Middletown transcript., 1906-05-12
WAsHNGTONLETTER

| on TIE OtdHudTu VII SputpdIy anu VIC
message of the President transmitting the
same to Congress, came at such a moment
| if anything ever did. Just at the moment
when the two sides are lining up for
vote on that rate bill and when that
measure is fighting for its integrity if not
for its very life, the report on s Andard
Oil is a yeritable bomb in the hands
of the administration. The report
las been tile sensation OF the week in
Washington and Commissioner Gar
field has made the reputation of life
time in rendering it. Beside the cold, Of
ficial statement Of the report, the most
insistent clamor of the papers and Of the
magazines seems tame. For this is ofIic-
| ial while the other is an unofficial arraign-
ment. Accompanying the report is the
mes age of the President saying that the
report alone would prove that the passage
OF an effective rate bill is an absolute me-
cessity. But the President goes farther.
lie recommends the passage Of the free
alcohol bill for the same reason and the
retention oi the gov Sernment title to coal
and oil lands III tie public domain, the
latter measure being as all opponents of
the administration will be sure to claim,
long step in the direction of socialism.
But the report of the Burean of Corpora
tions is there to show that the recommen-
dation is 4 much needed one. The report
on the Standard Oil Company is a lengthy
document, but the Commissioner of Cor
porations sums up his conclusions rather
briefly. They are somewhat as follows:
The Investigation has disclosed the exis-
tance Of numerous fragrant determinations
on the part of the railroads in favor of the
Standard Oil Company. With compare
lively lew exceptions, such as the large
oil concerns in California, the Standard
has been the SOLE beneficiary of such dis
ordinations. In almost every section OF
the country that company has been found
to enjoy some unfair advantages over its
competitors and some of the discrmina-
tions affect enormous areas Discrinina-
tiOn in the transportation of oil embrace
variety Of forms some OF the most impur-
tant of which may be said to be: Secret
and semi secret rebates. Discrimination
in the treatment of private tank cars. 1t
is stated that the railroad Determinations
discovered by the Bureau Of Corporations
netled the Standard profit of 500, 900
year on its freight business. THIS was
bad enough but it was only drop in the
bucket compared to the enormous advan-
tsge that tins discrimination enabled the |
Standard to exercise in squeezing the last
cent ont OF the consumer all over the |
country. The report states that out OF
&d, ,0O0, 600 barrels Of oil refined annually !
in this country, the Standard handles 3d.
OOO. 900. 1t will thus be seen that there
are only few scattered localities, and !
these a. rule close to the crude oil cen |
tres and With a market in easy reach,
that are what might be called 'compiti-
tive areas" They ale very limited in ex-
tent. In ali the other great territories,
competition has been klIledbythe ruthless
system OF undeI- e Ing, spying andrailruad
discrimination on which The Standard las
been butt up and which its vast wealth
ables it to practice, In the non-cnmpeti-
tive areas the price of oil is from three to
five cents higher than in tile competitive
areas. Since the fair pr' ii "n palrnu Of
refined oil Is huIf cent, il Is eIssy 10 rec
the vast reveHtle that the con panS has
been able to exact from the public. The
method Of discrimination enumerated
above are not the only ones that the re-
port charges the company with practicing.
1t habitually miss-bils goods, has the
freight charges made out in the central
office of the railroad companies So that
there is 10 telling how much oil ha, been
for given price, uses the
state rates pieced together to defeat
the small power that the Interstate
Com nerce Commission would otherwise
have over it and uses all sorts of secret
and pecnliar methods in getting at its one
object, all unfair advantage over its COM
petitor In this connection the President
avs that the dagger Of governmental COLI
rol sitting individual initiative is as moth
ng to the sitting that individual initia.
i've receives from the giant corporations {
which use their wealth and power to kill
Ill competition. In his message accom-
'anying the report, he says: "The argu-
nent is sometimes advanced against con-
erring on some governmental body the :
,ower Of supervision and control over in [
erstate commerce that to do so tends to I
weaken individual initiative Investiga- ,
ions such as this concisely disprove any
uch allegation. On the other hand the
proper play for individual initiative can
'nIy be found in such GO, ernment super
'ision as will curb those monopolies that
rush out all individual initiative. The
abroad itself without such government
id cannot protect the interest of its own
tockholders as against one Of these great
loosely known as trusts"
II connection with the harm that the cor
'orations of the Standard sort have done
he country, the President further saws
hat the action OF the government in
enying the railroads the right Of COM !
'inatfon in order to prevent them from
loing unlawful things, has re- acted in rem
ering them unable to protect themselves
gainst the unlawful demands of such l
as the Standard. lie saws in
oncluding his message: "Though not |
'earing upon the question Of railroad 9