Items of Interest February 25, 1905 Issue

Items of Interest

The President has instructed Secretary Garfield to conduct an investigation into the affairs of the Standard Oil Company. The operations of the company will also be subjected to additional scrutiny as a result of the passage by the House of a resolution providing that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall investigate the cause of the low price of crude oil and petroleum, especially in the Kansas field, and the unusually large margins between those prices and the selling prices of refined oil and its by-products. The Secretary is directed to ascertain "whether those conditions have resulted, in whole or in part, from any contract, combination in the form of a trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce among the several States and Territories, and with foreign countries; also whether the said prices have been controlled, in whole or in part, by any corporation, joint stock company or corporate combination, engaged in interstate and foreign commerce; also whether such corporation, joint stock company or corporate combination, in purchasing crude oil and petroleum, by any mode or practice of discrimination, boycotts, blacklists, or in any manner discriminates against any particular oil field."

The Secretary is further directed to "investigate the organization, capitalization, profits, conduct, and management of the business of such corporations, company or companies, and corporate combinations, if any, and to make early report of his findings according to law, to the end that such information may be used by Congress as a basis for legislation, or by the Department of Justice as a basis for legal proceedings."

The treaties of arbitration that have been negotiated by the State Department with a number of foreign nations, and which were referred to the Senate for ratification, were amended by that body in such a way as virtually to require the consent of the Senate before questions for arbitration could be submitted to The Hague Tribunal. Under the circumstances the treaties in their amended form will not now be submitted by Secretary Hay to the different nations.

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