The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-01-01

40 nO Woy W OVC1kuIn ~ xAau008 SlIye
Kas., and Quincy, ILL.,, may become i'm
portant shipping points for oil and the
wholesale grocers may buy It and
bring it into Missouri to sell to the
retail grocers for distribution.
II Missouri can accomplish this re-
suit other states can and when tho
system Of distributing goes back to
the system Of twenty-five years ago
the Independent refiner will have q
better chance than he has under pres
ent conditions.
what is the effect on the Sugar
Greek refinery" Mr.. Eddy was asked.
'SlOr:-t too, by the terms Of the de-
'caI sSoo,: :..a TO shut down. We
a few days to - the stills emptied.
The Sugar Creek refinery is the Sec
ond largest owned by the company.
Whiting, Ind, Is the largest. There
is little refinery at Neodesha, Kas.,
but with that exception Sugar Creek
furnishes practically all the oil used
in the west and much that goes to
India and China. More than 60 per
cent Of the products Of the Standard
Oil company are marketed out Of the
United States. We have taught the
people of Asia to use coal oil lamps,
spent fortunes doing 1t, and much of
the oil refined here goes to those
countries. Now under the Missouri
law we cannot operate the plant or
sell 1t to anybody else to operate it
as an oil refinery"
The Law Here Is Severe.
The Missouri law is probably moro
severe than most people who live in
the state realize. The supreme court
has decided that the Standard Oil
company has no rights in Missouri.
When the mandate has been handed
down IL the decree Is not modified
in some way it will be unlawful for
the Standard Oil company to sell oil
in Missouri in any form. It cannot
buy, sell or hold property. An agent
OF the company selling oil on the
streets could be sent to the peniten-
tiary. The law says the property 1t
now owns cannot be used for the
same purpose by anybody else.
The Standard Oil company, as q
matter of protection to its business,
would not sell the Sugar Creek refin-
cry to an outsider, but there is no
outsider with a market for oil that
would Justify buying 1t If he or they
had the money. Then in addition to
being outlawed the plant could not be
used to refine Oil anyhow If the law
is strictly followed. There is even q
question whether a Kansas City groc-
er could buy oil and bring into Mis-
souri, to sell without violating the
law, but in the enforcement the state
will hardly go that far.
Like q Brewery in Kansas.
If the Missouri law is constitution
al the Standard OIL company is in
about the same condition in Missouri
as big brewery would be in Kansas,
deprived of all rights and q violator
Of the law every time It attempts to
do anything. The site of a brewery
In Kansas could be sold for town lots
or to be turned into a cornfielu OF
pasture. but not to make beer. The
Standard seems to be in the same
position with it's refinery, while the
man who drives tank wagon will be
on the same footing as a Kansas bar
tender except that he won't have ev.
en- the sympathy of his patrons. There
is nothing about coal oil to promote
the same sentiment of attachment
that some men have for beer.
OF course the big trust won't give
up until 1t has exhausted its last legal
remedy or reached an agreement o1
some sort with the state authorities
Unfortunately negotiations with the
state must be with one Herbert s.
Hadley, the governor, and the New
York men who control the richest
corporation in the world are afraid
he will be rather severe to deal with
AS to the Waters. Pierce Exceptions
Mr.. Eddy would not discuss the ex.
cepttous made in favor of the Waters.
Pierce Oil company which is given