Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-08-23
Furnishing The Standard Oil.

Wallaces' Farmer;-On August 3rd
Judge Lands, of Illinois, sentenced
the Indiana Oil Company to pay a
fine of over $29, 900, 900 on over 1,45O
counts on which it was convicted by
jury some weeks since. This is the
limit which the law allows and was
inflicted only after the judge had
summoned before him Mr.. Rockefel-
ler and others of the directors and as
certained that nearly all of the stock
Of the Indiana OH Company was own
ed by the Standard Oil Company Of
New Jersey.
Twenty-nine million dollars is a
sum beyond the grasp Of mortal. If
our readers wish to have some con-
ception of it they might figure out
how much day Adam would have to
earn to accumulate that sum, putting
the age of the earth at 5000 years,
presuming that he put it away in a
strong box.
There is little question that the
Standard Oil Company will appeal
and carry the appeal up to the SUI
preme court, where it may be reach
ed a in couple of years; but in the
mean time the interest is accumu ulat-
ing on that S29 ,O0O,O 600 at the rate of
per cent, or nearly 81 100000 a year
Besides, according to Secretary Gar
field, there are 5000 more counts
hanging over the company for which
similar fines can be imposed.
The verdict of the public will be
that the sentence is just one. The
Standard Oil Company has been con-
demned at the bar of public opinion
for about every kind of robbery which
it is possible to perpetrate. They
have forced railroads to give them re-
bates; they have prospered to such an
extent that they have been able to
largely control and own the very rail-
roads through whose rebates they Sc
cured their power They have lied
persistently in recent years, claiming
that whatever they may have done in
the past they are obeying the law
now. The Standard Oil Company has
crushed competition ruthlessly wher-
ever it has appeared. They have
beared the price Of crude oil and
bulled the price of the products, and
at the same time maintained that
they were cheapening oil and its pro-
ducts, and that only because of their
wonderful business ability have far
mers and business men been able to
buy their oil at the present reason
able price.
Following directly on this decision,
issued in fact the very same day, is
the report to President Roosevelt by
Herbert Knox Smith, commissioner
Of corporations, giving the facts as to
the profits of the Standard Oil Com
pany. illustrating with charts, he
shows the price of Pennsylvania crude
oil from 1897 to 1905, together with
the increased price of products, and
the margin between the price of crude
oil and the cost Of refining. Quoting
from the report:
"The average margin between
crude and illuminating oil was 53
cents in 1898, IL cents in 1908, an in
crease of 1.S cents. The gasoline mar
gin increased from So cents in 1898 to
90 cents in 1903. The lubricating oil
margin increased between the same
years from 10.7 to 1877 ce nts, and for
paraffin wax from 1863 to 3l.9 cents.
The weighted average mar
gin for the four classes of products
combined was lowest in the second
half of 1898, 6.3 cents, and highest in
the first half of 1903, SO cents"
Like the mills of the gods, the mills
of the law grind slowly but they grind
exceedingly small, and the American
people will be greatly disappointed if
its present course Of procedure does