The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-08-14
What Others Say.
THE STANDARD OIL

ject of the petroleum industry Of the
United tSates. 1t seems to be thor
ough and exhaustive, and was under
consideration for amny months. The
facts set forth in the report were, of
course, carefully verified by experts,
and every statement contained in the
report may therefore be accepted as
correct and easily proven in court.
This report deals directly with the
prices of crude petroleum and the re-
fined products, rather than with the
methods employed by the Standard OIL
Company The methods of the Com
Ipany have been set forth i'm other re-
ports, and are familiar to newspaper
READERS. But the claim has always
been made by the Standard Gil Com
lpany that whatever its methods. IL
has furnished oil to the consumer
cheaper than could have been fur
Iuished had it not been for the organ
nation Of the Standard Oil Company.
And that is, after all, the test Of a
concerns usefulness or harmfulness
1T is theoretically a bad thing for a
trust to stine competition, but If it
can show that it Is furnishing a COM
imOdity to the people cheaper than any
iother concern could furnish It, the
lpeople do not consider the fellow
gho has been put out of business It
/ Is all selfshness, more or less, this
Ifhing Of condemning trusts. So long
as the Standard Oil Company could
Iwake people believe that they were
lneneficiares of the system. the peO-
lple We're satisfied. That is the reason
ithc Standard Oil Company has had
50 many apologists-becaus the peo-
iplc believed IL was furnishing oils
lchcaper than could otherwise be fur
Inished. Right in this city public
speakers have stood before the audi
| IcnCes and declared that the Standard
IOH Company had really been bene-
Factor to the race by reason Of its
IcrGapening the price of its products.
And now comes the Commissioner
Of Corporations, after careful investi-
Igation and says:
THE Standard has repeatedly
claimed that It has reduced the price
Iof oil: that it has been a benefit to
1.-The consumer, and that only a great
combination like the Standard could
have furnished oil at the prices that
Ihaye prevailed. Each one of thesl
claims is disproved by this report.
THE Standard has consistentlj
Iraed its power to raise the price OF
81 ta
| ~ absolutely, but also relatively, to
lthe cost Of crude OIL"
But the Commissioner does not ask
lHlyone TO take his word for the state
linen. He furnishes competent testi-
Imony i'm the way Of prices. The re-
port considers the oil industry from
rs beginning and gives particulars OF
IE ices for every year and shows how
Itrey have been influenced and for
What purpose Even the foreign mar
Fet is considered in the report.
Here is another paragraph in the
report which states a few things in
/ gard TO the small Independent con-
,rn which may be interesting
"The fact that the Standard does
lrcarly nine-tenths or the petroleum
usiness has been demonstrated in
revious report. 1t now appears con-
Gusively that the result of this dom
4atiOn has been to increase the price
+ oil paid by the consumer, and cor
b spondingly to increase the profits
received by the Standard. It is not
rle to say that only such a great
combination can furnish oil at the
.prices which have been charged. In
dependent competitors, though small
I, nd weak, do not survive and do
usiness at prices which are de-
.liberately reduced by the Standard
within the small competitive areas
cached by these Independents, and
which are much lower than the ay-
.,rage prices received by the STANDARD
throughout the country"
The concluding paragraph Of the
report reads:
Its domination Che Standard's)
2 rs not been acquired or maintained
, y its superior efficiency, but rather
~ unfair competition, and by meth
eds economically and moral. uniusti-
fable. The Standard has superior
efficiency in running its own business
b. has an equal efficiency in destroy
ing the business of competitors. It
Keeps for itself the profits Of the first
and adds TO these the monopoly prof
its of the first and ads TO these the
monopoly profits secured by the sec
end. 1t profits are far above the
highest possible standard Of a rea-
sonable commercial return, and have
been steadily increa ,Ing Really
the history Of this great industry is
] lstory Of the persistent use Of the
worst industrial methods, the eXac-
tion Of exorbitant prices from the
consumer, and the securing Of excess
i've profits for the small group Of men
who over long series Of years have
thus dominated the business"
Are the people Of this country help
/ ,ss 10 protect themselves against this
company? Its evil is hown by sworn
Officers Of the Goyernment-pur serv-
ants. There Is no malice, no politics
in the report of the Commissioner OF
Corporations, II Is as II you had
40, oh