The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1909-08-26
COMPANY RAISES NEW POINT
Officials OF the Company Declare That
the Intent of the Law is to Test Oil
to be Sold and Not Oil Purchased
for Private Consumption

In order to secure a ruling Of the
Supreme Court Of the state in regard
to certain provisions of the new oil
inspection laws friendly suit has been
filed in the Municipal Court in which
Deputy State Oil Inspector Harry e..
Grace is the plaintiff and the Thomas
B. Jeffrey Company IS the defendant.
The Jeffrey Company is one of the
largest users of oil for fuel in this
part of the state and the company has
declined to pay the fees demanded for
testing oil in it's tanks at the time the
law went into effect. The amount
claimed in the suit is insignificant, be-
ing less than So, but the inspector and
the officials of the company insist that
there is big principle at stake in the
case and that for this reason it will
be carried to the higher courts Of the
state for a decision.
Deputy Inspector Grace in keeping
with the provisions of the law went
to the Jeffrey plant recently and in
spected tank of oil which the COM
pany had on hand at the time of the
new law going into operation He
found 76 barrels Of oil in the tank
and presented his bill in keeping with
the provisions of the Law for $3.50.
NM oo,,,Dorxy JooJ;poJ IN now +ho Iii
holding that it was not the intent of
the law to test oil purchased for pri-
waite consumption, but to test oil which
was offered for sale, The law accord
ing to the inspector provides for the
testing of all oil that is shipped into
Wisconsin regardless to the uses to
which it is to be put.
One of the officials of the Jeffrey
Company in speaking of the matter this
morning said: ''We are glad that this
suit has been started as we believe a
decision of the Supreme court on the
matter will be one of greatest interest
to manufacturers in Wisconsin who use
the oil. Our contention is that so long
as we are satisfied with our bargain
with the oil companies it is not the
province of the state to insist on test
ing the oil. We buy many tanks of
the oil annually and we do not care
whether it tests 70 or 65 or 80 but we
want to use the oil right away and do
not care to be bothered with the in
spection to say nothing of the payment
of the fee. These fees would amount
to very large sum to the different
users of oil in the year. There is alb
solutely no trouble between the Jeffery
Company and the oil Inspector and the
suit is brought for the sole purpose of
determining the intent of the law 1t
is simply this-We do not see what the
state has to say about the oil we buy
so long as we are satisfied with it and
so long as we do not offer it for sale
to any other consumer"
Inspector Grace states that the con
ditions are exactly as stated by the
Jeffrey people The suit is to be heard
on next Monday and the outcome of
it will be watched with interest by
manufacturers and other users of crude
oil in all parts of the state. If it is
held that all of the oil used in this
manner must be tested and the fee
as named in the law charged it will
mean an expense of thousands of dol
Z lars to the manufacturers annually and
the same large increase in the amount
of fees paid into the oil inspection de-
partment.