"The Great Oil Octopus."

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 49, 16 February 1912, Page 3

"The Great Oil Octopus."

Story of the Development, Methods, Men, and

Results of " Standard Oil."

By London "Truth's" Investigator.

(Copyright. Ml Rights Reserved.)

"According as you put something into tho Church or tho Sunday school work, the greater will be your dividends of salvation." —John J). Rockefeller in a Sunday school address. CHAPTER XII. THE TRUST'S "TIED HOUSES" IN ENGLAND. I havo reserved until the end of my survey tho examination of the Standard Oil Trust's operations in Great Britain, because, as they have not been investigated so closely here as they have been by various Legislative Committees in tlie United States, there is less official testimony to proceed upon. Many of the Trust's intrigues and agitations here can only be,understood by remembering what has been proved by direct testimony to have taken place in similar circumstances in the United States. In this way our preceding examination of the secret rebate, the bribery, th© underselling, and all the other machinery of the Trust in its native home, will help us to understand a few tilings which aro still obscure hero. Dining tho time when the Trust was growing up in America, the Rritish consumer and tho British oil-dealer wero alike blissfully unconscious of what was in store for thorn. For the first English news of the Trust we must turn to the evidence provided by Mr. (now Sir) Rovorton Redwood, the distinguished chemist, whose subsequent appearances at so many nublic inquiries as a Standard Oil witness have l>een fitly rewarded by his selection as Petroleum Adviser tio the TTonie Office! Mr. Redwood in America. This takes us back to the years 1877-8, when Mr. Bnvertnn Redwood was tho Secretary of the Petroleum Association, and visited America at their. request to induce the American refiners, to adopt the Abel (closed) tester in standardising their oil, and also to complain of certain ; mj>urities which were appearng if, their consignments. With regard to tho first, Mr. Redwood's report to his association shows that he conducted experiments with the Petroleum Committee of the New York Produce Exchange which satisfied them with the Abel tester, and we read that Mr. Paul Babcoek took great interest in these experiments. Mr. Babcoek was then a director of the Devoo Manufacturing Company, about this time bought by tlie Trust, a.nd 20 years later he a<nd Mr. Bovorton Redwood met in London, both giving evidence before the Commons' Petroleum Committee against raising the flash-point of kerosene. Mr. Redwood met in 1877 a number of other persons whoso names will be familiar to readers of my narrative. He, for example, visited the refinery of Messrs. Charles Pratt and Co., fib. rough "tlio kindness of Mr. H. H. Rogers, and when he left Xew York ho carried letters of introduction from Mr. "Wm. Rockefeller. Vice-president of the Standard Oil Company, to Colonel Payne, its treasurer, in Cleveland, Ohio. Indeed, Mr. Redwood's tour seems to have been in the main a Standard Oil excursion, for in Philadelphia he visited Messrs. Warden and Frew (who wotc in the Trust), at Pittsburg he saw Mr. Charles Lockhart, of Lockhart and Frew (another Trust firm), and then at Cleveland he was taken over tho Standard Oil Works by Mr. Samuel Andrews (John D. Rockefeller's first partner). When he returned, Mr. Redwood was the boaTer of a letter from Mr. Wm. Rockefeller, dated December 19, 1877, couched in tho best Standard Oil vein :—

It is our desire to furnish at all times refined oil that will bo acceptable to the trade of all countries. It is our wish and intention that

our products shall always reach the highest excellence. Whatever their wish might be, the prospect of making more money proved too strong for these philanthropists, and complaints continued from the English traders as to the bad quality of the oil sent here. In 1879 and again in 1884 Mr. F. W. Lockwood, a saponaceous Standard Oil expert, was sent here to gammon the Petroleum Association with some cock-and-bull story. Tlio second visit is referred to by Mr. Boverton Redwood in a report to the Petroleum Association; published in the "Grocer" of May 3, 1884. In it he explained that Mr. Lockwood attributed the complaints about the oil to the use of damp-clogged or hard lampwicks. This groat discovery was too much for Mr. Redwood, who has never been a harsh critic of tho Standard Oil Trust methods. He thus reported :-- In conclusion, I desire to record as strongly as possible my individual opinion that in their own interest the American refiners should forthwith institute such arrangements a* will ensure the future maintcKJWitt of a satisfactory standard of quality. Considerable injury to the petroleum trado results from tho distribution of such oil as is the subject of tills report, consumers in many cases relinquishing tho use of petroleum in favor of some other sort of light. Moreover, tho American refiners should bear in mind that oven

now they have not a monopoly of the supply of mineral burning oil in this oounta?, «_d they will find it neooaiary to pay ffl__b- greater at-

