The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-06-28

ceedcd $4,000 in total. These ex-
penditures have been made only after
it has been shown that by them could
the product be made cheaper or could
an element Of the oil be made into
much more profitable by-product;
These achievements are. the result OF
thirty years experience in oil refining
They represent the perfection OF pro-
cess and no large Independent Fennery
has been able to get as much out OF
the oil or get what it did get as pro-
f1tably as the Standard.
How the Wages Run.
"The wages paid at Whiting run
from SIS per day upwards The 1oI-
eigners who dig the bitches get $lt5s
which is the minimum The 'still
men, whose main work is to test the
oil as it comes out Of the stu get -
per day. Many other employees get
&2.25. The heads of the departments
get considerably more, and the merit
system prevails throughout All the
men from the still men up, are what
can be called skilled labor, and most
of them have been with the company
a long time. The unskilled labor is
usel in the boiler firing rooms and IN
doing the rough and heavy work me
men at Whiting swear by the Standard
and show almost the same loyalty 10
it that they would if the plant were
really profit sharing. Especially is TINS
true of the upper classes OF workInsn'
Few labor troubles have arisen IN NJ
teen years and these have practcaily
all been the result of labor troubles
in Chicago. The Whiting men beiong
to the. union there and have once or
twice ROne out when ordered TO DO So
although they had no grievance or
their own. Every request for an IN
crease in wages has been granted, ana
in this way, strikes have been aVolded-
When a man is hurt at his WORK. the
company ambulance takes him home,
the company doctor attends him
through his illness and the Standard
pays the bills.
i'Then the manager investigates the
nature of his injury and carries the
man on full, half, or quarter pay, DE
pending upon whether or not he was
injured as a result of his own care
lessne ss. Then when he IS able 70
come back, he is given lighter duties
until his full strength returns; and II
he be permanently injured, he. gets
job watching a gate or some similar
sinecure. Those employees who work
by the month get two weeks vacation
every summer at full pay, and many
of them are away now. Thus 1t IS
that one old man-an old soldier, by
the Way-quit work a few months ago
saying that he would live with his ten
children. A week or so ago he came
back and was given a job watching a
gate.
g one man can support ten chill
dren,' he said, but ten grown children
can't support one man.
'In the sulphuric acid beds the en-
ployes finally become snaggle-tOothed.
The acid eats away the enamel of their
teeth, and they become horrid looking
so far as their teeth affect their ap-
pearance. Nevertheless they stay at IT
with remarkable persistency, after once
they enter the work. Otherwise the
work in the refinery is not deleterious
to health The one great and omnipres-
ent peril is fire. There are acres and
ar IF r1F oil AZ GA nftup which
a match flame or a stroke of lightning
would destroy. The buildings are as
nearly fire proof as they can be made,
but grease is all over them and they
would burn like powder. Two NAM
moth fire pumps are kept under steam
day and night, ready to furnish power
fuI and instant protection. The water
for fire protection and for the plant use
comes through six foot tunnel from
Lake Michigan, 800 feet away. Water
is one Of the important elements in the
refinery, and an endless supply must be
close at hand The company Is at the
mercy of its men so far as fire is con-
cerned A discharged emplOye and
match could cost the company a mil
lion dollars any moment. The plant is
not walled in or anything of that kind.
There are few no admittance' signs.
What Is the Capacity.
ct was impossible to learn what the
capacity of the refinery actually is. This
The orders for products come from the
sales office; if they want a large quanti-
ty of a certain grade of oil, only that
element is taken from the crude oil that
day, the balance of the oil being stored
until the other elements or products of
it are needed. Thus a great quantity
of oil might be accepted in a single
day, but only partially used For this
reason it was hard to get a very definite
idea of what the plant could use. the
present daily consumption is about H.
900 barrels complete. The pipe line from
Kansas will not be used much before
August /. It has not yet reached the
Indiana state line, and will have to be
tested before the oil goes into it. Some
of its pump stations are not yet done.
The oil now being used comes from the
east, but when the pipe line is COM
pleted the eastern oil well stay east,
and Kansas oil will supply the plant.
1.-THE Standard has in reality only
three heads. The books of the Stand
ard, if they could be seen, would pro-
baby show a buying, or pipe line de-
partment, a refining. or manufacturing
department, and a selling department.
The first of these has been so successful
that crude oil has dropped in year
from 81. IS a barrel to so cents, thus saw
! ing the company SO cents per barrel,
which is no doubt a satisfactory show
| ing from that end of the triumvirate.
/ The refining department has succeeded
not only in making the best oil products
/ at a minimum cost, but has now added
+ at Whiting the incidental manufacture
/ of tank cars, steel tanks, tin and wood
/ barrels and oil cans. To this showing
| no stOckholder of the company can pos
sibly object. The sales department,
/ equally well managed, has succeeded in
selling not only all the companys own
/ products, but in persuading competitors
/ that competition doesn't pay and induc-
ing them to retire after more or less
strenuous existence. From these three
vast sources Of income the Standard has
become the wealthiest corporation or
earth and its business a matter OF
| mere bookkeeping"
Natural Gas to RosedaIe.
Rosedale, Kas., June 28.-Natural
gas is within a quarter of a mile of