Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/376



[In the case of the Standard Oil Company vs. William C. Scofield et al., in the Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1880.]

John D. Rockefeller being duly sworn, says that for about eighteen years past he has been engaged in the business of refining crude petroleum; that from about the year 1863 to 1870 he was engaged as a member of firms in such refining, and from January, 1870, he has been and still is engaged in such refining business as president of said plaintiff, the Standard Oil Company; that during said time he has given the business personal attention and has thereby become familiar with the general business of refining crude petroleum, with the amount of crude petroleum produced, with the amount of crude petroleum refined, so far as the same can be ascertained, and especially with the business of the Standard Oil Company.

Affiant says the said Standard Oil Company owns and operates its refineries at Cleveland, Ohio, and its refinery at Bayonne, New Jersey; that it has no other refineries nor any interest in any other refineries, nor does the Standard Oil Company operate or control in the United States any other refineries of crude petroleum; that there are in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey a large number of refineries of crude petroleum that are not owned or controlled by said Standard Oil Company, and in which the said Standard Oil Company has no interest whatever, directly or indirectly, which are now and for years past have been refining crude petroleum and selling it in the open market; that the amount of crude petroleum refined by the said Standard Oil Company does not exceed thirty-three per cent. of the total amount refined in the United States.

Affiant further says that the capacity of all the refineries in the United States is more than sufficient to supply the markets of the world, and in the judgment of affiant if all the refineries were run to their full capacity they would refine at least twice as much oil as the markets of the world require; that this difference between the capacity of refineries and the demands of the market has existed for at least seven years past, and during that period the refineries of the Standard Oil Company have not been run to their full capacity, and in the judgment of affiant not to exceed one-half of their capacity.

Affiant further says that during all the period of time that he has been engaged