business.
at seems to .ne the time has come for oil
men in Kansas, dissatisfied with the way the
Standard Oil Company is handling THEN oil, to
take lesson from the Standard itself. You
have YOUR legislation; you are backed by res
o]ute governor, by an honest Legislature and by
q sympathetic state. Now, the time has come
for YOU to study the oil problem the Stand
ard OH Company studies it; to hrd out the eX-
act relation of your oil production to the oil
market Of the world; then, by independent
pipe lines to reach these markets. 1t you will
do this, there is no question but eventually you
will win place for your great product Re
member there is world market. The Stand
ard Oil Company by no means monopolizes this
market.
'Your problem is to get in touch with the
xyhrld,s market. You cannot do this by ours
1ne the Standard Oil Company; neither can
von do it simply by demanding and securing
the best legislation which honest men can de-
wise for YOU, If you are to succeed in your oil
fight, you must follow up legislation by doing
bnsiness, Saving wood, as say in the East.
Nv advice, then, to the Kansas oil producer