tcntion than hcrctoforo to the quality of tlio oil they manufacture. " Bad Wicks." As an impartial testimony to the then quality of the Standard's illumr inating oils and tho wonderful processes of manufacture which their Press Bureau now tells us they invented, I should give that document a high place. But, to do them justice the American refiners were not above taking a hint from other manufacturers. A gentleman with long experience in tho oil trade once told mc how Mr H. H. Rogers ;i I. this time came to England. Up in North there was a manufacturer o, lubricating oils who had by his own ingenuity and skill developed some excellent ideas. Ho -used to blond American oils, and Mr. Rogers asked one of the importers who dealt in their goods to introduce him. They went over the works together, and the proud owner showed them all his special processes and his little inventions and blends. Rogers was a practical refiner, he kept bis eyes open, and after he returned to America tho Standard's first lubricating oil branch, tlie Thompson and Bedford Company, of New York, began to export here some of the specialties which the North countryman had made. As brain-pickers the Standard men have no equal. Standard's First English Company. The first appearance of the Standard in tliis country was rather sudden. There came hero an American gentleman named Frank E. Bliss, who had been connected with the business of Charles Pratt and Co. Nobody knew what liis London business was, but ono day there appeared in the "Financial News" the brief record of tlie registration at Somerset House on April 27, 1883, of the Anglo-American Oil Company, Limited. It had a capital of £500,000 in £20 shares. The first list of signatories contained several clerks and agents, but it also bore the name of Frank E. Bliss, and that told those who wore in the trade what was coming. The first list of directors subsequently filed at Somerset House included such sound, reliable Standard Oil names as 11. H. Rogers, J. D. Archbold, W. H. Libby, J. G. Gregory, and Wesley 11. Tilford. all of 26, Broadway, New York, and Frank E. Bliss, of London. Tho precise significance of the word "Anglo" in its title becomes clearer when it is stated that the articles of association provided that the directors' meetings should be held in Tendon, but that if a majority of the directors so decided, they might be hold in Ncvr York or any other part of tho United States of America.. As there was only ono director resident in England, it is not hard to guess where most of the directors' meetings took place. This also helps us to appreciate the amount of truth in Mr. J. I). Archbold's Missouri evidence that he did not know why the Anglo-American Oil Company made loa.ns amounting to £500,000 to its managing director, Mr. James A. Macdonald. Mr. Archbold was a director of the "Anglo" from the outset until somewhere between July, 1907, and July, ]00S. In 1893 its capital was increased to £520,000, and at this time Mr. John 1). Rockefeller's name first appears on the share list as the owner of 6867 shares out of a total of 26,000. In July, 1899, the share list of the Anglo-American Oil Company contained the names set out below. As will be seen, many of thorn have appeared in the course of my story, and the list contains a great deal of "American" and very little "Anglo." "Where no address is given below, the return at Somerset House has "26, Broadway, New York." which is the central address of the Standard: —American Shareholders.— Shares. H. M. Flagler and J. D. Archbold 10,239 John D. Rockefeller 6,867 C. W. Harkness, 611, Fifth Avenue. N.Y 1,54.2 Mrs. Mary Pratt, Chas. M. Pratt, and Fred. B. Pratt 1.336 Oliver H. Payne, 2, West Fifty-seventh street, N.Y." 1,068 H. M. Flagler (separately)... 748 H. H. Rogers 503 Laman V. Harkness, Greenwich, Conn 349 W. L. Harkness, 10 West Forty-third street, N.Y 347 Wm. Rockefeller 347 Chas. Lockhart, Pittsburg 320 John D. Archbold 213 W. Everitt Macy 199 Mrs. Esther Jennings, 48, Park Avenue, N.Y. ... 146 Miss A. B. Jennings, 48, Park Avenue, N.Y. ... 63 Oliver Jennings 63 Walter Jennings 64 Mrs. Mary B. Jennings, Fairfield, Conn 53 Mrs. Elmira D. Brewster ... 53 George S. Brewster 53 F. F. Brewster, Newhaven, Conn 53 R. Stanton Brewster 53 J. M. Constable, draper ... 82 H. Melville Hanna, Cloveland, Ohio 80 Wesley H. Tilford 80 C. F. H*ye 98 J. S. Kennedy 80 Ed. T. Beflfofd :.... 68 Ambrose M. McGregor .....< 61

Louis'H. .Severance 142 C. M. Cbapin 26 1:1. C. Folgtsr, iu'ii 26 W. 11/ Mao, Pin 13 W. T. Wardell (.treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust) 21 Daniel O'Day. banker. N.Y. 47 Hugh J. jetwett, Morristown, New Jersey 32 J. H. Alexander, Kli/.aboth, New Jersey 18 Mrs. F.iunia B. Auchinloss, 17, West F«rt-> ninth street, N.Y. 63 L. S. Thompson, Redbank, New Jersey 2^ W. P. Tliompsm, Redbank, New Jersey 34 Mrs Mary E. Thompson ... 37 Mrs. VAiz. T. Preston, 1228 Wood Ay«V"e. Colorado Springs ..';.., 26 Mrs. Helen James 63 Mrs. Salome Jones. Boston, Mass. ........... 29 Joseph Seep,' banker, Oil City, Perm 26 C. F. Akerman 1 A. J. Pouch 1 T. C. Bushnell 1 Livingston' Roe I —London Shareholders. — Frank E. Bliss 1 James Macdonald 1 J. H. TJsmar .; 1 W. A. Hawkins 1 There have been various changes in the share list,, and on June 30, 1910, the following were the principal shareholders I— . '." " Shares. Standard Oil Company of Now Jersey _. 49,993 Trustees Standard Oil Trust ' 1 Frederick D. Asche 1 J. H. TJsmar,,., 22, Billiter street, E.C., merchant 1 Francis Edward Powell. 22, Billiter street, merchant 1 Thomas H- Hawkins, secretary, 22, Billiter street 1 James Hamilton, 22. Billiter, street, tne reliant ' 1 William E. 26, Broadway; New York... 1 50,000 (To -, <e continued.)