Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-08-21
NO MORE OIL MONOPOLY.
POWER OF STANDARD COMPANY
BROKEN BY RECENT LEGlSLA-
TON.
A Fair Field and an Equal oppor-
tunity Are Now in Sight For the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in Price of
Petroleum Products

tunity Are Now in Sight For the
dependents-Deerea in Price of
Petroleum Products.
The Washington correspondent of the
New York Tribune writes:-"The alb
solute domination by the Standard Oil
Company of the business in petroleum
products has been broken, declared
Charles D. Chamberlain, head of the
National Petroleum Association, speak
ing CT the Lodge amendment to the
Railway bill and the administration
prosecution of trusts. Mr.. Chamber
lain came to Washington to testify
before the Interstate Commerce Com
mission.
Il do not mean" he fastened to
add, that the time is near when the
Standard will cease to control great
share of the business, but fair field
and equal opportunity are now in sight
for the Independents, and the develop
ments of the near future will be startl-
ing"
Mr.. Chamberlain maintains that
even the vast financial power of the
Standard will prove insufficient to
stem the tide of capital which will
now rush into the Independent pro-
ducing pipe line and refining COM
panies. He predicts a decrease in the
price of petroleum products averag-
ing % per cent. as a result of the
abolition of the Standards complete
monopoly, and thinks that this will
make itself felt quickly in territories,
like New England, which have been
entirely at the mercy of the Standard.
1t was in that territory, where there
was no competition, according TO MT.
Chamberlain, that the Standard made
it's immense profits, a large portion in
other regions. The extent to which
Senator Lodge has benefited not only
New England but the entire country
by his able though quietly conducted
campaign against the Standard is, IN
the estimation of Mr.. Chamberlain,
incalculable. AS an instance of the
manner in which the recent legisla-
ton will affect the Standard Mr..
Chamberlain cited the case of COM
pany in Cleveland.
Zone company in Cleveland" said
he, started twenty years ago with
a capital of $4,000 1t has fought the
Standard all the way and recently it
increased its capital to $5,OOO,00O, and
the additional amount was oversub-
scribed almost as soon as the books
were opened. That is the experience
everywhere. The oil business will
have an enormous development, and
the Independents will get share OF
it from this time forward.
"The Independents are getting an
immense access of business from two
sources. First, because of the cessa-
ton of the aggressive and piratical
methods of the Standard in fighting
competitors. 1t is withdrawing from
many fields the subordinate COM
panies that used to sail under the
colors of independents and do the
price cutting for the Standard. That
sort of thing has become dangerous.
There is a disposition to expose and
punish conspiracies of that sort. Then,
the public is strongly in sympathy
with us, and it helps immensely.
1.-THE new railroad law and the pow
erful movement to enforce the anti
trust laws are doing Us immense good.
For the first time we are getting an
equal chance, as illustrated in the re-
storing of prorating rates into New
England. For many years the roads
would not prorate en- oil going there;
no Independent could send oil to New
England without paying the sum OF
the local rates to all roads handling
it. The Standard piped its oil to sea-
board at Bayonne, n. j., thence ship
ped it in tank vessels to New Haven
and distributed it at local rates
throughout New England. lndepend-
ents were as effectually shut out as II
there had been a Chinese wall around
the territory. But now the roads
have put in joint rates, and We can
get in, and we are already doing so.
1t means saving of from $50 to $12O
on every car of oil.
"The Standard has the advantage
yet of it's pipe line system, which rep
resents the cheapest method of handl-
ing oil known, but making these lines
common carriers will help us, although
it presents to the Interstate Commerce
Commission the most difficult problem
it has ever had to solve. Then, the
Standards system of management is
expensive The spy system is per-
feet, espionage reaches everywhere;
every competitor, every railroad, ev-
cry employee, is watched and reported
on. The company's legal expenses
are immense; its corruption fund is
huge. These expenses largely offset
its physical advantages. Finally, the
independents will have their own pipe
lines and further equalize matters"
"One thing still needed" Mr.. Cham
berlain continued, lis a federal anti
discrimination law. | recognize it as
an extreme of liberalization, but we
ought to have it. Kansas has such
law, which has saved the state $780,
900 a year, and has made it possible
to develop ten Independent refineries
in place of one struggling one. Iowa
passed the same law, and Governor
Cummins signed it in May. 1t pro-
vides severe penalties for making cut
prices for the mere purpose of driv-
ing out competition, as the Standard
has always done"
Naming Oriental Babies.
In some foreign places the parents
have odd ways of naming their chill
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