The Penn's Grove record., 1906-05-18
STANDARD OIL SECRETS
REVEALED IN COURT
Witnesses at Chicago Investiga-
ton Tell Startling Stories.
CHEATING AND FRAUDS EXPOSED
Sweeping Inquiry into the Business
OF the Company Begun by the
Interstate Commerce Commits
sion--Former Employees Testify

Chicago.-Revelations of the intrigue
and trickery by which the Standard
Oil Company is alleged to maintain its
supremacy were laid before the Inter-
state Commerce Commission.
The charges included corruption of
railroad employees and agents Of indie
pendent companies, giving short meas
ure, selling supposed different kinds of
Oil out of the same tank, obtaining
trade through fake companies appar-
emily working in opposition to Stand
ard Oil, driving Independent dealers to
the wall through systematic price cut
ting on the part Of retail dealers
backed by the Standard. 1t was also
alleged that through special secret
freight rebates, one-half the open rate,
the trust was able to control most Of
the trade without price cutting.
E. NJ. Wilhoit, who is now an indie
pendent oil operator, testified that
while in the employ of the Standard
Oil Company as an agent at Topeka,
Kan, he had in following out instruc-
tons Of his superior officers bribed
clerks in the offices of railroads and
employees Of Independent oil concerns
to obtain information of the details Of
the business done by the rivals of the
Standard Oil Company.
"Cylinder oil Is the most profitable
sold," said the witness, land the Stand
ard Oil Company dislikes to have any
Independent sell any Of this grade.
Our instructions were that if we found
a competitor selling this oil in u terri
tory to cut the price so as to get the
orders, and then substitute an inferior
grade Of oil, and guarantee it to be of
superior quality"
Mr.. Without declared that agents of
the Standard Oil Company are held
personally responsible for all oil sold
in their territory by Independent COM
panies, and thatdrivers of tank wagons
are expected to keep up their stock by
selling POS to 2O8 gallons from a wagon
load Of 200 gallons.
Continuing his testimony, Mr.. viii.
holt said: "At Paris, ILL.,, the Stand
ard Hgent left the service because an
Independent got the majority Of the
dealers. Under the orders of Charles
I. Collins, Second Vice-President of
the Kentucky Company, I started out
to get that trade back. l sent a man
to Paris, ILL.,, to arrange to get a deal
to sell Oil for five cents a gallon to the
consumer. This was arranged. The
current price was then ten and one
half cents to the retail trade, but we
made the price to this n dealer five
cents, and he sold it at cost"
"How could he make a living at that
rateY" the witness was asked.
"Well," he replied, "once a month we
sent a man around who gave the dealer
a rebate of one cent a gallon on all the
oil he bought. We paid for his adver-
Using, also"
what happened to the Independent
you were ighting?"
81 finally bought his plant, dis
mantled it, and had it shipped to an
other point"
How long did it take you to wreck
him?"
zone year."
"Then what happened to the price Of
,il?"
sit went back from five cents to the
price it was before the independent
cut in"
Mr.. Mason said that the same thing
took place at Urbana and Vandalia.
1t was shown that the Standard for
years got freight rates about fifty per
cent. lower than those given the gen.
aral shipper, and that its employees
were given annual passes over all lines
In Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
The Commission heard also of the
connection of the Santa Fe Railroad
with the trust. President Ripley adj
mitted that II. H. Rogers Is one of the
directors Of the Santa Fe Company.
He confessed that the Santa Fe ad-
vanced freight rates from the Kansas
ol fields to Kansas City and st. Louis
as soon as the pipe line along the Santa
Fe's right Of way to Kansas City had
been completed.
The Commission saw a map of the
Systems" pipe lines through the
Northeastern States, Ohio, New York
and Pennsylvania. The route of those
lines had been one Of the company'S
most closely guarded secrets. The map
was made by w. ". Tarbell, a brother
Of Miss Ida NJ. Tarbell.
NJ. Maxon, of Decatur, ILL.,, the last
witness, for twenty-five years in the
competitors were permitted to operate
long at a time in his district Qllinois),
but las there was a certain class Of
dealers who would not buy from the
Standard on principle, the Republic Oil
Company was permitted to come in and
sell to them as an Independent con
Germ"