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November i, 107
-The Commoner.
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STANDARD OIL TRUST AND THE TARIFF
" ?j. V V nfi 1fF $
John S. Seymour has written for the New
Haven (Com.) Palladium an Interesting artlclo
entitled "Standard Oil and the Tariff.." Mr.
Seymour said; '
No petroleum of any amount Is Imported
Into this country.
The prices of all the refined products,, kero
sene, gasoline, naptha, lubricating oil and paraf
fin are higher hero than in Europe.
It can npt ho bought In tew Haven, or in
this country out and out at the export low price,
and itcan only be "bought Tor export at the ex
port low price with an agreement not to re-import
it and not to- sell it for liomo consumption.
If it could be bought here out and out the job
bers would sell it here for our prevailing high
prices and take the profit, rather than ship it
to a poorer market abroad.
These facts demonstrate that the tariff, or
else contracts In restraint of trade, are at the
bottom of this situation.
Yet it is generally believed that the tariff
does not protect and foster, the oil monopoly
in this country., Mr. Roosevelt in 1902, stated
in Cincinnati, "That the products of many trusts
are unprotected, and would be entirely unaffect
ed by any change in the tariff. The Standard
Oil company offers ra caso In point."
This should be so, of course, but it Is not.
The. Dingley tariff act, put through the
house of representatives in 1898 with little de
bate, works out a high duty on petroleum, crude
and refined, and all its products, but this was
framed so adroitly 'that the American people did
not know it at. the time and hardly believe it
mow, $ad the subject been discussed to the
point of publicity, no congress could have put
through such a duty and the attempt would have
gone jdownin a storm of ridicule.
This is what was done:
Section 2 of the Dingley tariff act ls,tho
free list, and paragraph 626 puts petroleum, r.
crude or refined, oh the free list. This is good
legislation, so far,' and based on sound economic
principles, but, there is a proviso, that If therh
.should bo Impdrte'd into the United S.ates. crude
petrdleim .or its product, produced in, any .coun
try which imposes a 4uty on petroleum "or its
products" from the United States, the duty .hero,
shall be equal to the duty imposed by such, coun
try. To see how this works out we must now
look at the outside facts which control the mean
ing and effect. Russia and the United States are
the only Countries that export any oil of any
amount. The next largest oil producer is the
Dutch Indies, whose output is less than' one
tenth that of Russia. While oil is produced In
some quantity in the Dutch Indies, Galicia, Rou
mania, Burma, China, Persia, Italy, Germany,
France, Switzerland,' the British Islands, '"Can-
- ada and the West, Indies, we may say, in general
terms, that the TJnited States and Russia are
the-only countries producing petroleum in large
amounts, and hone but Russia can export any '
oil to the United States.
By the International Bulletin Of Tariffs, No.
23 It Is seen that f' Russia levies a duty on
crude petroleum of 'twenty copecks per pood,
equal to 11.64' dents 'tin about thirty-six pounds,
or ninety-seven cents a barrel of forty-two gal-'
Ions of crudo petroleum which sells at the wells
in Pennsylvania for' k$ 1.7 8 a barrel, and In Kan
sas at forty-one cents a barrel, and thus by a
proviso in the free list we must collect on crudo
petroleum from Russia Imported into this coun
try, a duty of over fifty-four per cent on the
p'rice of Pennsylvania crude, and over 236 per
cent on the price today of Kansas crude.. On
Tefined petroleum. Russia levies a duty of one
rouble per pood, about seventy-five cents on
thirty-six pounds or $C.96 on a barrel pf fifty
. gallons. By this proviso of the free . list, this
Russian tariff works out a tariff here against
- Russia of over 160 per cent on the export cargo
price of refined oil from this port, and as Russia
is 'the only producer for export, a tariff against
Russia is a tariff against the world. . '
The language of this proviso is such that
no matter wbere the Russian oil is bought it
must pay the duty Imposed before entering. the
markets of the United States. Once incorporate
in the act the facts on which the Dingley tariff
act operates, and this clause of the. .Dingley
tariff act would' read virtually as follows?
"Petroleum, crude or -refined, and all its
products re on the free list, provided the duty
on them shall be from 54 to 236 per cent arid
shall be prohibitive."
-"Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, United States
commissioner of corporations, in his recent re
port on Standard Oil affairs, comments on tho
higher .prices for oil sold by tho Standard Oil
company at homo over and abovo tho prices
of tho same oil sold by tho same company in
Europe, but rails to glvo any adequate causo for
this. Manifestly such a marked advance could
not have been maintained oxcopt by the aid of
tho tariff. There would be great oil tanks on
tho docks. of Now Haven and of ovory seaboard
city, receiving oil from Russia at tho samo prico
at which it Js sold In Europo plus tho transport
ation, unless tho Standard Oil company consent
ed lo fill them with American oil at tho samo
price at which it fills tho oil tanks of tho foreign
market with the samo product. Of course, tho
latter would be tho turn events would take.
Russian oil would not be shipped to tho Unitod
States, nor Unltqd States oil to Russia, any more
than coals aro shipped to Nowcastfe, .but thq
American citizen would havo , his Ameri
can oil 'at a fair price and. at thp samp'
prico that tho foreigner has the isame oil, and
tho Standard Oil company would take a largo
and steady profit, though not so largo. Mr.
