The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1922-12-15
Standard Oil
Head Examined
inPrice lnquir,
President of New Jersey Com
pany Describes Control Of
.. Corporation TO Senate
(.Ommittce.

| Washington, Dec 14.-Facts and
. figures in an endless array concern
ing the Standard Oil Company of
New Jersey IT'S control, its operation
and to q. certain degree its policies,
were presented by Walter c. Teasle,
ITS president. to a senate subcon1mit-
tee at the resumption of the inquiry
into prices and conditions III the oil
industry.
Appearing as the first of the lead.
ers in~tlle American oil world which
tho subcommittee has summoned,
AR. Teagle for four hours was close.
~ questioned by Gilbert L. Roe Of
New York, counsel for the subcom.
lnlttee, the questions concerning the
minutest details as to the operations
OF the company and were directed
toward bringing out the exact cost
Of tho major oil products and the
extent Of competition in tho oil in
dustry brought about by the supreme
court dissolution decree OF 1911.
Mr.. Tea5le. for most of these ques.
tions. had ready answers and If some
question of minor detail. with which
he was unfamiliar, was put, called
on a large staff of assistants who
had accompanied him to Washing
ton for the bringing of yoluninous
files.
Statement Cut Short.
At the start he offered a statement,
which was cut short by Chairman
La Toilette, who announced that tho
I, =,
be questioned by the committee at.
torney. Questions asked by Mr.. Roe
during the hearing. however. resulted
in the placing of most OF the state
ment into the committee record and
before adjournment Mr.. Teagle OBJ
tanned from Chairman Jones tenta-
tive permission to file tho statement
at the conclusion of his testimony,
probably Friday.
Tho statement, advance copies of
which had been given to the press
prior to Mr.. Teagles taking the
stand, in addition to giving details OF
the corpora tions organization and
business preparations. declared the
directors Of the Standard of New
Jersey had, in accord with the SUI
prome court dissolution decree, CON
Quoted tho business of the company
under the conditions OF free anl
active competition, which they recos.
nized the public demanded" 1t add
ed that the company lis not q party
to any combination. agreement or
arrangement to fix or maintain the
selling prices of its production"
Justifles Stock Dividend
The prepared statement also dis
cussed the recent declaration by the
corporation of a stock dividend justl-
flying this action on the ground that
the company had. from its inception,
been undercapitalized with steadily In
CT easing disparity between issued cap
ital stock and net assets. that it was
desired to effect a wider distribution
of common stock considered impracti
cal under the existing issue because
of the high market value of the COM
pany's stock and that an increase In
the outstanding stock was financially
necessary.
Questions put by AIR. Roe drew out
largely the domestic and foreign busi
ness of the company. operation of It's
pipe lines, its refineries and it's ships.
The committee counsel also Was much
interested in the ownership OF the
corporations stock and In reply TO
questions the witness gave detailed
statements OF the stock ownership.
Stock Well Distributed.
"Only six stockholders had / per
cent or moro OF the company's stock
az of June 80. 1872" Mr.. Teagle tes-
tilted These six shareholders oNn a
total Of 1924 per cent of the com.
panys common stock. The largest in
dividual owner OF common stock is
John ID. Rockefeller, with 11.4 per
cent. Three Of tho remaining five
common stockholders on the list. own.
ing together 10 per cent of the com.
mon stock. are philanthropic institu
tons. such as the Rock efeller founda
ton and the general education fund
II may be Of interest TO the commit
tee to know that John u. Rockefeller,
sr., has not been a shareholder in this
company since 1920 and that the late
Mr. William Rockefeller owned only
700 shares at the time of his death"
Other questions brought from the
witness the amount of crude oil and
gasoline held in storage, prices paid
for crude oil and costs Of transporta-
ton and refining.