THE " BOGUS INDEPENDENTS." constant policy of the Standard through out its whole career has been superabun dantly proved to be to cut prices where there is competition, and where there is none to raise them to the utmost point that customers will go to. The Standard has found that this prac tice has always caused a deal of talk whenever it has been recognised, and the Standard hates talk. It has made a good try to keep the talk down by spreading the idea about that it is the Standard's competitors who always begin the price-cutting, and, on finding it difficult to get this idea to go down with the public, it one fine day hit upon the expedient of putting " bogus independent " companies and pedlars in the field as stalking-horses to bear the odium of the price-cutting. Occasionally, especially in the case of the pedlars, who do a big business in America, it has involved a deal of stagey " business " of all sorts to keep this deception up, a fact that makes the perusal of the evidence on this matter very entertaining and at times even amusing reading. But a very serious pur pose and a very serious effect ran through the whole proceedings for years, which was, in general, to throw dust in the eyes of the public as to the game consistently played by the Stan dard, namely, to kill competition and extract the highest possible amount out of the pockets of its customers. There are two British companies which were alleged by the United States Govern ment counsel in the Missouri litigation to be Stan dard Oil tentacles. Their whole history is so characteristic of Standard Oil tactics that it merits close and immediate attention. They are the General Industrials Development Syndicate, Limited, registered at Somerset House in 1899, and the London Commercial Trading and Invest ment Company, Limited, registered in 1903. As these were two companies which Mr. J. D. Arch bold, in the Missouri proceedings, swore he had never heard of, their history throws a valuable light on how the Standard does its business. Taking the General Industrials first, we are brought back to an American company, the Man hattan Oil Company, of Ohio, which was organ ised by Commodore E. C. Benedict and Mr. A. N. Brady, of New York, in 1890. They laid a pipe line from the Lima oil-fields to Chicago in order to supply crude oil to the People's Gas Light and Coke Company of that city, in which they were interested, at a more reasonable rate than the Standard would supply it. The Manhattan Com
pany also had a large number of tank cars and a refinery in Galatea, Ohio. Evidence was given before the Inter-State Commerce Com mission that independent Cleveland refiners were met in the Lima oil field by this Manhattan Oil Company, which cut off their supplies by paying " premiums " to oil well-owners in cer tain districts to send it their oil. The Manhat tan Company professed to be independent, but its proceedings induced the really independent refiner to suspect that it had become a Standard auxiliary.
When the United States Government started the proceedings in the Missouri courts a part of the truth came to light. Evidence was then given by Mr. A. N. Brady that in 1899 he sold the entire stock of the Manhattan Oil Company for $615,000 to an English company, this General Industrials Development Syndicate, Limited, which also took over a mortgage of $800,000. But Mr. Brady wanted to ensure that his gas plants in Chicago should have a supply of gas-oil, and he testified that part of the terms of his contract for the sale of the Manhattan stock to the English company was that the Standard Oil Company of Indiana (one of the branches of the Trust) should supply him with gas-oil.
It was sufficiently remarkable that this un known English company should be able to secure a favourable contract for Brady's gas-oil from the Standard, but still more remarkable incidents followed. Immediately after the purchase of the stock of the Manhattan that company's refinery at Galatea, Ohio, was bought by the Solar Refining Company of Ohio (admittedly a Standard company) ; the Union Tank Line Company (another Standard company) bought all the Manhattan's tank cars, and the Ohio Oil Company (a Standard tentacle which is in the oil-well business) bought the Manhattan Com pany's wells. After this division of its property the Manhattan Oil Company continued as a pipe-line company, posing as an independent oil company and offering these " premiums." Then came the delicate question as to who owned it ! Here is an extract from Mr. Archbold's cross examination :— Q. Do you know the General Industrials Development Syndi cate, Limited, of London 2 A. I do not.