Arizona republican., 1917-04-25

Inequalities were found in different parts of the country.
 The principal findings of the com mission are
 That in mos, marketing territories the Standard companies are dominant
 That the Standard companies have maintained distribution of territory in marketing gasoline and that no substantial competition in the chief petroleum products exists among the Standard companies.
 That the absence of competition is due to d community of stock owner ship.
 That the facts disclose advances in prices of gasoline and differences cor responding to Standard marketing territories, which could be explained except under the conditions charged
 That the combination of pipe lines with other branches of the industry has tended to establish and perpetuate monopoly.
 That there is no conclusive evidence of collision among the Standard com panies in violation of the dissolution decree.
 The commission recommended these measures as necessary conditions
 A law providing for the re-opening
 
 of the attorney general by a bill of re- view for the purpose of obtaining such qualifications of decrees as are re- quired by new conditions.
 Legislation to abolish in certain cases common stock ownership in cor porations formerly members of com binations dissolved under the Sher- man law.
 Effective limitation of common ownership Of stock in potentially com pe.itive corporations by withdrawing the power of voting and control
 Legislation, which, while, recogniz- ing the common ownership, would fix upon such common owners the re- sponsibility for the acts of each of the several subsidiary companies which prevent competition.
 Segregation of ownership of pipe lines from the other branches of the petroleum industry.
 Congressional enactment to fix standards for gasoline.
 Federal collection and publication of accurate statistics and informa ton i concerning the industry
 Conditions in the gasoline industry as uncovered by the investigation are declared to be:
 Gasoline marketing is divided into eleven territorial divisions at least nine of which are said to be under standard Oil domination. Stockholders of tbe Standard com panes to a great degree are the same individuals or interests with more than half of the stock of the various companies in their hands.
 Leading officers of the Standard companies hold considerable stock in two or more companies
 Standard Oil refineries produced more than sixty Der cent of the saso. line output in 1915. sold about Ga Der cent of the total marketed and. held more than : per cent of gasoline stocks
 Correspondence of the different prices in 1915 with Standard market ing territories" says the report. it. self points to arbitrary price fixing. But the arbitrary character of the in equalltles in price is conclusively dem ohstrated by the facts that as be- l tween most of the territories there were no such differences in demand and supply and the marpin between cost and price was widely different in the different territories. :" l Wholesale gasoline prices rose be tween f5 and S5 per cent in 1915, says l ,ne report Retail prices kept close be- nind them. The part increased demand ana scarcity of product placed in the i increase IS shown in figures giving the increase in demand 3S per cent in i9lo and the production seven Der cent below the year before The Stand ards books show large earnings. saws l the report, as also was evidenced bv the enhanced stock market value. of | Standard securities.