THE LUBRICATING OIL TRADE time now to turn to the Standard's other English branch, the Vacuum Oil Company, Limited, which posed at first as an American company entirely independent and unconnected with the Standard. It was registered at Somer set House as a limited liability company, with a capital of £55,000, on May 13, 1901. Its object was to take over the business of its parent, the Vacuum Oil Company of Rochester, N.Y., U.S.A., and it purchased all the assets of that company in the United Kingdom for £29,947. Up to October, 1905, its five directors were as follows Charles M. Pratt is a son of the late Mr. Charles Pratt, who founded the refinery already referred to in connection with Mr. H. H. Rogers. C. M. Everest has been mentioned in the Buffalo explosion prosecution, in which he was convicted. In 1908 the Company adopted new articles providing that the number of shareholders must never exceed fifty, and bind ing the directors to refuse to register any transfer of shares which will have the effect of increasing the shareholders beyond that number. The directors are also empowered to refuse to register any transfer of shares with out giving their reasons. The following were the shareholders on November, 30, 1909 :— Mr. Archbold and Mr. Pratt have left the board of directors, which included in Novem ber, 1909, Messrs. Everest, Case, Grierson, Prizer, Panizzardi, Michaelson, and Mr. George Percy Whaley, of 29, Broadway, New York. (Prob ably 29, Broadway is a copyist's blunder for 26, the Standard's home.) One complaint which the English trade makes against the Vacuum Oil Company is this : through the Anglo-American Oil Company the Standard sells large quantities of refined oils to British manufacturers, compounders, or blenders of lubricants. At the same time, through the Vacuum Oil Company, it goes to the customers of these firms and offers to undersell them, saying that it can supply the oils direct. A great deal of correspondence appeared in the Oil and Colourman's Journal on this subject in 1905. For example, one correspondent told this story of his experience with the Standard. He was dealing in illumi nating oil, getting all his supplies from the Anglo-American Oil Company. In 1898 his
trade was 60,000 gallons per annum, then the " Anglo " sent tank wagons to his customers, and in 1905 it was less than 15,000 gallons. He was persuaded then to devote his attention to motor-car spirit. After he had spent a con siderable sum on bricks, concrete, iron doors, &c., for storage purposes, the Anglo-American began delivering broadcast motor spirit to cycle agents. This merchant, when he saw his kerosene trade vanishing, put up plant for blending, filtering, and refining for the lubrica ting oil trade. Then he found the Vacuum Oil Company underselling him with his own cus tomers. Of course, it was quite obvious that if the Vacuum Oil Company could by these tactics secure the whole trade of the British lubrica ting oil blenders, the price of lubricants would go up as suddenly as the price of kerosene always did when the Standard had killed competition. This fact was pointed out in the trade Press, and I understand that the Vacuum's great campaign in 1905 has not destroyed the British makers of lubricants.
A gentleman connected with the lubricating trade wrote me the other day of the latest methods of these people. The Standard ships large quantities of oils for lubricating to the Anglo-American by the ordinary steamship lines. In a very attractive little booklet which I have before me, entitled " The Light that Fails Not," issued by the Anglo-American Oil Company in 1902, it is stated that their import of lubricating oil in a year was 462,000 barrels. This is now larger, and is a valuable freight, and so the Vacuum people go to the principal steamship lines, and say, " We give you this freight ; you must let us lubricate your boats in return." The result is that the freight which the English maker of lubricants pays on what he buys from the " Anglo " is used to secure business for his trade rivals, who are under cutting him with owners of engines. This may be the American idea of " business," but it will take a great deal of acclimatising here, and the Vacuum is not growing in popularity.