The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-08-15


those Of the contract made with the Co.
lena, and that II the bid OF the former had
been accepted the Norfolk and Western
would nave saved about $4,000 year. .
A similar instance was lat OF the Louis
Vile and Nashville Railroad company,
from rom 1897 ~ to % isoa. During m iso2 S tbis % road
paid 90 per cent. OF the invoice prices az
against the 49 per cent paid by the Penn
sylvania. and yet the oil company pro-,
the fun invoice price would be paid. A
memorandum which the purchasing agent
submitted to the president of the railroad
eonsiderable light on the methods OF the
Galena: ..... ...
Attached to the papers is a memoran-
os the Gaisns which h. was nnsioas t
have you see, which 1t is claimed shows
the BUSINESS his company gave our road
in the way Of freight during the first nine
and Dne-half months OF 1902.
Apart From Luhrication.
The railroad made contract for two
sa tFm tSs fSss New s anStesf %
for the two years Of this contract the rail-
road road. company paid aid $4,000 less :s than 4
offered by the Galena. When this contract
with the New York company expired, that
company offered still more favorable
railroad company in 1906 went back to
the Galena and made a contract with IL
at Its former excessive prices. The pur-
the oils furnished by the New York com
pany were entirely satisfactory. The buHi-
ness was taken from the New York Lub-
ricating OIL company and given to the
Galena-signal Oil company at very much
higher prices for reasons entirely apart
from the matter Of fabrication.
These Illustrations are typical of the ex-
~ NNAA T. -
tempting to sell lubricating oils to rail-
roads IN competition with, the Standard.
Except In rare instances. they are not In
offers to submit bids given any considera-
tion, although the bids submitted and the
contracts made by some Of them In recent
years show that they were ready and Of
one-half the invoice prices of the Galena,
and even less.
AS stated above, 1t is fair to use the
the prices paid by the other railroads Of
the country. The total amount paid by
the ninety-four roads for which the bu-
Gsan po11 has returns for iuSrcstng els pssd
Had this oil been bought at the prices paid
by the Pennsylvania, the payments would
have been $2,SSs. .21s. or 81, ,s78, 756 less than
railroads operating about 91.5 per cent Of
the locomotive and car mileage of the
country. 1t Is probable that, taking into
eating oils ln addition to the oils used on
rolling stock large quantities of the same
oils are bought for other purposes) by all
railroad companies In the country under
contract with the Galena, the payments
actually made are something over 5000
600 per year more than the fair market
value OF the lubricants. In all the evt-
nothing to show any reason why the rail-
roads Of the country should pay the Stand
ard this excess of 5000, 900 per year except
the suggested connection between these
contracts and the distribution of freight
traffic by the Standard OIL company or
the possible weight of financial influence.
Admitted Efficiency.
The obnoxious character Of the Stand
ard Is price policy and it's methods Is thus
Standard has repeatedly asserted that
combination as illustrated by Its own his
tory, IL a great benefit to the public, In
reducing costs and consequently prices.
combination has had these beneficial re-
suits. 1t is probable that the Standard
by reason Of Its undoubtedly great eff
cheney, could. had II been content with
reasonable profts, have made prices to
consumers lower than would have been
possible for smaller concerns, and thus
have maintained its great proportion Of
the business by wholly fair and Legitimate
means.
The Standard is, however, a most con-
spicuous example of precisely the opposite
-OI y COII1DIldtlOU which q Sup-
stantial monopoly, not by superiority Of
service and by charging reasonable prices,
but by unfair methods Of destroying com
petition combination which then uses
the power thus unfairly gained TO oppress
the public through wholly cxtortfonate
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 ad-
ded still further, monopoly profits by
charging more than smaller and less
economical concerns could sell for II 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, wide-reachinB In
extent and enormous In degree: failure to
perform the duties OF common carrier in
pipe line transportation, and unjust meth
DDS Of destroying competition in that busi-
ness; and price discrimination of the most
hagrant character. BY your direction In
view of the proceedings Of the attorney
general against the Standard Oil company,
some of the more detailed evidence secured
by the bureau regarding price discrimina-
ton Is at present withheld from publica-
ton; and the same Is true Of evidence re-
garding other unfair practices, the most
important OF which are the maintenance
Of bogus independent companies, espion-
age over the business OF competitors, es-
pecially by bribing railway employees to
disclose their shipments, and deception as
m hn ~ ofI al