A LAMPFUL OF OIL.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 212, 23 October 1888, Page 3

A LAMPFUL OF OIL.

From Harper's Magazine. (Continued.) Absolutely safe as a good grade of kerosene is in a good 1 mp, the consumer's only pro tection lies in the brand, or in State or Municipal inspection. Th * law should be based upon scien ifie experiments, and be rigidly enforced. Some St dies are without adequate laws in this respect, and they sh<>uli haste” to surround ■ heir ci izens with proper safeguards. Such laws also serve to protect honest manufacturers from the competition of unn incipled refiners. While in Eng and, New York citv and State, and Massachu-etts, 100 deg. F. flash test is the stand rd, in Indiana, Mmhigan, and Ohio, 120 deg. is th»-

lowest Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland have 110 deg. firo test as the standard, white in M tine, New Hiimnslvre Wisc >nsi •, and Japan it i-* 120 deg. Missouri and Illinois require 150 deg. fire test, which insures to all families the grade of oil which is used by the most intelligent con umers everywhere. The instruments differ so much, however, that kerosene which would be condemned by one might be accepted under another.

The pe’rolenm industry gives employment to a large b >dy of laborers. In a cord to the census report, here were 2,111 skilled and 8,784 unskilled workmen eng grd in producing oil, and 9.869 persons in refining it. Th-re are about 20,000 wells in the entire oil field, but many of them re smal pumpers, and one hand can a tend to several of them. After the comple ion of the derrick, and the arrival of engine and too's, four men are roqui- ed to drill a well These men receive $3 50 per day. The common well tenders, pipe-men, and the like receive •soo per month, or from $1 75 to $2 per day Cooper* and carpent-is get .b-nv $2 50. In refineries skilled laborers receive 83 per day, and still men, or c >ininon workmen, get about $1 75. The best-paid men in the oil business are those w'-o own and control “ the Standard, " and their services undoubtedly come under th* head of “ «kil ed I boar ” Mr John D Rockefeller, who is the master-spirt of the Standard, is still a relatively young man When he became interested in a small refinery in 1862, he was not. much more than s. precocious boy. He hid the pr science and sagacity, however, to foresee the future possibi'ities of the petroleum Industry, and in 1885 he abandoned his produce commission business in Cleveland and devoted him elf exclusively to oil refining and shipping. By 1870 'he firms of Rockefeller and 00. and Rockefeller, Flagler, and Andrews had attained a high position in the trade; but Rockef Iler’s dream was a great organisation ’.hat should control the petroleum business of

tbe country. In this year the Standard Oil Company nf Ohin was formed, with a nominal capital of $ I 000,000- To it was transferred ’he plant, property, and good will of the two fl ma above mentioned. Later, this capital wah increased to $3,500 000, by uniting with

it the larger outside refineries of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York, and the policy of aggression and absorption of rival concerns was b*gun, A Standard Oil Company was nrganired in Pennsylvania, in New York, and in New Jersey; but, superior to these companies, there was created in 1880 a mvsterioua organisation known as th* “ Standard Oil Trust?’ with a capital of 870.000,000. One of its orignators has test fi-id that it is

“ neither partnership nor corporation,” but “ an agreement made by individuals interested who have by virtue of that agreement created a trust, and put that trust in the hands of the trustees.” In it is supposed to ba lodged the supreme control of the four Stendard Oil Companies of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, of the National Transit Company, and of the various rrflseries and allied iatere-ts which it owns or controls. It is a commercial te ecret society* ijwhich has been managed with consummate skill and ability, and it has successfully defied inquisitive courts, legislature*, ana newspapers, “ The Stand u d ” in its generic sense has C'>me iu for generous abuse in many quarters as its tentacle* have reached out and bodily appropriated the transportation facility s and refineries of oil, suppressing ail opposition and competition. Before it constructed a pipe line of its own to tne sea-board it was necessarily the largest sh pppr of crude oil to tidewater: and great comp'aints were made that all the Dll terminal faci » ti sof railways, particularly the Erie and New York Central, were owned or leased by the Standard

inter sts, and such large rebates were m»de to it on the oil transported iu tank cars that the discrimination was rumoua to all out-side refiners aud shippers. I may be said, however, that the growth of the Standard w>B merely in keeping with the commercial tendency of the present time which leads to the aggregation of c pital and the consequent overthrow of the smaller artisans and tradesmen. The company should be less subject to h stile criticism th m had it been the recipient of grants, subsidies, or valuible public franchises. It is a n »ural and not a legis ative mono.’o y, and in this respect differs from other great monopolies, li e thp East India Coiflpanv, the Hudson Biy Company, and Alaska Fur Company, or railway • w th large land grants of pub ic domain. Tho>'gh “ the Standard ” has acquired control of almost the entire pipe line system, and manafac’ures and sells perhaps ninety percent, of all the «»il produced, it has, as a rue, held alo »f from thp producing business, though m ny of its largest stockholders a e personally interested iu production.

From present Appearances the petroleum wells of Pennsylvania have passe I their maximum, and though occasional sm 11 pools are likely to be found, it is extremely doubtful : f futu e discoveries cm possibly approach the volume of output of th*p >bny day* of 1881 aud 1882. The probability is, however, thatprolific fie ds will be opened in s »mu parts of the country, perhwp* in West Virginia, the Carolin ’B," Kentucky, Qaio. Missouri, Wyom inv, or in California and Cana te, where oil has been found in small commercial quantities. South America, too. especially Peru, is a promising field, and, in fact, siuee petroleum is a universal product, a great many surprises in the way of develop nent lie before us in the future. Si .qe its genre a of supply, however, are hidden, and it is iu that respect radically different from most staple products, great u certainty must always attend the produc ion of petroleum. The foreign demand for our refined oil, has steadily increased, as follows ;

The exports for 1885 exceed those of 1884 by about ten per cent. The larger portion goes to Germany and England, but the dem <nd in India and China is increasing. The domestic consumption is growing, and at the present time the aggregate consumption of American kerosene is in exces* of the pooduc ion of petroleum, as it has been for a year or more. The present daily consumption of petro'eum is about 55.000 barrels, against an estimated consumption of between 65,000 aud 70,000. The for- ign demand ave l ages about 42 000 barrels, and the home consumption 28 000. The great rival to American petroleum, which gives promise of dangeron* enmneti on in the near future in the markets of Europe, is the Ruseian, 20 BE CONTINUED.

EXPORT OF Oil, FROM THE UJJXTRD STATES. Year. Gallons. Vtlno. 1862 .. 5,828 129 .. 11.539,027 1864 25 496.849 .. 16,563 413 1866 .. 50,987.341 .. 24.830 887 1868 .. 79,456 888 .. 21 810.676 1870 .. 113.735.294 32 668 960 1872 .. 145 171.583 .. 34 058 390 1874 .. 247.806 483 .. 41 245 815 1876 .. 243 660.152 .. 32.915 786 1*78 .. 338,841.303 .. 46.574 974 1880 .. 423.964.699 .. 36,218.625 1882 .. 559 954,590 .. 51.232.706 1884 .. 513.660,092 .. 47,103.248