The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-06-12

In reply to the Presidents message
and Commissioner Garfeld's report
officers of the Standard Oil Company
have issued the following statement;
I'm the Presidents effort to secure
the passage of a bill charging the pow
ers of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission and just and equitable railway
rates we have precisely the same in
terest that any good citizen has; no
more and no less. Regarding his Criti-
csms upon the management Of the
railways or his structures upon any
acts of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission we have neither responsibility
nor concern. When, however he or
Commissioner Garfield attacks the
Standard Oil Company and uses it's
methods of doing business as an object
lesson for the purpose of promoting his
views we protest.
1T may be frankly stated at the out
set that the Standard Oil Company has
at all times, within the limits of fair
ness and with due regard for the law
sought to secure the most advantage
Gus freight rates and routes possible.
There will be no denial of this fact on
our part. The question is whether we
have at any point violated the law or
the properties.
The present inquiry grew out of a
resolution adopted by Congress a year
ago upon motion of Mr. Campbell, of
Kansas. instructing the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor to investigate
the oil business as carried on in this
country We welcomed the investiga-
ton. When Commissioner Garfield in
the discharge Of his duty visited our
office he and his experts We're given
free access to our books and the fullest
opportunity to ascertain i'm the man.
ner in which our business was conduct
ed Frank disclosures of all of
methods were made and every criti-
cism offered by him was met with a
candid and painstaking answer.
80 conscious We're we of our recti-
tude that we repeatedly importuned
Mr.. Garfield to make public the condi-
lions existing i'm Kansas, but he re-
fused. We proposed ourselves to an
swer some of the unfair criticism upon
the subject but refrained on Mr. Gar
fields advice and on his assurance that
his report would present the case fair
ly. 1t turned out that so far as Kansas
was concerned the State authorities
abandoned their attack.
zone does not care to handy words
with the President of the United States.
1t is not easy to differentiate between
Mr. Roosevelt the President ana Mr..
Roosevelt the Individual. He has Civ
en- us of his advice mast generously
upon every subject, from the size Of
our families to the mistake of the fe
eral judges, and some error is newt
able now and then to the most cOnser-
vative man under such circumstances.
I'VE say fatty that any assertion
that the Standard Oil Company has
been or is now knowingly engaged in
practices which are unlawful is alike
untruthful and unjust.
"The Commissioners report, upon
which the Presidents message is bas-
ed, opens with the statement that the
manufacture of refined oil in this cOun-
try is about twenty-siX million bar
rels annually. 1t is unimportant, but
it would nevertheless have been fair
for him to have stated that more than
nual manufacture is exported and with
it's manufacture or the price the Ameri-
can public is not interested.
He next calls attention to the fact
that the Standard Oil refneries are To-
Gated at centers of distribution, while
the Independent refineries are usually
in the crude oil fields. This fact If
borne steadily in mind, will answer
very many of the criticisms which he
later INDUCES in. He charges that this
location of refneries and the natural
advantages following it We're obtained
by means of unfair competitive meth
DDS, but beyond this assertion does not
go into a history or explanation of
thees alleged unfair methods at all. He
says the development of the pipe line
/ system by the Standard oil Company
was the result of special agreement
with the railroad companies What
this can mean is past our comprehen-
sion. AS a matter of fact the develop
ment of the pipe line system by the
Standard Oil Company was in the face
of violet hostility on the part of the
railroads, which naturally were oppos-
ed to the introduction of such means of
transportation. At enormous cost and
i'm the face of steadfast railway opposi-
ton at an early date the Standard oil
Company adopted the pipel inc method
for handling crude petroleum. The
first linew as extended from the West
ern Pennsylvania oil fields to Bergen
Point on the Atlantic coast. This line
diverted an enormous amount of
freight from the railway companies,
which fact they did not view with
complacency.
Passing from this point, Commits
sioner Garfield takes up the question OF
favoritism which he alleges has been
shown by various railroad corporations