The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-08-03
Monopoly Charged
TO Standard Oil
In FTc Charge

US VIM 6O
Washington (LPA)-Five Stan
dard Oil companies and a suppl!
firm have been accused by the Fed
eral Trade Commission of 21-yeal
conspiracy to monopolize trade il
auto accessories. The result, says
the F'TC complaint, has been II
shut out of the market manufac
turers and other sellers who ere
fuse to grant illegally discrimina
tory prices or to pay illegal brok
|crage." They have violated not only
the ETC act, but also the Clayton
antitrust act, the FTC charges.
The complaint declares that the
five Standard Oil companies, fal
from being merely in the business
of selling gasoline and oil, have
been since 1929 a major factor in
the sale of "TBA products"-tires
batteries, fan belts, radiator hose
electric lamps, and spark plugs. Ir
fact, says the complain their sales
of these accessories amount tC
about 10 percent of the total re-
placement sales in the United
States.
The setup, according to the COM
plant, gets the customers coming
and going, with the Standard Oil
companies involved being able to
buy from suppliers for as much as
% percent below prices paid by
competitors.
The companies accused are Stan
dard Oil of New Jersey, Kentucky,
Indiana, Ohio, and California, and
the Atlas Supply Co. of Newark,
N, j. Prior to 1911, Standard of
New Jersey owned substantially all
the capital stock of the Kentucky,
Indiana, Ohio and California COM
panies. In 1911 a US court in Miss
ouri ruled that Standard of New
Jersey had illegally monopolized
the production and sale of petro-
leum products. So Standard of
New Jersey distributed to its
stockholders all its stock in the
other Standard companies and
thereby withdrew from the direct
control and direction of these com
panies." ;
In 1929, says the FTC, Atlas was
set up by these Standard Oil com
panies, "acting in concert" and
Atlas has been managed, controll-
ed and operated" by them since.
Buying collectively through Atlas,
the Standard companies are now
one Of the largest, if not the larg-
est, buying units in the US Of the
items listed. This enormous buy
ing power, said the ETC, got them
prices on batteries from Auto-Lite
Battery Corp. of 25 percent below
competitors; fan belts and radiator
hose from Raybestos- Manhattan,
Inc. of 28 percent below competi-
tors; lower prices on tires and
tubes from US Rubber Co.
The Standard companies, said the
ETC: demanded and got discrim-
prices, discounts, allow
ances, rebates and terms and con-
ditions of sale; replaced sellers
who refused, with sellers who did;
made sellers agree not to sell to
Standard-Atlas competitors at low
er prices; applied part of the saw
ings thus obtained to finance "a
very large and effective merchan-
dising and sales promotional oper-
atom; passed on to Standard COM
in the form Of dividends on
Atlas common stock, rebates on
purchases made through Atlas;
agreed among themselves not to
in the resale of cOmmod-
ties purchased through Atlas;
and each sold in mutually exclu-
sive areas items purchased through
Atlas.
Now, although Atlas was the
,reature of the Standard COM
panies, wholly owned by them, At
as got commissions, brokerage
fees, and other compensation on
of "TBA" products for
resale by the Standard companies,
said the FTC, and in turn handed
over this compensation to the Stan
lard companies in the form of di-
on Atlas stock and ser
vices and facilities. In other words,
says the FTC, Atlas in some in
stances "purported to act as agent
If the vendor" ETC specifically
,ited an arrangement with West
nghouse Electric Corp. and Gener-
Al Electric Co. in which Atlas
agreed to act as their sales agent