Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-18
STATES ATTORNEYS
URGE GOVERNMENT
GASOLINE CONTROL

- CHICAGO, March 16.-The eNecu-
tive committee of the national con-
erence of attorneys general at a
special meeting Saturday formally
called upon President Coolidge, CON
gress, the federal trade commission
and the executives of several states
To take immediate action to estab-
- lish a more stringent regulation or
the petroleum industry.
Acting under authority of the last
meeting of the entire association,
the executive committee today out
lined a program of activity and re-
uuested congress Ito provide lmme-
diately a special and sufficient APP
preparation to the federal trade
commission for the conduct ana
prosecution of this work.
IS Reciting that 1.-The industry seems
TO be under such control that prices
4may be raised overnight at every
gasoline station in the nation the
statement demanded, that all un'
fair trade practices in the produc'
ton, manufacture and distribution
II OF gasoline and other petroleum.
products be abolished without de-
clay.'
: The action suggested seeks these
,acnds, according to the statement:
The execution in true spirit of the
Standard Oil dissolution decree OF
$iDl1; abolition without delay, Of all
= Unfair trade practices" the aboi'
!. ton of trade agreements between
a dominant factors in the industry.
5, The statement also demanded con-
aIscrvation legislation, and that the
s,spowers Of the federal trade commits
aasion "be enlarged to the end that
,.there may be no doubt as to its
hover to accomplish the results
eexought.'
- Attorney General Ekern, Wiscon'
sin, stated another meeting will be
held in Washington on April Y to
consider further action in connec-
ton with the program suggested
today.
Attorney General A. V. Coco, Lou
isiana. the ninth member Of the eX'
.&cutive committee, wired Chairman
Satllman he was unable to attend
the meeting because of the pres
sure of state business at Baton
Rouge. ,..
The attorneys general conference
is composed of the 4S attorneys
general of the several states. AT its
last meeting, in Chicago, last Oc-
tober, the conference authorized the
executive commtttee4to carry on its
work.
Attorney General Short, of Okla
homa, chief law enforcement Off
Ecial of the second largest petroleum
sproducing state, declared publicly
. that his approval of the executive
committees action was limited to
it's request for the full economic
factors in the petroleum industry.
When these factors are fully es-
tablished, he said, the justification
COT present price tendencies will be
common knowledge. In a lengthy
statement at the conclusion of the
deliberations, Mr.. Short, citing re-
sseent figures on production and con-
sumption of crude oil, predicted
further advance in gasoline prices
& in the near future.
Pointing out that crude oil pro-
duction in American fields in 1923
was 1872, 121,7S2 barrels in excess of
he production of the previous year,
Attorney General Short called atten-
lion to the violent declines in gaso,
line prices in the same year.
Gasoline was the only principal
Commodity Of consumption which
reached pre.war levels in 1928" he
said. To-day. gasoline is II per cent
above the 1913 wholesale price; farm
products are 50 per cent higher, on
she same basis; the average of all
commodities is "a per cent higher;
building materials are 80 per cent
higher; clothing is 90 per cent higher.
"These figures constitute my rea-
son for favoring an honest determi-
nation of the facts. l have invited
the whole conference to oklahoma to
watch the production and manufac-
lure of crude and gasoline. l am con-