Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 1.djvu/358

Rh II. The party of the first part, that it will submit all questions, arising under said railroad contracts, which affect the interests of both producers and refiners, to the decision of the joint committee provided for in Article I of the agreement.

III. The party of the second part, that it will appoint five of its members to constitute, with the five members of the party of the first part, the joint executive committee provided for in Article I of this agreement; and will submit to said committee all the questions mentioned in Article II.

IV. The said parties mutually, that the decisions of said joint committee on all questions, affecting the joint interests of producers and refiners, which shall be submitted to them, shall be final and conclusive upon both the parties hereto. That upon the questions which shall at all times be held to affect the joint interests of both producers and refiners are the following, viz.:

1st. The rates of transportation of both crude and refined oil. 2nd. The price of crude oil at the wells and in the market. 3rd. The price of refined oil in the market. 4th. The amount of rebate and drawback which from time to time it may be necessary for the interests of the trade to ask from the railroads.

V. The said parties mutually, that the joint committee shall meet once a month, and at any intermediate time, or times, at which a meeting shall be called by the chairman, or by any four of its members, to consider such questions as shall affect the joint interests of the parties hereto.

VI. The party of the second part that it will agree to increase and lessen the aggregate production of crude petroleum, as the said joint committee shall direct, to adapt as nearly as practicable the supply of the same to the capacity of the markets of the world to absorb at a price remunerative to the producer, the refiner and the transporter.

VII. The parties hereto mutually, that the said joint committee shall, at the beginning of each year, fix the minimum average price at which crude petroleum can be produced and delivered on board railway cars, which price shall be called the minimum cost of production—that at the same periods the said committee shall also fix the minimum average price at which crude oil can be refined, put up in packages and sold, which price shall be called the minimum cost of manufacture.

VIII. The parties hereto mutually, that after paying the minimum cost of production of crude petroleum, the minimum cost of its manufacture, and the cost of transportation and storage, and shipping also, in the case of exported oil, the profits shall be apportioned between the producers and refiners, in the ratio of per cent. to the former, and per cent. to the latter.

IX. The said parties, that in case of a temporary over-production of crude petroleum, the excess shall as far as practicable be taken and withheld from market, and an advance of three-fourths of the minimum cost of production advanced thereon by the party of