The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-10-08
THE OWEN PLAN

We have a great deal of respect for
Senator Robert J.. owen ana lor MS
ideas of legislation. Our measurement
of him places him in the foremost
rank of American statesmen, but we
do not like his idea of plan to CON
troll pipe lines His theory is to pro-
bihit these lines from earning more
| than eight per cent on the investment,
and the idea he seeks to bring out Is
that If the. lines are not allowed to
| n greater dividend than the one ne
mentions, they will be shorn of de-
sire to take advantage of the situa-
tions that arise from time to time to
make more money.
In the first place such law might
prove a farce because the pipe lines
could charge many things to expense
and cover up their business in a man
ner that would make the law ineffect'
i've.
Pipe lines, like other concerns make
bad investments sometimes and II they
make but eight per cent on their IN
yestments, they could probably not
do business. For instance when the
Arbuckle field at Madill was brought
in the Sun Company surveyed a pipe
line right-of-way from the Gulf to that
field and began to build line, when
it became evident that there was not
a sufficient amount of oil to justify
millions of expense which the COM
pany had planned.
Oil producers have drilled in wells
when they knew there was no way
to convey the oil to market, they are
disappointed at the market conditions
and are seeking remedy in legisla-
tion. Every man has a plan, but when
they are sifted down, it is very plain
that the producer is the man who has
wasted the resources of the state,
the producer has stored millions of
barrels of oil that are exposed to fire
and to the elements. If the corpora
ton commission of this state would
conserve the resources of the state,
it must find a way to curtail pro-
duction. There is nothing to be gained
in losing our heads and fighting pipe
line companies. The oil business has
a need for pipe lines.
The suggestion that pipe lines be
divorced from production Is based up
on logic The pipe lines should not be
allowed to use their own producing
companies to supply the markets to
the prejudice of other producing COM
panies in times like these when the
price of oil is low.
The producers might have asked
themselves question or two before
they indorsed the Owen plan. Would
the bankers and the merchants and
the oil men in that meeting approve
a plan that would prohibit them from
earning more than eight per cent?
There have been years here when
the banks did not make a profit there
have been times when they had losses
and if in good years their earning ca
pacity is limited to eight per cent,
they would be put out of business.
Oil is a natural resource as coal is.
The government saw fit under its
ideas of conservation to shut down the
coal mines of Alaska when it could
have purchased coal there at Sc a
ton and continued to buy coal for its
western ships at S21 ton. If sueh
strict view is taken of the oil conser
walton, the oil men will be prohibited !
from storing oil except what is nee
essary for the operation of pipe lines
and refneries and for the carrying on
of business and then the market will |
not be flooded at any time, oil will re-
main in the storage which nature pre-
pared for 1t until such time as com
merce has demand for it.
The Owen plan, as we understand it
is the principle urged by the social
list party The socialists say they will
prohibit the sale of whisky and make
prohibition effective, because they will
take the profit out of the business and |
then no man will engage in it. They |
say they will destroy cut-throat bust
ness and fierce competition in COM |
merce because the profit will be elm
mated, and no man will have q desire
to engage in business of that kind |
Senator owen says the pipe lines can
be prohibited from making a profit of |
greater than eight per cent, and they
will have no desire to make orders that
are hurtful to the oil producing busi-
ness.