Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/238

THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY

CHART SHOWING PRICE OF OIL FROM 1866 TO 1904.

will show the difference or margin between the two prices. It is out of this difference that the refiner must pay the cost of transporting, manufacturing, barrelling and marketing his product, and get his profits. Now in 1866, the year after Mr. Rockefeller first went into business, he had, as this chart shows, an average annual difference of 35 cents a gallon between what he paid for his oil and what he sold it for. In 1867 he had from 26½ to 20 cents; in 1868, from 20 to 22½; in 1869, from 21 to 18; in 1870, from 20 to 15.

There were many reasons why this margin fell so enormously in these years. All of the refiners' expenses had rapidly decreased. In 1866 but two railroads came into the oil coun-