The Arizona sentinel., 1907-02-06
SCATHING REPORT ON STAND
 ARD OIL co.

ARD OIL co.
 Of all the scathing attacks that
 have ever been made upon the
 Standard Oil Company the re-
 port of the Interstate Commerce Commission submitted to con
 gress last week is certainly the
 most severe. There has been
 no private or official document
 on the subject of the great oil
 monopoly that has come any
 where near the severity with
 which this report handled the
 giant corporation. The Com
 mission was careful to state that
 all the facts upon which its con-
 clusions were based were accu-
 mulated from testimony given
 under oath. With this prelude
 as to the authenticity of its state
 ment, the Commission proceeded
 calmly to dissect the Standard
 Oil Company in a fashion that
 has never before been equalled
 in government report. It de-
 clared that the company for
 years had maintained paid spy system whereby the secrets of
 it's competitors were bought from the competitors own employees; it said "the ruin of it's competi- tors has been distinct part of the policy of the Standard Oil Company in the past, system aticaHy and consistently pursued. It charges that the Standard has tempered with the oil inspectors in various states, has bought ad- vertising space in the newspa- pers which it has paid for at ad- vertising rates, and filled with alleged news matter favorable to the company; has operated ] independent oil concerns as such after they had been bought by the Standard; in order to fool the public; has sold three grades of oil at varying prices out of the same barrel, and has used every possible means for destroy ] ing competition wherever it ex- isted and subsequently, taking the price of it's victory out of the pockets of the consuming public. I The report characterizes the op- a eratiuns of the company as ''un- 3 fair and even disreputable," and adds, "this policy of killing com petition at any cost has been pur sued without much regard either to decency or Conscience" Il s says that where independent con 2 cerns have been able to exist a s all they have been forced to sel g the most of their product abroad $ where the laws of foreign coun : tries gave them protection tha 5 is denied them in the United a States.
 2 The conclusion drawn by tn ; Commission is that the existing E law is inadeqate to cope with tn a evils complained of and that s will be necessary to separate en M tirely the production of oil iron E it's transportation, because it ha S been largely through unfair ad . vantages in the transportatiol H of oil that the Standard has bee Is able to fasten it's grip of monor E oly on every community Tn tn @ United States.
 E The report is @ most remarka E ble document and very scath k ing arraignment of the Standar s Oil Company, but it is doubtful B whether it's publication will hay E any permanent effect in securing H a fair deal for the public and al E lowing the independent oil pro E ducers to continue their work i $ peace. It is possible that re E peated attacks such as the Stand E ard has been subjected to almos k continuously for the past fv E years may have their effect i 5 the end, and arouse the govern E ment to some action that will re E lieve the public from this great E est and most conscienceless c E all modern monopolies.