New-York tribune., 1908-12-10

diana company The witness said that ssSo,ooo
had been expended il. demonstrating the utility
~ Sasolepe as fuel in stoves and engines, ana
tha. its use was greatly encouraged by the COM
pany's methods. In his cross-examination OF
Nj Drake, Mr.. Kellogg got him to say tha'
the company had not patented a stove or an
engine and that all the improvements 1or the
sale of gasolene had come from other people
but the witness asserted that with its 1S5
agents going about teaching the public how 10
use tie stoves and gasOlene power engines II
had done rnors than any other single interest
20 create a demand for the product
Mr Drake thought that his company had also
encouraged the use OF gasolene in automoplieS'
thereby increasing the demand for the COM
modify.
But you didn't patent any automoolles
mean your company" asked Mr.. Kellogg Mhen
the witness answered that It had not, the counsei
said:
Then there is one thing at least the Standard
did not DO"
we don't claim everything" the witness
answered
The question OF the price of gasolene came up
and the witness denied that his company had ever
charged 20 TO e5 cents gallon at retail MT
Kellogg said that 2S cents q gallon hao oeen
charged for Illuminating oil at one time, whlch
Mr.. Drake denied. Then Mr. Kellogg produced a
at Butte. Mont IN 1904. This might have been
the price charged by local dealers, the witness
said. but it was never charged by the Standard
DEFENCE BY STATISTICS
The heavy statistical part of the defence was
then begun by Mr.. Dredger, who first listened
to the reading of some figures showing the stor-
see af crude oil in the nlid-continental field Nj
RosenthaI took hand IN the examination OF
MI Dredger. opening with a table Of prices Of
25s commodities from 1890 to and including
1907. and saying:
If oil or a commodity with its various by
products had not increased between 1897 and
1907 It would have been the only commodity OF
the 25s in daily use that did not and yet we viii
show the increase IN that period was only sc per
cent-less than the general average. The price
OF the 25S commodities in 1897, the basis Of
100 per cent averaged an increase Of SO per
cent and the average price increased yearly until
1901, when there was no appreciable increase
until 1902 The increase then continued until
1907 when the average was 1905, as compared
with SO IN 1897, general advance Of 40 per cent
Professor Johnson went through long list OF
articles showing the increases in prices from
1895 10 1906. They ranged from sugar show
ing an increase Of l3 30 per cent, to wool, Ohio
fine fleece. secured which showed 9O4I per cent
Increase The increase in the cost Of the finest
eliminating oil IN that period was 6-o3 per cent
E Dana Durand,. OF the Department OF Com
-nerce and Labor. said that the Standards IN
crease was not a fair showing, as II did not
contain the marketing cost and freight The
Standards counsel said that it was not respon-
stble fer the freight or the other cost but that
If they were included the percentage Of increase
would still be only about II, away below the
ma soritv Of the other commodities, and below
the lowest Of them
Another table on wages showed an increase OF
81 per cent. Labor, under that showing, could
buy more oil now than in 1895, but not as much
s3f any other commodity, comparatively. Pro
fessor johnson explained that plenty Of money
meant low cost OF commodities and scarcity
meant high prices.
Going INTO detail, Professor Johnson said that
the increase IN the price Of crude oil showed a
parallel between the crude and the refined Oil.
and explained that the price OF the water white
refined was GA cents in 1895, and that the IN
crease as compared with other commodities
could best be illustrated by the following table: