Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-06-23

regret that the number of complaints
on the part of ticket sellers and port
ers, and especially on the part of the
/ female employees, has been increasing.
1t is complained, and with reason, that
employees show themselves Indifferent
to the desires of travellers who natur-
ally wish quick service; that they ask
impolitely what the travellers wish;
conduct themselves pertly; express IN
justified doubts as to the genuineness
of signatures on Communication tickets;
throw change and tickets at the tray
elers in a discourteous manner, and
eat luncheon while they are waiting on
the public" If conditions do not i'm
prove, further corrective steps are
threatened.
! The recently announced decision Of
| the imperial supreme court, UNFOLDING
the German Petroleum Sales company
! in its refusal to carry out a contract
made with the German-American Pc
/ troleum company, the German suOsid-
| larry of the Standard Oil company. is
! not only a material victory for the
sales company, but also an important
victory on the question of the principle
| involved.
! The verdict of the highest court re-
leases the Germans from the perform
arce of contract which they found
! highly Instantaneous, protects them
! from the heavy money loss which
would have fallen upon them for
! 6iCrnUar1 Of fIn ho6
the decision been against them, and
compels the Standard company to con-
| tend for business in an open market.
It must contend, moreover, against
! company which has learned American
business campaign methods by asso-
citation with the Standard, and it must
conduct its business in a manner that
/ shall not furnish more ammunition
to the supporters of the government
oil monopoly project, which will come
up in the Reichstag shortly for consid-
Grafton. The sales company has been
strengthening its organi' alton in the
last year, and all these factors, to-
! gether with the firmness of the petrol
cum market and the comparative scare
ity OF the supply, make it unlikely, in
j the opinion of experts, that the Stand
ard company will find itself in a posi-
! ton to carry on a successful cam
paign for the acquisition of the entire
German oil business.
The contract of which the Germans
complained was to have expired in
1917. 1t apportioned the German terri
tory between the sales company and
the Standard, giving the latter about
fCurfiftehs of the tctal 1t regulated
the method of selling by the Germans;
provided that the Standard should
have the naming of the sales COM
pany's managers, and gave the Stand
ard the power to direct certain policies
of the sales company in certain con-
. tingenCies, The Germans, finding that
they had made bad bargain, refused
after a trial of the new arrangement
to carry out the contract. They al
legged that they entered into it under
duress at time when they had lost
a fierce trade battle with the Ameri-
cans, and were helpless to do other
wise than to accept the terms of sur
render offered, and that the contract
was against public policy in its encour-
agenent OF monopoly and hence void.
The trial court of Hamburg, in which
the Standard brought action to compel
specific performance of the contract,
upheld the sales company, but the
Hamburg superior court, to which the
Standard company appealed, reversed
the trial courts decision, although ii
held null and void the provisions Civ
ing the Standard company power to
name and dismiss managers of the
1 other company, and certain other
clauses of the contract. The imperial
! supreme court has now reversed the
superior court and upheld the court
OF first instance. The Standard must
4 pay the costs of all three hearings.
II