Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 1.djvu/275

Rh trol in the entire Oil Regions in October 5,200,000 barrels of tankage, two-thirds of which belonged to producers, but was held by them under a lease. But oil poured from the ground faster than tanks could be built. In six months—that is, by July, 1878,—the daily output of Bradford had become over 18,000 barrels, an increase of 10,000 barrels a day over that of the previous December. That it was a most difficult situation for everybody is evident. There was but one way to prevent loss—shut down the wells and stop the drill; but this the producers refused to consider. Of course the price of oil went down rapidly, so far did the production exceed consumption. But why, cried the producer, when oil is already so low, take advantage of our necessity and force us into competition with each other; why enforce this immediate shipment? They answered their question themselves, and began then to make a charge against the Standard, which they continue to make to-day; that is, that it habitually meets the extraordinary expenses to which it is put by depressing the price of crude oil—"taking it out of the producer." The Bradford region demanded great investments, therefore immediate shipment. "The producer pays." The writer has no documentary proof that this is Mr. Rockefeller's policy, but there is no question that the Oil Region believes it is, and this belief must be taken into account if one attempts to explain the long warfare of the oil country on him and his company. It is a common enough thing to-day, indeed, to hear oil producers in Northwestern Pennsylvania remark facetiously when a new endowment to Chicago University is reported: "Yes, I contributed so much on such a day. Don't you remember how the market slumped without a cause? The university needed the money, and so Mr. Rockefeller called on us to stand and deliver."