The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-04-20
COO stockholders. 1900 are EN-,

val W. uI hldudSOlhChl VI lhC
Standard Oil company undianaD ap-
preciates that monopoly is alb
horrent to the minds OF the Ameri-
can people and will not be tolerated
by them. II does not desire, nor
does it endeavor 10 put any com
petitcrs out OF business. We be-
lieve. in fact that our competitors
are as essential to our business as
our customers. Most of them are
good. clean, honest business men,
who manufacture excellent products
and market those products in a
gentlemanly way"
1T Is a mistake to believe that
the Standard Oil company Qndi-
anal has monopoly Of the oil bus
mess in the Middle West and
tates the price of gasoline. either
up or down. or course. we have
tremendous resources In manufac-
turing and distributing. and 1t is
true that the Standard Oil company,
! Ondiana) is the largest single mar
ketCr of gasoline In the world: but
| il is equally true that II the so
called independents. members OF
the National Petroleum Marketer's
Association. for instance. were to
cut the price OF gasoline : cents per
gallon. or any sum, tomorrow. the
Standard Oil company, Nndiana)
would have to do likewise. and do
/ it quick, or lose it's business. We
; would have to do II. even if we had
to sell temporarily under cost Of
production and the reasons are
these:
"As regards crude oil. others than
ourselves own practically ali of the
production in the Mid Continent
Field. which is the source of our
principal supply
Our competitors combined have
approximately five times more re.
filming capacity than we have"
LAS regards sales OF gasoline,
lubricating oils and other petroleum
products. in the ten states where
we have distributing facilities, our
competitors have twice as many
service sales stations as we main
tain, while The number Of bulk
stations operated by them about
equals our own. So it IS evidently
this situation that the Standard Oil
company, undiana) cannot possibly
dominate the market as arbitrarily
to. put the price of petroleum pro-
ducts UP or down. In other words,
though we are the biggest. frog in
| the puddle, we are not the puddle"
Came UP From Ranks
Colonel Stewart paid tribute 10
his associates and employees in the
Indiana company, saying they were
the best citizens in the world
Along that line he said: Under
stand that members OF the Board
Of Directors Of the Standard Oil
company. Qndianal. are not sons
, Of rich men placed there through
their fathers influence. Every man
his right to the position. Of the
ten members Of our Board. two be
gan as office boys. one as a truck
driver, one as stenographer, one
as a mechanics helper, one as a
craftsman. one as a timekeeper one
as a chemist and one as a member
of the legal department. ~
$50 the success that has attend
ed the Standard Oil company, (ln-
diana comes to it. not by reason OF
Ia monopoly. domination or unfair
advantage, but solely from the high
character of the employees, VINO
handle the various affairs and their
vice to the public"
Colonel Stewart referred to some
OF the things his company had done
for the employees, explaining the
stock purchase plan where more
than $500 employees had become
| shareholders in the business. Also
told of the pension or annuity plan
that insured an income to an en-
ploye who had become incapacitat-
ed in the service. The company has
already paid more than 100000 un-
der this plan. He also referred to
the Industrial relations plan, which
has been installed in all the plants
| and which provides that employees
by secret ballot elect their repre-
who pass on wages, hours of labor,
working conditions and air other
matters relating to their welfare
| He said this plan had been sue
cessful and that strikes in his com =
pany are unknown.
Paid Out Large Sums
Continuing Colonel Stewart said {:
1T may interest you to know that
during those ten years ending Jan
uary l, 1922, when we paid to our
stockholders in cash dividends some
$74,000,000, and to the local and
| federal governments in taxes some
$79, 100000, we paid to our employees
in wages and salaries the sum OF
$685., 100000.
Il said that it Is the boast of the
board Of directors of the Standard
| Oil company. Qndiana), that il
holds no stronger brief for the stock
holders than it does for the EN- =
| ployes." | add to that, that we hold
no stronger brief for the stockhold-
ers and employees than we do for
the public. We are trying to make
| fair return for our stockholders.
to pay our employees better than a
living wage and at the same time
perform our entire duty to that pub
lie on which we realize we are de-
pendent for our existence.
In conclusion Colonel Stewart
said: I'm the last decade we have
seen too great a growth of pater-
nalism in government, with the es-
Establishment of a state or federal
bureau for this thing or that thing.
with everyone who has a grievance
or a hobby rushing to Washington
to demand the passage of a federal
law. and the establishment of fed
eral agency to enforce it. Our citi-
Zens should remember that not only
does governmental supervision OF
everything and everybody stifie in
dividual initiative, but that. every
increase of governmental interior
ence, the establishment of every
bureau, every regulation of bust
ness. necessarily brings with 1t an
increase in taxes, and the building
up Of a bureaucracy"
u do not mean to advocate the