Commissioner Smith attributes tho advance in
prices hero, which ho comments on sovoroly and
adversely, to the. monopoly which tho Standard,
Oil company has at home, but manifestly this is
no causo at all. To soak tho American peoplo'
you must exclude the Russian oil.
The Standard Oil company has attempted
to excuse these things by attributing tho high
price hero to tho higher cost of labor In this
country, and sometimes the difference in prico
is denied, or it is given out that tho difference
In classification or quality accounts for tho seem
ing difference In prico, but none of these things
will bear the slightest scrutiny. Tho averago
labor cost In the United States In oil and fletro
leum products Is only sixteen cents a barrel or
oneithird of a cent a gallon, and this Is loss than
anywhere elso In tho world. Although 'tho
American laborer receives more a day than his
foreign competitor, his output is so much greater
that American labor computed in the product Is
cheaper to employ than any other labor in tho
world. ' " ' a
Sinco It-is a manifest evil that one of our
great Industries which has been fostered and
sheltered under American, institutions,. sells half
its product abroad to English, French, German,
and Italian households, for much less than it
spllS'.the other half of the same product .at homo,
quality for .quality, the discussion would bo in
complete if stopped short, hero.. But, wp have,
tho remedy in our own hands, yet, Commissioner
Smith in his report carefully refrains from allud
ing to thqt remedy. With fine irony the Stand
ard Oil company gays tlfat the .czar of .Russia
may afford the' rellijf. foy cancelling by imperial,
ukase the Russian,. jduty against oil imported,
into Russia, but he is not ' likely to do this,
thqugh he .might if atrongjy petitioned by or
ganized bodies of consujners . in the United,
States The czar is all the less likely to do this
because they, ,nLye. a more juBt and reasonable
tax on oil there than we labor under. . Refined
oil Is a great revenue -producer in Russia arid is
taxed at the refineries fpf Russian consumption
at about $3a barret though this tax Is refunded
on all oir'exportedr and the Russian consumer
gets oil cheaper than we: dp at that. It would
be some satisfaction against the burden oi! high
prices here if the United Sta.tes government re
ceived an internal revenue of $2 a barrel out
of the excess. prjeo. which wo. pay.
But this proviso in the Dingley tariff act
can be repealed in a day .whenever congress is in -session;
or, a joint resolution can bo passed -to
the effect that no duty on petroleum, crude or
refined, shall be collected at any port of. tho
United States. Or again .the evil may he cor-.
Tected in quite a different .way If the Sherman,
act against contracts 'lif restraint of trade should
be applied to all contracts for American products .
for export which forbid and restrain or in any
sense restrict their reimportation into the United
States, the effect of which would be to stop all.
restricted sales. No business method has been,
more prolific of Injustice to thp American people
than these contracts by which' manufactured art
icles are sold abroad so much cheaper than at
home. This is far more Important than railroad
rebating and it would bo a healthy condition of
trade If no exporter wore permitted to stipulate
that the goods covered, by thp invoice should not
be sold here on the. dock before exportation.
The Standard Oil company is suffering some
what from, tho ill favor of the American people,
and the record breaking fine Imposed against it
of $29,240,000 Is a manifestation of it, but tho
fine is of bad effect, manifestly unjust, and a
discrimination against the Standard Oil company
as abhorrent as any which Itsolf has practiced.
Tho government of a great people can not uphold
this. Ilowover unjust tho Standard Oil com
pany may havo been toward competitors, toward
tho railroads, toward tho American people which
havo fostered It, it Is cntltlod to tho just and
oqual protection of tho law without cxcohbIvo
ponaltlos. But Its part In obtaining tho mis
leading clause of tho Dingley tariff act bearing
upon oil, undermines respect for law oven moro
than dodging subpoenas or flouting tho Missouri
Examiner.
Standnrd Oil economics and business meth
ods, its division of labor and Improved processes,
Its pipe lino transportation, and tho valuablo
inventions-owned by It, havo onabled it to beat
tho world both In roflnlng and delivering its
product wherever consumed, and tho dividends
on its stock would bo all they ought to ho If tho
artificial advantago of the present tariff. Intend
ed 'for infant industries In tho first and strug
gling stages, Is not any longer extended to thtir
gigantic trust.
"
THE WtKUIMAKKH
Under the leaves of tho sunslflne troo,
pn silvery anvils that ring with glee,
Tho Droammakcr hammers a golden smllq
And a crystal song with Its sweet beguflo;
All day long at his forgo he goes
Ringing tho rune of his hammer blows,
Till shaped and fashioned and glittering bright
Tho dreams are ready and winged for flight.
Dreammakor, Droammakcr, oh, can you sparo1
A golden dream from your storehouse there,
A dream of tho valleys of sun and dew,
Whore violets velvet tho earth with bluo,
And hills and streams and the orchards nwect
In a golden vision of childhood meet,
And butterflies flash on a noiseless wing
In glory of mnrvolous fashioning!
Under the leaves of the sunshine tree ,w- (-
Tho Dreammakor handoth a dream to mo, :r '
To hang tonight o'er a darling head
When sho cuddles down In her truniVo bed;-
A dream of laughter and light and song,
That unto tho childheart world belong;
And Lovo shall come on her wings a-crcep .
To kiss wide open its blooms of sleep!
v' Baltimore Sun.
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