Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-08-12
Herbert Knox Smith
Makes His Official
Report Public.
WINS OUT BY TRICKERY
Company Declared to Have
Raised Prices In America and
Sold for Less Abroad.

Washington, Aug. 12.-The most Wig
orous arralgnment of the oppressive
and unjust methods of the STANDARD
Oil company ever presented to the gov
eminent in an official communication
is contained in the report made public
yesterday of Commissioner of Corpo:-
ations Herbert Knox Smith dealing
with the Standards discrimination in
prices"
Some of Commissioner Smith's
charges. which he substantiates win
facts and figures, are:
Goes After Foreign Trade.
In foreign countries the price policy
| of the Standard Oil company has been
| to sacrifice the interests of the Amer
lean consumer for the purpose of Sc
curing foreign business. 1t has main
| tained high monopoly prices in no3-
competitive communities, thus making
| up losses incurred in communities
where it had to meet or cut the prics
quoted by Independent concerns.
1t has practically forced the Amer
| ican railroads to pay exorbitant prices
for lubricating oils, favoring some
roads to the prejudice of others. the
company's pet railroad being the Penn
sylvania.
| Its dealings with the government
have been characterized by deceit ana
| falsehoOd and its methods in exten l.
ing its business unfair, unjust, and uu-
lawful
| Uses Strong Terms.
Bogus" bribery" "falsity," "iIla-
gal" 'eXtOrtiOnate," and Obnoxious
are some of the terms Commissioner
Smith uses in his arraignment.
And that is not all, for Commission
er Smith has this to say in his lett ar
submitting the report to President
Roosevelt:
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 by the bureau regarding price
discrimination is at present withheld
from publication; and the same is true
of evidence regarding other unfair
practices. the most important of which
are the maintenance of bogus indepea-
dent companies espionage over the
business of competitors, especially by
bribing railway employees to disclose
their shipments, and deception as to
the quality of oils sold"
Kills Competition.
In his letter transmitting his report
TO the president, Commissioner Smith
Says:
"The obnoxious character of the
Standards price policy is made clear.
The Standard has repeatedly asserted
that combination, as illustrated by its
own history, is n great benefit to the
public. 1t may readily be seen that in
some industries combination has had
beneficial results. 1t is probable that
the Standard, by reason of its undoubt-
ledly great efficiency. could. had it been
content with reasonable profits, have
made prices to consumers lower than
would have been possible for smaller
concerns, and thus have maintained its
Z great portion of the business by wholly
fair and legitimate means.
Trickery Its Forte.
"The Standard is, however, a most
: conspicuous example of precisely the
? opposite-of combination which main
tains substantial monopoly not by su-
periority of service and by charging
: reasonable prices, but by unfair meth
DDS of destroying competition; COM
bination which then uses the power
thus unfairly gained to oppress the
public through wholly extortionate
prices 1t has raised prices instead of
lowering them. 1t has pocketed all the
advantages of its economies instead of
sharing them with the public, and has
added still further monopoly profits by
charging more than smaller and less
economical concerns could sell it for If
the Standard allowed them the chance"
, Advances Here; Chenpens Abroad.
+ Discussing the disparity in prices of
I oil in the United States and foreign
, markets, Commissioner Smith says that
: the American price steadily advanced
4 from 1897 to 1903. The New York ex-
4 lport price advanced much less up to
4 1903, declining in 1904, and the Ham
i burg (German) price shows practically
the same movement as the New York
s export price, while the London price
shows a steady decline from 1901 to
1904 and an important drop during
I1nnr