Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-08-16
NIL TRUST FAvORS
ALL FOR FOREIGNER.
COMMISSIONER SMITH AGAIN HITS
STANDARD COMPANY IN RE-
PORT TO ROOSEVELT.
HIGHEST PRICES IN AMERICA
Concessions Abroad Made Are Possible
by Levying Tribute on All
Users at Home.

w "A lON, Aus -
further exposure of the manner IN when
the American consumer is forced 10 pay
an enormous tribute to the StandaFo
Oil company i'll the form OF unfeason-
able prices and of the manner IN Whlch
that corporation manipulates the entire
petroleum industry to its own huge pron'
is given by Commissioner of Corpora
lions Herbert Knox Smith. in report
Just submitted to President Roosevelt
The present report is one OF seVeral
Oh the petroleum industry. 1t oeals
with the topic, DETERMINATIONS Il,
Prices" 1t shows that the Standard
Oil has Disseminated against the Amer
can consumer to the advantage OF the
foreign buyer, and that it has discrlml-
aated between different localities IN TINS
country to a marked degree. 1t also
shows that the railroads of the united
States are forced to pay tribute III the
form of excessive prices tor luorlcalinS
oils.
Hot Shot for Standard.
In his letter of submitral to the Presi-
lent which accompanies the report Com
missioner Smith again takes the oppof-
.unity to pour some hot shot INTO the
Standard ramparts. He states that he
dence not at present to be given to the
public, this evidence both touching price
discrimination and ''other unfair prac-
tees"
In closing his letter Mr.. Smith makes
4 general denunciatlon OF the Standard
as follows:
The obnoxious character of the Stand
ards price policy and its methods is thus
made clear from the present report. Inc
Standard has repeatedly asserted that com
bination, as illustrated by It's own history,
Is a great benefit to the public III reducing
costs and consequently prices.
Unfair Methods Employed.
The Standard is, however, a most con-
spicuous example Of precisely the opposite
of a combination which maintains sub
stantial monopoly, not by superiority OF
service and by charging reasonable prices,
but by unfair methods of destroying com
petition; combination which then uses
the power thus unfairly gained to Cypress
the public through wholly eXtortlonate
prices 1t has raised prices instead OF low
ering them. 1t has pocketed all the advan-
tages Of its economies instead of sharing
them with the public, and has added stlii
than smaller and less economical concerns
could sell for if the Standard allowed them
the chance.
which the Standard has been able to do
this have been proved in the reports al
ready published by this bureau, namely,
|
extent and enormous in degree; failure to
perform the duties of a common carrier III
pipe line tranSporta ton, and UNJUST meth
DDS of destroying competition in that buSl-
ness; and price discrimination Of the most
hagrant character. BY your direction, i'll
view of the proceedings of the attorney
general against the Standard OIL company,
some of the more detailed evidence Sc
cured by the bureau regarding price dis
elimination is at present withheld from
publication; and the same is true OF evil
dence regarding other unfair practices, the
tenance of bogus independent companies,
espionage over the business Of competitors,
especially by bribing railway employees to
disclose their shipments, and deception as
to the quality of oils sold.
Higher Prices at Home.
The report goes into the entire ques-
ton of price discrimination at great de-
tail. setting out tables of prices paid in
the various states. in different towns
and in foreign countries for the Stand
ard products at the same time. 1t is
shovsS1 that prices for oil from 1908 to
1905 years taken for purposes of the
comparison, were higher in the United
States than in Europe and the Orient
the average prices for various continent
tai countries and for the Orient being
more than l cent per gallon above the
average price in the United States
Even more significant is a comparison
in the report showing the margins of
the respective prices above costs. From
this it appears that the average Ger
man margin was 1.66 cents, as against
1853 in the United States, with other
countries showing a similar disparity as
against the United States.