Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-28
BITTER WORDS FOR
THE STANDARD OIL
Denunciation by Interstate
Commerce Commission.
HAD SYSTEM OF PAID SPIES
Ruin of Competitors It's Constant OBJ
ject.
UNFAIR AND DISREPUTABLE"
Report Says Its Methods Showed
Little Regard for Either De-
cency or Conscience"
HAD SYSTEM OF PAID SPIES
Ruin Of Competitors Its Constant OBJ
ject.
UNFAIR AND DIsREPUTABLE"

1t is not often that an official
report contains such strong Ian
guage as is used concerning the
Standard Oil Company in the re-
port today submitted to Congress.
This report shows that the Stand
ard has an iron-tight grip on the oil
business of the country, and states
that 'the ruin of its competitors
has been part of its policy for
years, steadfastly and persistently
pursued" Further on it is stated
that "the competitive methods of
the company have been unfair and
even disreputable pur-
sued without much reference to
either decency or conscience"
The interstate commerce commission to-
day transmitted to Congress it's report
under the joint resolution Of Congress ap-
proved March T. 1906, concerning the re-
lations Of common carriers by rail to the
production and distribution of oil. The re-
port covers the distribution Of petroleum
and its products east of the Mississippi
river and, incidentally. the Kansas and
Texas fields.
The commission refers to the report upon
oil and its production and distribution Is
sued by the commissioner of corporations,
and says that such report leaves little to
be added to an understanding of the sub
ject.
No instance is found where any railway
company has been interested in oil lands
or IN petroleum production, and only one
instance is shown where officials of a rail-
way company were Interested in the pro-
duction and sale Of OIL This relates to
certain officials Of the Baltimore and Ohio
Southwestern railroad having owned stock
| Of the Argand Refining Company, which
was on their recommendation afterward
sold to the Standard Oil Company and the
| lubricating contract which the road trans
ferred to the Galena OIL Company, a Stand
ard company.
The Standard Oil Company largely mo-
| nopolizes the handling Of petroleum from
the mouth Of the we'll until 1t is sold to
| the retailer, and sometimes to the con-
sumner, and under ordinary circumstances
| Its margin of profit Is very large. Esti-
mates made in the report show profit on
refined oil from the Sugar creek refinery
at Kansas City Of from to cents per
I eouOIA n OlSueC Is Indicated
for gasoline. The sale Of refined oil from
the large Standard refinery at Whiting is
eorrespondingly profitable.
The evidence shows little basis for the
the Standard OIL Company are the legiti-
mate result Of its economies. Except for its
pipe lines, the Standard has but little legiti-
mate advantage over the Independent re-
finer.
The Standard buys advertising space in
many newspapers which 1t fills, not with
advertisements, but with reading matter
and paid for at advertising rates, as ordi
nary news. The assumption is that this
literature furnishes many of the ideas
touching the great benefits conferred upon
the public by the Standard OIL Company.
Standard Methods.
The report points out geenrally the meth
DDS by which the Standard has built I'D
and perpetuated its monopoly and the re-
lation OF transportation agencies to that
monopoly. At the basis Of the monopoly
rests the pipe line. With redneries on the
Atlantic seaDoard, in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Chicago, Kansas City, and at various other
points, which are all connected with the
principal oil fields and with each o.44er by a
network Of pipe lines, the Standard may to-
day pump oil from a well in Indian Terri
tory to its REFINERY at Jersey City. The
cost of piping a barrel of Oil from the Kan
sas field to the Atlantic seaboard would not
be much, If any, above 80 cents The indie
pendent refiner is located usually near the
source Of the crude supply. but the Stand
ard locates its re1neries near the great CEN
ters Of distribution. The Independent re-
finer In interior Kansas finds 1t difficult to
dispose Of his residuum, such as fuel oil,
because the railroad rate Is almost as much
as its value; but the Standard has at the
doors Of its refinery in Kansas City mar
ket at favorable price for a large part Of
this by-product, and this is of itself an
enormous advantage. ~..-s.-
The refined product can be distributed
distributing center like Kansas City than
from a non-compettive point. Possession
Of the pipe lines enables the Standard to
absolutely control the price of crude petro-
leum and the price which its competitors in
q given locality shall pay. 1t can raise the
price in one locality and obtain its own oil
from another, and reverse the process when
1t desires to do so. Whoever controls the
avenues of transportation OF the raw ma
terial or Of the refined product can speedily
drive his competitors out of existence, and
| the production and distribution of petro-
leum is no exception to the rule The Stand.
| in connection with its pipe lines. putting
| every part Of Its producing and refining
| operations into most intimate relations.
The pipeline system Of the Standard In
vantage. Any person with sufficient carttal,
| and the expense Is not great, can construct
| and operate pipe line. The reason why
long pipe lines competing with those Of the
/ Standard have not been provided is found
| in obstacles thrown in the way of such
undertaking., having been opposed by the
| railways whose right Of way has generally
stood as q Chinese wall against all at
l tempts to extend pipe lines. From the rail-
| way standpoint, the pipe line takes the
traiiic which the railway would otherwise
/ obtain; but in cases brought to the atten-
ton Of the commission every facility has
been extended to the Standard for the con-
struction Of pipe hnes, while the railways
have generally done all In their power to
prevent their construction by competitors
Of the Standard. An attempt ct the present
Continued on Tenth Page.)