Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/377

 in the business of refining oil he has been familiar with the price of crude oil and with the price of refined oil and with the profits to be derived therefrom, and from such experience he states that the average price of refined oil and the average profits to the manufacturer per gallon on same since 1876 have been much less than the average profit for several years previous to 1876; that said Standard Oil Company has no means now and never has had any of influencing the price of refined oil, save by the sale of its product in the open market.

Affiant further says that the Standard Oil Company has not nor did it ever have any interest in any oil property or any control over the production of crude petroleum; that it does not own any oil wells or land producing oil, and never did; nor has it any control over the price of crude petroleum, but relies upon obtaining its supplies, as all others do, by purchase in the open market and at the prices paid by others at the same time; that the said Standard Oil Company is not now nor has it ever been a stockholder in any railroad, pipe-line, or other common carrier for the transportation of oil, but within the year past it has for its own convenience constructed, and owns and is now operating, a pipe-line from Cleveland to the western line of the state of Pennsylvania for the purpose of bringing oil to its refineries at Cleveland; that said pipe-line is now insufficient to supply the demands of the Standard Oil Company for crude oil for its own refineries, and for that reason it has been and is now compelled to bring crude oil to Cleveland in cars to supply its wants.

That from the deponent's experience in business he knows it to be true that a large manufacturer always has an advantage in cheapness of manufacture over a small manufacturer; that all the advantages derived by the Standard Oil Company are legitimate business advantages, due to the very large volume of supplies which it purchases, its long continuance in the business, the experience it has thereby acquired, the knowledge of all the avenues of trade, the skill of experienced employees, the possession and use of all the latest and most valuable mechanical improvements, appliances and processes for the distillation of crude oil, and in the manufacture of its own barrels, glue, etc., etc., by reason of which it is enabled to put the oil on the market at a cost of manufacture much less than by others not having equal advantages. These advantages, by reason of which the Standard Oil Company is enabled to refine oil cheaper than smaller manufacturers, are not exclusive to the Standard Oil Company, but are open to every person doing business under similar circumstances. That this state of facts has been detrimental to smaller refineries and has prevented them from making as much profit as they desired, and in some cases compelled them to suspend refining, and this constitutes the only foundation for the oft-repeated expressions "crushed out," "squeezed out," and "bulldozing."

Affiant says he has examined the answer of the defendants, Shurmer and Teagle, and his attention has been called to various statements contained in it. In regard to the statement made therein that "if the business of the defendants were stopped as prayed