The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1907-08-15
OIL 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 a. Home.

| WASHINGTON, Aug. PA still
| further exposure of the manner in which
! the American consumer is forced to pay
an enormous tribute to the Standard
! Oil company in the form OF unreason-
able prices and of the manner in which
/ that corporation manpulatcs the entire
petroleum. industry to its own huge proht
IS given by Commissioner of Corpora
tions Herbert Knox Smith. in report
just submitted to President Roosevelt.
The present report is one of several
on the petroleum industry. 1t oeals
with the topic, Discrimination III
Prices" 1t shows that the Standard
Oil has Disseminated against the Ameri-
can consumer to the advantage of the
foreign buyer, and that it has discrimi-
mated between different localities III tins
country to Il marked degree. 1t also
shows that the railroads OF the United
States are forced to pay tribute IN the
form Of excessive prices Tor iubrlcatluS
oils.
Hot Shot for Standard.
In his letter of submirIal to the lTesi-
lent which accompanies the report com
missioner Smith again takes the oppur-
tuuity 10 pour some hot shot into the
Standard ramparts He states that he
is in possession of further important cyl-
lcucc not ut present TO be gwen to the
public. this evidence both touching price
discrimination and other unfair prac-
tees"
In closing his letter Mr.. Smith makes
Il general denunciaton of the Standard
Us follows:
The obnoxious character OF the Stand
ards price policy and its methods is thus
adj
Standard has repeatedly asserted that com
hination, as illustrated by its own history,
is great benefit to the public III reducing
costs and consequently prices
Unfair Methods Employed.
The Standard is, however, most con
spicuouS example of precisely the opposite
of combination which maintains Il sub
stantial monopoly, not by superiority OF
service and 10y charging reasonable prices,
but by unfair methods OF destroying COM
petition; u combination which then uses
the power thus unfairly gained 10 Cypress
the public through wholly uNturtlOnate
prices. II has raised prices instead of low
criug them. 1t has porketed All the HdNaH-
tu.rs of its economies instead of sharing
them with the public aud has added stu!
further monopoly profits by charging more
than smaller and less economical concerns
could sell for If the standard allowed them
the chance.
some of the unfair and Illegal means by
which the Standard has been able to do
this have been proved in the reports al
ready published by this bureau, namely,
railroad discrimiua tons, underwriting IN
extent and enormous in degree; failure To
perform the duties of i common carrier IN
pipe line transportation, ana UNJUST meJh-
DDS of destroying competition III thaL buNi-
ness: and price discrimination OF IN" most
nagrant character. by your direction, in
view Of the proceedings of the attorney
general against the Standard Oil company,
some of the more detailed evidence Sc
cured 10y the bureau regarding price dls'
elimination is at present withheld from
publication and the same is true of cvi-
dencc regarding other unfair practices, the
most important of which are the mall-
tenauce of bogus independent companies.
espionage over the business of competitors,
especially by bribng railway employees to
disclose their shipments. and deception rs
to the quality of oils sold,
Higher Prices at Home.
The report goes into the entire qucs-
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 ut the same time 1t is
shown that prices for oil from 1903 TO
1903, years taken for purposes Of the
comparison. were higher in the United
States than in Europe and the Orient,
the average prices for various cOntinen-
tai countries and for the Orient being
more than | 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 l.G6 cents, as against
4.63 in the United States, with other
countries showing z similar disparity as
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