New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1921-05-28
BILLTON-DOLLAR OIL.

liz ldlcSl SldtcIIlcut VI uDC
Standard Oil company shows it
TO be a billiOn-dollar corpora
ton, total assets running to a
million more than this cnOrm-
Gus figure. Leaving out OF con-
sideratiOn the presumption that
the Standard was or may be
even now a monopoly, being so
Classcd at least, by a great many
citizens, it is interesting TO re-
fleet upon the magnitude of the
institution, which not only COW
crs America but has its branches
everywhere in the world; with
transportation facilities ranging
from pipe lines and tank cars to
occal,-going vessels which carry
its products to the four corners
of the globe.
The Standard Oil, like Topsy,
Gust grew" Nobody who had
hand in its foundation and in
rcption could have imagined
The giant industry of today.
Rockefeller himself did not
comprehend the possibilities Of
an enterprise which was neg
ligibIc factor i'm the nations
business when he entered it. Oil
spelled opportunity for Rookie
teller, and he became rich man
without even his own con
novancc largely. Building a
shocslring into a billion-dollar
business is beyond the ken OF
most men. But for circumstan-
ccs even Rockefeller and his as
sOciatcs could not have done it.
The Standard Oil has been
reprObated from coast TO coast.
II has been cursed as an evil
when il has been in many as
poets bcnefactor of the cOun-
Try. When the Standard Oil
came into the field petroleum
products. scarce as they were,
sold at prohibitive prices. Many
of the essential elements of
crude oil had not then been dis
covered or utilized. Gasoline
was one of these. The motor
car had not been devised to Gre
ate market for the most vOla-
tile of all the by-prOducts of the |
greasy fluid. Pennsylvania was
the country's oil center, and but
few men dreamed that the great |
empire of Texas was really the |
richest depository of oil in the ;
world.
But for The Standards ex-
banding business and expand
ing ambition new fields would
not have been discovered, the
extraction of gasoline at a real
sonable price would never have
been possible, and there would
never have been the modern and
universal system of distribution
which enables the man i'm the
crossroads hamlet to procure
his supplies of Kerosene for
lighting. of gasoline for power
and of heavy oils for lubrica-
ton. II was the Standard Oil
that made these things possible,
and yet Notwithstanding that it
may be classcd as former. if
not present monopoly, IT,
price of its commodities has -
ways been consistent with de-
mand and supply.
These observations may
sound a bit pro-Standard Oil,
but they reflect the truth. No
institution with less of resource
or less of initiative than the
Standard could have developed
the petroleum industry i'm Amer
lea, and everyone knows that in
that development has been
found larger prosperity and
a greater convenience for all OF
the peoDle-even if John d. did
accumulate few more surplus
millions in the operation.
Beaumont Enterprise.
You would be Mortified, Mr..
Farmer, to find that your wife
had left her $50 sewing machine
out in the rain. But what about
that 500 mower or that $500
binder Of yours left exposed to
the elements?