ITEMS OF INTEREST December 29, 1906 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

According to the testimony of the Standard Oil Company's own witnesses, just given in the suit brought by Missouri against the trust for violations of the anti-monopoly laws of the State, Attorney General Herbert S. Hadley of that Commonwealth has accomplished practically what he set out to do. The allegation on which the action was based was that the three companies which supplied oil to Missouri were entirely in the control of the Standard, and that they were operated in a manner to prevent competition. Under an order of the courts the Standard officials admitted the control of the stock. The president of the Republic Oil Company of Cleveland, one of the defendants, testified that the concern had already abandoned business in Illinois and Iowa, and that it was getting ready to quit also in Missouri. This he said, was due largely to exposures in the newspapers of the company's connection with the Standard Oil Company. Prior to the campaign begun by Attorney General Hadley the concern was known as an independent dealer, and the belief among its customers that it was a rival of the trust brought it a great amount of business. When it became more and more apparent that the Republic Company was merely one of the many ramifications of the Standard Oil Company. sales fell off to such an extent that it was thought prudent to abandon the business and turn over the properties of the concern to the trust.

Trial tests recently conducted at Sandy Hook developed the fact that one hour's firing of a 12-inch gun will so impair its accuracy as to render it inefficient. Smokeless powder produces rapid deterioration of these great guns. The 12-inch guns now mounted or building for coast defence purposes number one hundred and five. The construction of each has cost the Government about $75,000. Fourteen-inch guns with shorter barrels and greater capacity of initial velocity will be constructed. To build the first 14-inch gun and carriage has required an expenditure of $132,000, but if the calculation of ordnance experts prove correct the other guns of this type can be built and mounted for about the same cost as the 12-inch guns.

Experiments conducted by the Signal Service within the past few months have resulted in the construction by the Government of a number of portable wireless outfits, and they are now being distributed among the various commands. These outfits can be transported on the backs of three horses, and can be set up in twenty minutes. They can transmit messages about one hundred miles. The coast artillery stations will be fitted up with the same outfits, from which communication may be had with ships at sea and transmitted to the field if necessary.

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