Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-02
Federal Trade Commission
Will Look Into Every Phase
of Industry.
NEW REFINING PROCESSES
CAUSING MARKED CHANGES
Agents Sent Out to Inquire Into AL
legged Gasoline Price Discrimina.
tions-Many Complaints.

A complete and thorough investiga1
ton Of the oil business OF tho United
States is being made by tho federal
trade commission. according to an an1
nouncement made today by the commits
sion. 1t states that the investigation
was begun in response to resolutions
adopted by the Senate which were In 1
troduced by Senators Owen and Cord
of Oklahoma
THE Information called for by thd
resolutions said the announcement
'necessitates a careful and complete
investigation of nearly every phase Of
he production. transportation, reflnins :
and marketing of crude petroleum and
its refined products in this country
The work of investigation under these
resolutions has been continuously oar1
ried on by the federal trade commits
sion"
The commission is soon to issue . reJ
port dealing with one phase of the in1
vestigation, the cost of pipe line trans
poration of crude petroleum. Nd
authoritative information dealing with
present conditions on this subject has
been available. and 1t was necessary
for agents of the commission to obtain
it not only from the books of the pipd
line companies, but in some cases FROM
the original expense vouchers.
One or More Features at Time.
1T is the purpose of the federal trade
commission to issue reports dealing
with one or more features OF the OH In \
dustry as rapidly as information or,
those subjects can be collected and
prepared.
1T is quite apparent from the in1
vestigation already conducted tina
there is a wide difference between conf
ditions existing in the several parts
of the United States and that the pei
troleum industry is at present under
going rapid changes. and certain 4
branches of 1t, due to the Europear1
war, have been in an abnormal state|
New processes for refining oil havS
recently been installed. and this ia
leading to marked changes in the res
fineries situation"
In it's statement the commission sets
forth that many complaints have beer
received as to conditions In various
branches of the oil industry. The state
ment says that the commission has al
ready sent out agents to investigate
charges of price discrimination in tn<
| sale of gasoline in various parts OF tn
country.
Complaints on Gasoline Prices.
Recently there have been numerou!
complaints filed with the commission
alleging discrimination between locali
ties in the sale of gasoline" said thu
announcement.
"a number of these complaints wer'
made informally by citizens in variou
towns in the state of Georgia to Com
missioner Harris, who called them q
the attention of the commission. SINH
lar complaints have been received from
California, Idaho, Missouri and othe
states.
The result Of such inquiries will guild
the commission in determining IL thu
alleged conditions are prevalent in thu
United States at large, and whether Il
will be desirable to take up that subj
ject for immediate investigation. Of
whether 1t will be more advantageoui
for it to concentrate Its efforts, as fai
as possible. to the completion of thu
reports on the whole situation. as dill
rected by the Senate resolutions. ID
which exhaustive investigation, thu
matters now made the subject of spe1
cific complaint would necessarily be tni
cluded."