Evening star., 1925-04-05
What's Ahead for Business?
No. Z - The Oil Industry Seen by
A. C.. Bedford
By John F. Sinclair.


If a national business dropped from
50 per cent to less than 10 per cent
OF the total in a period OF Il years,
would It not look as though that busl-
ness was going backward, ana not
forward? Well, that's the simple
story of the Standard OIL Company OF
New Jersey Growth is the magic
word in oil. Relatively the Standard
Oil of New Jersey has gone back
ward. Yet it still Is the largest OIL
company In the world.
A. c. Bedford, chairman OF its board
of directors. ia one of the Few orig
inal Standard Oil men. He presioes
over the daily meetings OF the board.
At 50, he has been Al years with the
same company.
Mr.. Bedford grew up in the oil busi-
ness. He has helped to pioneer and
weld together q great industry. To-
day he guides the destinies OF a cor
! poration which began 1924 with
capital and surplus of $932,0O0.0Oo.
Yes, our business is large, very large,
but 1t does not total 10 per cent of the
oil business in the United States, ne
declared in his Office at 26 Broadway
the most famous business address in
the world. "The Government In 1911
caused a dissolution of the old Standard
Oil Co. of New Jersey. At the same
time 80 corporations. controlled by the
Standard Oil of New Jersey, were separ-
ated and the old stock divided amongst
the shareholders.
Hrye Kept Faith. He Says.
we accepted the plan and we have
kept faith with both the spirit and the
letter of that plan.
To-day each Standard Oil Co. has q
board of directors separate and dis
tinct from all the others. ! am an Of
| ficer and director of the Standard Oil
! Co of New Jersey but of no other.
| The officers and directors in each COM
/ pany, even though the name Standard
I oil is used are distinct and separate"
/ These corporations are not series with
one head and one guiding policy.
In 1911 the Standard Oil Of New
Jersey had 6.0TS stockholders. To-
day it has more than $4,000. From
1912 to 1922, inclusive. it had net
earnings of 100000.
Then you are satisfied that there
| is no oil monopoly, either in produc-
tion or in distribution, within the
! United States?" Mr.. Bedford was
! asked.
| Says There Is No Monopoly.
| Il am positive that this is the true
I situation. Prices are determined by
| supply and demand. Oil production
/ is even more fuetuating and uncer-
| tain than wheat production. Some
! years oil production is large, some
years small. In the last three years
! it has been very large; more than
| half a dozen major oil pools have
/ been discovered. But we are con-
| suming an enormous quantity of oil
| in the United States. Even with our
| heavy production in 1924 we increased
! our surplus oil reserves only 100000
| barrels.
| In the oil business. even more than
! in others demand breeds supply. For
a time, when the balance is over
weighed at one end, prices may rise,
but not for long. Advanced prices
bring additional production and com
petition does the rest. The reverse
is just as true"
Has the oil industry changed ma
terislly in it's outlook during the past
15 years?' l asked.
Change Is Complete.
! Completely" he answered. when
| Edwir Drake took 90 barrels of oil
| from a Pennsylvania well in 1859 1t
astonished the world. In 1906 the oil
| business. with combined capital of
half billion dollars, supplied 3S mil
lion barrels of kerosene-to kerosene
lamp users mostly. In 1921, the oil
industry produced just 46 million bar
rels of kerosene. That was not much
of an increase. But il was enough.
Why" Because in this period the
kerosene business had become a sec
ondary business, by-product. A new
business had sprung UP. 1t was gaso-
| line now and not kerosene.
| I'm 1924 the petroleum industry,
with combined assets of more than