The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-29
s.ZVERE ON z STANDARD OIL Interstate Commerce Commission Report. ALMOST COMPLETE MONOPOLY Profits Not Results of Their
 Legitimate Business. Independent Companies Are Almost In- variabiy Frozen Out by RockefeI-
 Ter Interests and Used as
 Blind for Public.
COMPLETE MONOPOLY

Washington. Jan. 2s.--The Iu- terstate Commerce Commission sent to Congress a report of the inves- tigations made by it under the TilI- man-Gillespie resolution approved March last, concerning the relations of common carriers by rail to the pro- auction and distribution of oil. The report covers the distribution of pe- troieum and It's 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 it's monopoly and the relations of transportation agencies to that monopoly"
 It Is asserted that The ruin of it's competitors has been a distinct part of the policy of the Standard oil Com pany in the past. systematically and persistently pursued" Considerable of the ground covered has been gone into fully in the report on oil and its dis tribution made public by the bureau of corporations.
 No instance" the report says. sis round where any railway company has been interested in oil lands or in pe- troleum production and only one in- stance Is shown where officials of A railway company were interested in the production and sale of oil. This re- lates to certain officials of the Balti- tAAOtO anu OUAO 6outnW6SLeTn hdltf0a0 having owned stock of the Argand Re- lining Company. which was on their recommendation afterwards sold to the Standard and the lubricating contract or the road transferred to the GaIena oil Company. a Standard company.
 The Standard Oil Company largely monopolizes the handling of petroleum from the mouth of the well until 1t Is sold to the retailer and sometime to the consumer, and under ordinary cir cumstances its margin of profit is very large. Estimates made in the from the sugar creek refinery at Kan sas City of from five to eight cents per gallon A much higher profit is indicated for gasoline. The sale of re- fined oil from the large Standard re- nnery at Whiting, Ind, Is scorrespona-
 Has Little Advanfame.
 The evidence shows little basis for the contention that the enormous tfyf- dends of the Standard oil Company are the legitimate result of It's economies, Except for It's pipe lines the Standard has but little legitimate advantage over the independent refiner.
 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
  The assumption is that this literature furnishes many of the ideas touching the great benefits conferred upon fhe public by the Standard oil Company.
 Possession of the pipe lines enables the Standard to absolutely control the prices of crude petroleum and the price which it's competitors in a given locality shall pay. It can raise the price in one locality and obtain lis own oil from another and reverse the process when 1t desires to do so. Who ever controls the avenues of transpor- tation of the raw material or of the refined product can speedily drive his competitors out of existence, and the production and distrib ton of petrol- cum is no exception to the rule"
 The pipe line system of the Standard. the report contends, Is not a natural. but rather an artificial advantage. If is argued that the reason why long pipe lines competing with those Of r e Standard have not been provided is found in obstacles in the way of such undertakings, having been opposed by the railroads whose right of way has generally stood as Chinese wall against all attempts to extend nine lines. Ordinarily, 1t Is said, the Stand ard ha6 not received rebates in recent years, so far as has been discovered but 1t has nevertheless enjoyed secret rates possessing all of the elements OI illegal TdItS anu the auVantaR6H so obtained over Independent shippers have been of very great value to that company Numerous instances of dis crimination in favor of the Standard resulting from the published railroad rates were found. says the report Tn this connection the following Is an in stance given by the commissions:
 Cites An Instance.
 "A low rate of ten cents per hundred pounds upon petroleum and its pro- ducts existed from Neodosha, Kansas, for many years, where the Standard operated a refinery. to Kansas City. This was for the interest of the Stand ard; but>when the Standard constructed its refinery at Sugar Creek Kansas City, and connected 1t py pie line with the Kansas oil wells, the railroad rate was advanced from ten to seventeen 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 com missions attention that the rate was not changed until it came to be for the should be changed, and 1t was also changed as that company would nat ura,ly desire"
 In discussing the assertion contained in the report that the ruin of it's com petitors has been a distinct part of the policy of the Standard Oil Company" the commission says that one method has been the organization of a perfect system of espionage over the shipments of it's competitors resulting In knowl- edege as to the destination of every ear of oil leaving the refinery of an Independent The Standard agent at the destination. says the report, Is held responsible If the Independent oil Is sold.
 The report continues: Tt does not appear that the railroad companies have directed the furnishing of this formation or that the practice has been sanctioned by superior officials of the road but 1t does appear that such in- formation is systematically obtained from railroad employees. The testimony shows that the Standard at one time if if does not now. devoted il fund to the purpose of obtaining this informa- tion. It has frequently happened when the supply of independent oil in a par ticular territory was low and shin ment was peculiarly necessary. that the shipment has unaccountably zone a-4ray Tnforrna ton also appaars tn