be able to carry out this policy, which, from the point of view of the combination, if it is managed on business principles and not for the purpose of speculation, is a wise one,

Petroleum *

In considering the chart showing the prices of crude and refined petroleum, attention should be called to the fact that figures for crude oil are given in bulk per gallon, the package not being included in the price; whereas those for refined

*The prices for crude and refined oil for export have been taken from the Derrick's Handbook on Petroleum, with the exception of those for the last few months, which have been furnished by the Standard Oil Company. The prices are in cents per gallon, including the cost of the barrel in the case of refined oils, excluding it in the case of crude oil. The prices of standard white illuminating oils at New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati have been furnished by the Standard Oil Company. Prices were given in bulk, and the amount of 2 cents per gallon was added for the cost of the barrel. of the barrel would of course vary slightly; but the rule of 2 cents per gallon is one that is laid down in the Handbook of Petroleum, and is probably a fair general average. The prices of export oils at Bremen were taken from the Handbook for the earlier period, and for the last few months have been furnished by the Standard Oil Company. Figures are found in detail with margin reckoned in Report of Industrial Commission, Vol. I., p. 48.

This cost

oil are given per gallon, including the cost of This is in accordance with the

the barrel.

usual system of quoting these prices.

It will be observed that the price of export oil at Bremen, H, is regularly above the price, not merely of that same quality of oil in this country, but even of the higher grade standard white illuminating oil. It frequently happens, however, that the high grade illuminating oil is lower in price in New York than the poorer grade oil for export. For brief times, in 1893-4, the New York price for illuminating oil stood nearly as high as the Bremen price. The independents claim that the very low price in Germany during those years resulted from an attempt to prevent their getting a foothold in the German market.

It will be noted that the prices of oils in New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati are charted on a scale twice as great as that of the main chart. This has been done in order to show the difference in prices between the three different markets under consideration. On the whole, the price of oil in New York stands somewhat above that in either of the other two cities, New York being somewhat further removed from the

oil fields; while the prices at Cincinnati are lowest. Although there is a general correspondence between the figures in these different markets, there are, nevertheless, special fluctuations in each market, which seem to be largely independent of fluctuations in the others.

The rapid and decisive fall in the price of refined oil in New York in 1896, it is claimed, was due to the competition of the Pure Oil Company. In March it put some wagons in New York selling oil. Prices dropped very rapidly until, as Mr. Lee, perhaps the leading opponent of the Standard Oil Company, says, they were below cost. Mr. Archbold of the Standard Oil Company makes a somewhat different statement of the figures, and points to the fact that the price of the crude oil was rapidly falling. The chart shows also that prices in both Chicago and Cincinnati fell in like proportion, if not even more rapidly, at the same time. The Pure Oil Company began exporting oil to Germany in October, 1896, with apparently somewhat better facilities than the independents had had before, which may possibly account in part for the rather rapid fall of oil in Germany at about that time, although crude oil was also falling.