The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-05
ROOSEVELT EXPOSES THE
 METHODS OF STANDARD OIL
tcentlnued from Page one.)

which crush out all individual initia- l tive. The railroad itself can not with-
 sash ts owm
 against one of these great corporations
 loosely known as trusts.
 l Tn the effort to prevent the rail-
 roads from uniting for improper pur- poses we have very unwisely prohibi-
 ted them from uniting for proper pur-
 on to and to the @
 public as against the power of the great corporations. They should cer-
 be o snts conditions to include the specific ap- proYal of the Interstate Comerce Conn
 mission of any agreement to which the
 tsis tSe 9ovyernment @ay must 'en interfere | through its agents to deprive the rail- road of the ability to make to the
 big corporations the concessions which | The government should have power I by it's agents to examine into the con- duct of the railways-that Is. the ex-
 aminers under the direction of the In-- | terstate Commerce Commission should be able to examine as thoroughly into | the affairs of the railroad as bank examiners now examine into the af-
 It is impossible to work a material | improvement in conditions such as
 above described merely through the in- | suit is often a necessary method: but | by itself 1t is an utterly inadequate method. What Is needed is the. con- l ferring upon the Commission of ann pie affirmative power, so conferred as | to make its decisions take effect at once, subject only to such action by
 the court as is demanded by the Con. stftution. The courts have the power | to, and will undoubtedly, interfere If | the action of the Commission should become in effect confiscatory of the property of an individual or corpor- ation. or if the Commission should un- dertake to do anything beyond the authority conferred upon itsby the law under which It IS acting. l am am well di I the Commission may at times be guilty of injustice; but far grosser and far more frequent injustice. and injustice
 of a much. more injurious kind. now results and must always result from | the failure to give the Commission ann | pie power to act promptly and effec- lively within these broad limits. Though not bearing upon the ques- I tion of railroad rates, there are two measures consideration of which Is im-
 peratively suggested by the submis; IS; Company has. largely by unfair or un- | lawful methods, crushed out home com petition. It Is highly desirable that an element of competition should be ! law as that which has already passed
 the House, putting alcohol used in the | arts and manufactures upon the free
 list Furthermore, the time has come when no oil or coal lands held by the government. either upon the public do- | main proper or in territory owned by The fee to such lands should be kept | in the United States government
 whether or not the profits arising from
 1t are to bA given ts any Indian tribe. on such terms and for such periods as will enable the government to Keep
 entire control thsreof; ioru poos.v.,, The White House. May 4, 1906. Report of Garfield.
 The report of Commissioner Garfield | follows:
 Department of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Corporations. o. Washington, May 2, 1906 sir:-I have the honor to submit the which has to do with the subject oE | transportation and freight rates.
 House Resolution No. 4ss. passed
 attention to the condition of the Kan sas oil field. The study of the oil in-
 dustry which had heretofore been
 made by the bureau showed that spe- cial report upon the conditions in the | Kansas field would not be advisable: i:
 A report on. any special field would
 of necessity be unfair to both the pro son that the purely local conditions do h not by any means determine the price | of either crude oil or it's products or | afford a proper basis for understand | ing the conditions of the industry. Therefore, q general and very exten- sive investigation has been conducted,
 covering the following subjects: 1. The crude oil production in the United States and its relation to the
 worlds supply; the prices and methods
 2. The use. development and control B. Refining of oil; the control of re- | fineries; the cost of refining and mar keting; the prices of petroleum prod- | ucts. relation of the companies engaged in | the production, manufacture and ols- tribution of oil
 5. The competitive methods used In the production and sale of oil.
 6. Transportation and freight rates. . z. Foreign trade and conditions ana their relation to the domestic indus 1 have personally visited nearly all of their great fields and have been in com
 munication, either ths hpeFhsUnsiiy hnrss w,fb many hundred producers and practl- cally all the rehneries and transporta- tion agencies engaged In the distripu- Bureau was sent to Europe to study at first hand the conditions in foreign producing fields and distributing mar kets, The facts obtained nave @ In every
 
 tion of the original sources of inror- nation.
 By far the greater part of the mate rial necessary for the completion of the entire report has been collected: The preliminary study of this material showed that the most important sub feet was transportation, because the cost of transportation is very large percentage of the total cost to the consumers of the finished product, and hence a most important factor in com
 petition.
 The control of the Standard oil Com pany over the entire oil industry is so
 great as to require special study of
 It's relations to transportation com
 l. therefore, first submit the accom- panying report upon the subject of
 railway transportation and freight rates As 1t necessarily covers many details I beg to invite your atention to the following summary of its moro prominent features:
 Summary of Features.
 The manufacture of refined oil, com monly known as kerosene, Is about 26,- 900 900 barrels annually. of which the Standard oil Company directly and in- directly controls about 23,000.OO0. It also controls approximately the same
 proportion of the other finished prod ucts of petroleum.
 The refinerles owned or controlled hv the Standard oil Company are To- cated near New York, Philadelphia. Baltimore. Chicago, Kansas City, in Western New York and Pennsylvania, rado, California and Texas. It's larg- est rehneries are located at the great centres of distribution, which are con nected by pipe lines with the crude oil fields The refined products are car ried by rail and water. The independ- ts thoga mt ou,paA