The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-08-07

clusions here must be based largely
on the course of export prices, which,
as a matter of fact, have never repre-
sented exactly the course of prices in
this country, but which probably COR
respond to domestic prices much more
closely in the earlier periods than in
the later ones. Making due allowance
for these considerations, however,
these longer series of prices are in
teresti1g because they cover both the
earlier competitive period and the Ia
ter noncompetitive or monopolistic Pc
riod, and allow comparison between
the two. They demonstrate the falsi-
ty of the historic claim of the Stand
ard Oil Company that by reason of its
extraordinary efficiency it has brought
prices to point lower than would
have been reached had business re-
mained under normal competitive con-
ditions and in the hands of a number
The industry may be said to have
been normally competitive from 1866
to 1874, and during that time there
was a fall in margin between the
price of Pennsylvania crude of from
23.7 cents in 1866 to 800 cents in 1874.
This decline was much greater than
tnat which has taken place since. 1t
is conclusive evidence that further re-
duction would have been made in the
l,,r
Moreover, a part of the reduction
which took place from 1874 to 1879
under the Standard regime was due to
decrease in transportation costs and
in railway rates, the rate On illuminat-
ing oil from Pennsylvania fields to New
while during part of the year 1879 it
was not over 1 cent per gallon. The
construction of the seaboard pipe line
during this later period reduced the
cost of transportation still further, and
it must be remembered that the Stand
ard was not the originator of the idea
of a seaboard pipe line, but that the
Tide Water Pipe Company, then who'll
ly independent, first built such a line.
Furthermore, the reductions in mar
gins since 1879 have been much less
than the Standard mas often claimed,
and such as have occurred have been
more than offset by the increased val |
ne of by-products. In general, even
the export prices, which probably show |
the situation most favorably for the |
Standard, show a margin during re-
cent years not very much lower tnan |
twenty-five years ago. In 1879 that |
margin was sos cents; in 1903 tne |
was 4.91 cents; and, as indi- |
Gated above, in the last few years do
mestic prices have risen much more |
than the export prices.
In short, it may be said that the
great decrease in prices which took
place in The period from 1866 to 1874
was due to competitive conditions,
while the much smaller decrease that
took place from 1874 to the present un-
has been due to conditions over which
the Standard had no control has been
more than offset by increase in the val
ue of by-products, and can not be
placed in any way to the credit of the
Standard Oil Company.
The fact that the Standard does
nearly nine-tenths of the petroleum
business has been demonstrated in a
previous part of this report. 1t now
appears conclusively that the result of
this domination has been to increase
the prices of oil paid by the consumer,
and correspondingly to increase the
profits received by the Standard. 1t |
is not true to say that only such a /
great combination can furnish oil at |
the prices which have been charged. |
Independent competitors, though very |
small and weak do survive and do bu- |
siness at prices which are deliberately |
reduced by the Standard within the |
small competitive areas reached by |
these independents, and which are
much lower than the average prices |
received by the Standard throughout |
the country. |
1t is true that, taken as whole, the |
Standard Oil Company is a more effic- |
lent industrial machine than any one
of it's competitors. Nevertheless, care
full estimates based upon data submit
CONTINUED on Page Four.)
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