The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-23
So Says AID. Eddy, General COun-
sci for Standard.
Expects to Take All Kansas Oil
1t Can.
lie HAS NO SECRETS.
Law of Supplyt and Demand
Governs Situation.
Ex-Governor Stanley Employed
to Make the Fight.

Alfred D. Eddy of Chicago, general
counsel for the STANDARD Oil company,
is in Topeka today, called here by the
litigation started in the supreme court
to oust the Standard from doing busi-
ness in Kansas. He is accompanied by
J. E. Maher of Kansas City, and held
a consultation today with Earl J. Evans
of Wichita of the firm of Stanley, Yer
million & Evans. who are representing
the Standard in Kansas legally This
is Governor Stanley's law firm
Mr.. Eddy held a consultation at the
Copeland this morning with Mr.. Maher
and Mr.. Evans and this afternoon he
is meeting Governor Hoch, Attorney
General Coleman and some other Off
Gals with reference to Standard Oil
matters in Kansas.
There is nothing secret about the
Standards position with reference to
Kansas" said Mr.. Eddy to a State
Journal reporter today. THE Standard
is simply governed by the law of supply
and demand in what it does. 1t has no
desire to injure Kansas, but on the
contrary it wants to do what it can to
help along the Kansas field, but it has
its limitation according to the market
for refined oil
THE production of crude oil in the
Kansas field kept increasing until in
December and January last it reached
about $4,000 barrels a day. The Stan
dard has a refining capacity of about
5000 barrels a day, and that is all the
market will take from this terriotry. 1t
IS simply a question of supply and de-
mand. Kansas building a. refinery will
not help that any. If we could get a
market for it we would take all the
crude oil Kansas can supply, but we
can market only a certain amount of
oil under present conditions and it
seems to me that Kansas is killing the
goose that lays the golden egg
This is not new proposition. The
same condition existed in Pennsyl-
vania years ago. There was a great
overproductfon of crude oil and
Pennsylvania had to restrict its pro-
duction to the market. If we could
get market for it the Standard would
build refineries enough to take all the
oil that Kansas can produce.
THE Prairie Oil & Gas company
has built a pipe line from the Kansas
fields to the refinery at Kansas City,
and we are now building another line
immense refinery at Whiting, Ind.
When that is completed it will relieve
the situation somewhat for then we
can send the crude oil from Kansas
to Whiting for refining and it Will find
a market in the northwest. The Indi-
ana and Ohio oil will then go east and
as those fields are exhausted Kansas
oil will take their place in supplying
even the eastern market. Some of the
Kansas oil is superior to that of the
east For instance. there is no sui
phur in it, and when there is sulphur
in oil it has to be all refined out be-
fore the oil can be used for illumina-
ton.
'When this agitation began in Kan
sas the Standard had stored up mill
lions of dollars worth of oil in tanks,
waiting until It could use it. The pro-
ducers wanted the company to go on
buying when there is no market in
sight
.'The Standard wants to be fair and
it will comply with every fair and rea-
sonable law We don't propose to
fight anything that is just"
How about the law making your
pipe lines common carriers-win you
accede to that without a contest?' Mr..
Eddy was asked.
'I have not yet examined it suffi-
ciently to know" he replied. There
Standard to resist anything that is
reaSona
How long will it take to complete
the pipe line from Kansas City to
Whiting, Indiana ?"
1--WE would get it done this summer if
we were not interfered with" said Mr.
Eddy, but we are constantly running
up against people who want to hold US
up and who start litigation. All this
delays the work. We want to get the
line through as soon as we can so that
we can begin taking crude oil from the
Kansas field to Whiting"
&Standard Oil company of Indiana
which is the Standard that operates
throughout the middle states, the west
and northwest. Just now the Whiting
pipe line is tied up by an injunction in
Illinois, and a suit has been brought
in the Missouri supreme court by Attor-
ney General Hadley to prove that the
Standard is in combine and to oust
it from doing business in that state. Mr..
Eddy was in jefferson City yesterday
to resist an order to subpoena witnesses
in that case The Standard won the
first round, and the legality of summon
ing witnesses viii be argued down there
on March 81.
If the Standard is ousted from Mis-
souri, it is argued that that state will
then furnish a big field for independent
Kansas refineries. If Missouri should
be successful along that line other
states might follow suit, and the Stand
ard would not even be able to compete
on equal terms with the independents
The suit to oust the Standard from
Kansas is of the same nature
You will probably make frequent
trips out here from now on for awhile,
was remarked to Mr.. Eddy.
I am not anxious to come any more
than is necessary" he replied, for 1
have enough to do in Chicago