The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-17
BROWN MEN STRIKE
At OIL TRUST
Refineries in Japan May
Cut Heavily Into the
Business of Standard
BUY IN CALIFORNIA

Japan may become factor in ending
the monopoly OF the Standard Oil Com
pany in the Orient The japanese. in
cidentally, may be the means of pro-
noting oil properties in Southern Cali
fornia that have been tied I'D because
OF the restrictions placed upon the OUT
put of oil by the great oil trust These
deductions have been reached by men
who have been studying the oil situa-
tion for years and who have noticed
the interest taken in the oil lands OF
California by agents of the Japanese
Government
Recently the California Petroleum
Rehneries. Limited. the most per-
sistent competitors of the Standard
Oil Company on this coast, signed
contract with the Toyo Kisen kaisha
Steamship Company for the delivery
within q period of ten years of &C.
600, 900 barrels of crude oil The
steamship company, which is very close
TO the japanese Government. is under
stood 10 be acting in the general in
teresIs OF the japanese manufacturers
with a view to determining how
promptly the deliveries of this i'm
mense amount of crude material can be
made Other large orders for crude oil
Will follow.
EFFECTIVE USE OF TARIFF
The Japanese capitalists who are
identified with the Togo Company have
already arranged 10 erect oil refneries
in Japan. and these viii produce re-
fined oil 10 take the place of the ship
ments OF the Standard oil Company
from Atlantic to Pacific ports. which at
present constitute a large percentage
of what is classed as American exports
TO the Orient
The import duty on oil IN China and
Japan is high. The Standard has been
able TO pay these duties. pay freights
around the Horn and across the conti-
nent and thence to Asiatic ports via
San Francisco and still monopolize the
trade with good profit to the trust The
keen business instincts OF the Japanese
were alive to the field that the Orient
affords for American refined oils and il
was figured that with the reduced cost
Of labor in Japan crude oil could he
made a part of the cargoes from the
Pacific Coast at comparatively small
expense and that the tariff. which ad-
nits raw material. would be operative
in the importers favor Japan could,
therefore, import California and even
Texas and Middle West oils in bulk ard
suddenly presents itself as the greatest
competitor the Standard Oil Company
has ever faced.
FUTURE OF INDUSTRY
along very carefully guarded it's oil
trade with China, Japan, India and the
Philippines In the matter OF the first
three named countries there has always
been more or less influence by paid
lobby, presumably in the employ OF the
great monopoly. at Washington. whose
duty il is TO see that the proper men
are selected for consulates IN the Far
East.
Oil and cotton figures have done
much toward swelling the statistics
that profess 10 show the volume OF the
export trade of the United States with
the Orient This traffic has been
shown from time TO time TO be some
what in the nature of a commercial
boomerang The cleverly initiated
manufactured article finds its way back
10 domestic markets in keen competi-
ton with the article turned out by
American workingmen.
It goes without saying that the Cali
fornia oil lands that have been kept IN
a state Of -productivenes by the oil
trust may come TO the front as supply
fields for the infant japanese industry
which may grow 10 a giant OF COM
mercial aggressiyeness. The Cape Horn
feet that for decades has trimmed sails
off the menacing rocks OF Terra del
Fuego may soon become a thing Of
the mast