Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-01-28
STANDARD OIL
AT LAST EXPOSED
By Investigation of
the Interstate
Commission
pEp0RT CENT Tn C0NGREcc
REPORT SENT TO CONGRESS
Ruin of all Competitors a
Distinct Pollcy-.-How Mono
poly Operates.

sion sent W NOHSl6SS LOuuy lepOlt l
of the investigations made by it un-
der the Tillman.Gillespie resolutions
concerning the relations of common
carriers by rail to the production and
distribution of oil. The report covers
the distribution Of petroleum and its
products east Of the Mississippi river
and, incidentally, the Kansas and
Texas fields. The report points out
generally the methods by which the
Standard Oil Company has built up
and perpetuated its MONOPOLY" 1t is
asserted that 'the ruin of its competi
tors has been a distinct part of the
policy of the Standard Oil Company In
the past, Systematically and persist.
emily pursued"
mo instance" the report says is
found where any railway company has
been interested in OH lands or in pc
troleum production, and only one in
stance is shown where officials of a
railway company were interested in
the production aid sale of oil. This
relates to certain officials of the Balti
more and Ohio Southwestern Railroad
having owned stock OF the Argand Re-
tining Company, which was at their
Recommendation afterward sold to
the Standard Oil Company and the
lnbrlcating contract which the road
transferred to the Galena Oil Com
pany, a Standard Company.
Profits are Very Great.
"The Standard Oil Company largely
monopol2es the handling of petroleum
from the mouth of the we'll until it Is
sold to the retailer and sometimes to
the consumer, and under ordinary cir.
cumstances its margin or profit is very
large Estimates made in the report
show a profit Of refined oil from the
Sugar Creek Refinery at Kansas City
of from five to eight cents per gallon
A much higher profit is indicated for
gasoline. The sale Of refined oil from
the large Standard Refinery at Whit.
ing, is correspordingly profitable
The evidence shows little basis for
the contention that the enormous divi-
dends of the Standard Oil Company
are the legitimate result of its econ
omics. Except for it's pipe lines the
Standard has but little legitimate adj
vantage over the independent refiner.
Pays for Newspaper Puffs.
"The STANDARD buys advertising
space in many newspapers which it
fills, not with advertisements, but
with reading matter prepared by
agents kept for that purpose, and paid
for at advertising rates, as ordinary
news. The assumption is that this lit
erature furnishes many of the ideas
touching the great benefits conferred
upon the public by the Standard Oil
Company.
Possession of the pipe lines en-
ables the Standard absolutely to con
troll the price of crude petroleum and
the price which its competitors in
given locality shall pay. 1t can raise
the price in one locality and obtain
its own oil from another and reverse
the process when it desires to do so.
Whoever controls the avenue of trans
portation. of the raw material or of the
refined produce can speedily drive his
competitors out of existence, and the
production and distribution of petrol
cum Is no exception to the rule"
Receives Aid from Railroads.
The pipe line system of lne Stand
ard, the report contends, is not nat.
ural, but rather an artificial advant.
age. 1t is argued that the reason why
long pipe lines competing with those
Of the Standard have not been pro.
vided is found in obstacles in the way
of such undertakings having been op-
posed by the railroads whose right
of-way has generally stood as Chin
ese wall against all attempts to ex.
tend pipe lines. Ordinarily, it is said,
the Standard has not received rebates
in recent years, so far as has been
discovered, but it has never 'neless en-
joyed secret rates possessing all of
the elements of Illegal rates and the
advantages so obtained over independ-
ent shippers have been of very great
value to that company. Numerous in
stances of discrimination in favor of
the Standard resulting from the pub
lished railway rates were found, says
the report. In this connection the fol
lowing Is an instance given: A low
rate Of 10 cents per 100 pounds upon
petroleum and its products existed for
many years from Neodesha, Kansas
where the Standard operated refin,
cry, to Kansas City. This was for the
interest of the Standard: but when
the Standard constructed its refinery
at Sugar Creek, Kansas, and connected
It by pipe line with the Kansas oil
wells, the rail rate was advanced from
10 to II cents per hundred pounds.
While the railways insist that this
was not done at the instance Of the
standard, the significant fact remains
in this and many other cases called
to the commissions attention, that
the rate was not changed until it came