STANDARD OIL TRUST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 257, 23 October 1908, Page 4

STANDARD OIL TRUST.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST BUSINESS Much has been written about the attitude of the Standard Oil Trust towards its rivals, but little about tae methods by which it distributes its oil oyer the world. Most of us know that New Zealand is dependent upon ill'. Rockefeller's great organisation *>r its kerosene, but there can be few who have any idea of the vastness of the business, of which our portion is but a tiny fraction. It may be said that the Trust's oil goes to every country in the world. It is not without rivals. The Russian companies are. preparing' for a tremendous fight, and very payable oil is produced in Burma and the Dutch East Indies. But Standard Oil has much the greater part of the world's trade. The story of fU distribution, told in the World's Work, in uneontroversial terms, forms one of the most fascinating romances in the history of commerce. Of every 100 barrels of crude oil produced in America, sixty go abroad. In the most acute period of the industrial crisis last year, Standard Oil cut no wages and discharged no ma. The oil goes to Etirope, Asia, Africa, ami Australasia. It is used in Japan, an I Hi remote islands of the East Indies. [ All India knows it. There are scor-.s [oi stations from the .sea to the Himalayas. There is a station in the Khvbei il'ass, and the oil is handled in "bulk from the wells of Kansas to the vessel of the Afridi. Agents scatter oil through Persia until they meet the Russian product coming down from the Caspian Sea, and through the fringe of Arabia. Caravans take the oil to l'ez. and beyond, in .Morocco. The Chinese trade is tremendous, hut was not easily obtained. In main- small communities the mandarins made it S capital offence to be caught using petroleum, priests forbade it, commercial guilds bovcott-d it. Noticing that the crude "native lamps we»e s moky and malodorous, a smart agent determined to educate the natives to the use of a better lamp, a;iJ a small tin lamp with a chimney was specially designed for China. It cost sixpence to make, but Standard Oil sold it to users of the oil fur iourpeuce. Ihree-ipiarters of a million or these lamps were sold in China last year, and the demand continues to be strlm". The uttermost Standard Oil station in China lies two months' journey from the coast. Tim importance oi' the Chinese trade may be judged from the statement that if the Chinese used as much oil per head as the English do, the oilfields of the world would not sullice to supply the demand.

' ,J l was al " ,ut ISS3 that the Standard .V Ui! people became, alarmed at the competition of the oil-lields of Europe a.ul Asia., and determined to make the pri.-e of oil low enough to compete with the product of these fields. Intil then the I'liHt had sold its oil to agents oil commission, who forwarded it to Europe to agents, who distributed them throu»i, the Continent. The iir,t s tcp was 'to eut out the commission men. "The next step was to siiip oil in bulk. The fir 4 tank steamer crossed the Atlantic in IBS.I. earning •]. j/iuo gallons of oil ■ lliere were grave doubts about the sue-1 I cess of the experiment, but it revolutionised the whole industrv. In the old days freights to Europe' ranged from *)s tn UOs a ton. a i)d the use of the Ij.krels from -2 to 3. per cent.; now it is less than •(. per cent. The trust tJien proceeded to build up in Europe a ->- t.-in of distribution o u the American plan -refining plant-, tank ears on railways, large and small stations. The Tru>t owns or controls in Europe today 70 importing -tations. 4(1(10 interior stations, Hi manufacturing plants -'Otif) tank car,, 400 tank waggon, and about laO vessels. The latest improvement 111 transport is a ship to carrv oil aud tow a barge. nl,o carrying oil.' JSctwceii them they can take (i,U(IO,()00 gallons in one trip. The main fleet of the Trust . consists of (JOocean going tank st ners .17 steamers and barges in the coastal' trade, 1!) willing vessels, and a 7iost of smaller vessels, exclusive of about l.'id ships chartered in the year. These tank 1 steamers return with cargoes of general merchandise. When the tanks are wa<di- < eil out and deodorised aud a false bottom placed in each compartment, even i such susceptible articles as tea and s u- 1 gar arc not damaged by being carried \ ill oil ships. .As lias been said, there i-- c a great fight ahead, ltus-ia can pro,luce \ nioro oil than America, and in the mar- i

kets m' Kurope has pliii-al advantage, hut organisation is lacking, 'jluil. organisation is now licinj;' systematically liuilt. up and (lie interests controlling tin: lields are fi»litin<r Standard (lil with its own weapons. If the Kui<yenns win. a dozen prosperous towns in I the Western States will (all back into I a wildeniess.