Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-08-16
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 az Home

WASHINGTON, Aug. ia still
further exposure of the manner i'll 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 manipulates the entire
petroleum industry TO its own huge profit
is given by Commissioner Of Corpora
tons Herbert Knox Smith. IN a report
Just submitted to President Roosevelt.
The present report is one of several
on the petroleum industry. 1t deals
with the topic, DETERMINATIONS 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 discriml-
mated between different localities in this
country to a marked degree. 1t also
shows that the railroads of the United
States are forced to pay tribute i'll the
form OF excessive prices for lubricatlng
oils
Hot Shot for Standard.
IL his letter of submittai to the PrcSl-
dent which accompanies the report Com
missioner Smith again takes the Oppor-
tunity TO pour some hot shot into the
Standard rampartS. lie states that he
is in possession of further important evil
dence not at present to be given to the
public, this evidence both touching price
discrimination and other unfair prac-
tees
In closing his letter Mr.. Smith makes
a general denunciatIOn of the Standard
as follows:
The obnoxious character of the Stand
ards price policy and its methods is thus
made clear from the present report. The
Standard has repeatedly asserted that com
bination, 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, Il most con
spicuous example of precisely the opposite
of Il combination which maintains sub
stantial monopoly, not by superiority Of
service and by charging reasonable prices,
but by unfair methods of destroying com
petition: d combination which then uses
the power thus unfairly gained to Cypress
the public through wholly eXtoruonate
prices. 1t has raised prices instead of low
ering them 1t has pocketed all the adVan-
tagcS 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 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 determinations, Wlde-reaching i'll
extent and enormous i'll degree: failure to
perform the duties of 4 common carrier i'll
pipe line transportation, and unjust II. tn
DDS of destroying competition in that bust
ness: and price discrimination of the most
fragrant 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 by the bureau regarding price dis
elimination is at present withheld from
publications; and the same is true of evil
dence regarding other unfair practices, the
most important of which the main
tenance of bogus Independent 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.
Higher Prices at Home.
The report goes into the entire ques-
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 at the same time. 1t is
shown that prices for oil from 1903 to
1905. 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 l 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 1.G6 cents, as against
4.63 in the United States, with other
countries showing a similar disparity as