Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1910-03-10
The Standard Oil Company.

The Standard Oil Company.
Published by Request.)
The Standard Oil Company is az
American institution.
1t deals in an American product. Il
supplies this product in its various
forms to consumers in every country
in the world, except those countries
which have passed prohibitory tariff
laws, and thus have barred competi
ton, not being able to meet it.
The Standard Oil Company is the
largest employer of labor in the world
In average times it gives work directly
to more than eighty thousand men.
lis daily pay roll is more than one hun
dred fifty thousand dollars
Most of its equipment is the inven-
tion of Americans, and it's best aud
highest paid chemists and engineers
are Americans, although it has search
ed the civilized world for talent and
skill.
The Standard Oil Company is our
largest exporter ofAmerican products.
The money pumped into the United
States from foreign countries for
American products through The Stand
ard Oil Company's financial pipelines
is two hundred fifty thousand dollars
day. This money at once finds it's way
through all the channels of American
| trade. Europe has oil-fields as exten-
| sive as those in America There are
oil-fields. in Persia, Bulgaria, Burma,
Ceylon, uetralia, New Zealand, parts
| of South America, and the Balkans.
Yet The Standard Oil Company could
| serd its products TO all these countries
| at a profit, if not shut out by q tariff.
The competition Of tho world fades be-
| fore it, because it is organized or a
| scale and in a way that no foreign
| competitor is.
IL is organized or the American plan.
In Oriental countries individual eff
fort still largely prevails. In Italy,
Spain and Egypt, wells are drilled by
| hand, and pumps are operated by digi-
tai process. The use of the "srasshop-
per connection-roG," which pumps a
dozen or more wells by the use Of one
engine, was recently forbidden in Tur-
key, because, forsooth, "Allah is great,
and Mohammed is his prophet, and
pump like that will throw the Faithful
out of work -
The argument that the forty men
thrown out of work could be used to a
better advantage elsewhere met with a
shrug of doubt, and the remark: Gal
lab he praised, if they work at this,
they will not have to work at that"
CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT
The Russian oi!-tields are about as
big as those in America. The largest
combination of capital under one man
agement in the oil business in Russia
is one million dollars, and it is Won
deroski. There is not single million
aire in Russia, outside of the Gar and
the Grand Dukes, and they do not
count, since their business is consump-
ton and waste, and not production.
The capital OF The Standard Oil
Company is one hundred ten million
dollars. And very much adverse criti-
cism has been brought forward be-
cause it pays forty million dollars an
nually in dividends, or, say, an inter.
est on capital of forty per cent
This, like most half-truths, is mis-
leading. The fact is that, while The
Standard Oil Company is capitalized
for one hundred tel. million dollars, its
investmsnt in plant and equipment is
about seven hundred million do liars.
In figuring percentages, the per
cent of dividends should be calculated
on the assetts, and not on the nominal
capitalization.
Think, say, of the Chemical Nation
al Bank!
1t should also be noted that, while
The Standard Oil Company pays forty
million dollars a year in dividends.
the amount it yearly pays out in wages
is fifty millions.
The yearly amount of its business is
about eighteen hundred millions. so
its profits on the business done are
about two and One-half per cent.
The Standard Oil Company owns
one hundred twenty iron-tank steam
ships that are employed in it's foreign
trade.
1t also owns TEN thousand miles OF
trunk-line pipeline. and eighty thous-
and miles of coDtributory or feeding
lines. One small item of its assets is
twenty thousand tank-wagons, used in
supplying consumers.
Oil property is subject to great deter
ioration, in the fact that wells are con
stantly growing dry, and districts may
be producing actively today, and to-
morrow may be dry holes. In such
cases the pipelines are Of so little value
that they are Often simply abandoned
and no attempt IS made to remove
them.
A DECENTRALIzED INDUSTRY.
The Standard Oil Company owns a
controlling interest in about fifty re-
tining companies Most Of these were