The Oil Trust Violates Law
May 25, 1907
Summary
Standard Oil has prevented independent companies from producing petroleum by “unlawful” means.
Transcription
The Oil Trust Violates Law
Got Power Through Rebates
Washington, May 20.-That the history and present operation of the Standard Oil interests “shows throughout the past 25 years substantial monopolization of the petroleum industry of the country, a deliberate destruction of competition and a consequent control of that industry by less than a dozen men, who have reaped enormous profits therefrom, largely through a system of transportation facilities,” is charged in a report just submitted to President Roosevelt by Commissioner of Corporations Herbert Knox Smith. Certain information acquired is withheld for the present, in accordance with instructions of the president, who feels that their publication might interfere with the prosecution of the government’s suit pending against the Standard Oil company and its subsidiary companies.
The report contains the net results of a study of the petroleum business during the year 1904. It is the first official statement of the operations and methods of the Standard Oil company, by which, the report states, through “scandalous railway discriminations” and other unlawful devices they have secured and maintained an “exclusive domination of the petroleum industry.”
It is stated that in 1904 the Standard and affiliated concerns refined over 84 percent, of the crude oil run through refineries; produced more than 86 percent, of the country’s total output of illuminating oil: maintained a similar proportion of the export trade in illuminating oil of the older fields and 98 percent, of the crude oil of the mid-continent field.”
The report points out that the monopoly enjoyed by the company does not rest on the ownership of the source of the oil supply, which amounts to about one-sixth of the total, but “that its growth and present power rest primarily on the control of the transportation facilities.”
After the railroad rebate was abandoned, the company, the report continues, was able to secure secret or even open discrimination of rates in its favor, throughout practically the entire country. Having established its monopoly of the pipe line business, the company substantially refuses to act as a common carrier.
It is shown that the Standard controls not only the wholesale, but also the retail trade.
In conclusion, the report says it is apparent “that the dominating position of the Standard Oil company in the oil industry has largely been secured by the abuse of transportation facilities, first, by flagrant discrimination obtained from railroads; second, by a refusal to operate its pine line system so as to extend to independent interests the benefits to which they were both morally and legally entitled, while at the same time the Standard has prevented such independent interests from constructing lines of their own.”
Got Power Through Rebates
Washington, May 20.-That the history and present operation of the Standard Oil interests “shows throughout the past 25 years substantial monopolization of the petroleum industry of the country, a deliberate destruction of competition and a consequent control of that industry by less than a dozen men, who have reaped enormous profits therefrom, largely through a system of transportation facilities,” is charged in a report just submitted to President Roosevelt by Commissioner of Corporations Herbert Knox Smith. Certain information acquired is withheld for the present, in accordance with instructions of the president, who feels that their publication might interfere with the prosecution of the government’s suit pending against the Standard Oil company and its subsidiary companies.
The report contains the net results of a study of the petroleum business during the year 1904. It is the first official statement of the operations and methods of the Standard Oil company, by which, the report states, through “scandalous railway discriminations” and other unlawful devices they have secured and maintained an “exclusive domination of the petroleum industry.”
It is stated that in 1904 the Standard and affiliated concerns refined over 84 percent, of the crude oil run through refineries; produced more than 86 percent, of the country’s total output of illuminating oil: maintained a similar proportion of the export trade in illuminating oil of the older fields and 98 percent, of the crude oil of the mid-continent field.”
The report points out that the monopoly enjoyed by the company does not rest on the ownership of the source of the oil supply, which amounts to about one-sixth of the total, but “that its growth and present power rest primarily on the control of the transportation facilities.”
After the railroad rebate was abandoned, the company, the report continues, was able to secure secret or even open discrimination of rates in its favor, throughout practically the entire country. Having established its monopoly of the pipe line business, the company substantially refuses to act as a common carrier.
It is shown that the Standard controls not only the wholesale, but also the retail trade.
In conclusion, the report says it is apparent “that the dominating position of the Standard Oil company in the oil industry has largely been secured by the abuse of transportation facilities, first, by flagrant discrimination obtained from railroads; second, by a refusal to operate its pine line system so as to extend to independent interests the benefits to which they were both morally and legally entitled, while at the same time the Standard has prevented such independent interests from constructing lines of their own.”
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Benton Camper
Citation
“The Oil Trust Violates Law,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/500.