OCR Text |
Show WOULD BE INCONSISTENT. In view o the threatened action of the German government against the Standard Uil Company in favor of a German monopoly which would get its supply of oil from the Batoum oil fields, south of I he Black Sea, whose; production is controlled by a Kussian monopoly, it. is proposed in some of the Eastern Stales that the United Slates should make formal objection to the reported hostile aefion of Hio German Ger-man government. It is quite usual for our National administration to intervene inter-vene by way of protest and diplomatic correction where I here has been any attack made upon American commerce or whore there is interference with markets mar-kets for our goods in foreign' countries. This, however, is possiblo only where wo ourselves, have not discredited (he very commerce or industry thai is attacked. at-tacked. But in (he case of the Standard Oil, it is difficult lo see what this government govern-ment could urge upon Goriuany by way of protest against German procedure proced-ure against- the Staudard Oil. for have we not ourselves denounced tho Standard Stand-ard Oil as an offensive monopoly, and ordered that il should be dissolved 2 Wo have broken tho general holding company into pieces so far as this country coun-try is concerned; but, of course, that did not necessarily affect the foreign trade of the yeneral Standard Oil corporation. cor-poration. Still, if the German government govern-ment or any other foreign government chooses to attack tho Standard Oil Company as an offensive monopoly thai ought to be 'broken up bv law. what has the United Suites left that it could say by way of remonstrance? Wo have ourselves officially proclaimed the Standard Oil Company to bo offensive, unbearable, and have broken it up within the boundaries of our own nation. na-tion. If the United States should remonstrate re-monstrate lo Germany against its procedure pro-cedure to the injury of the Standard Oil corporation and its business in Germany, the reply could very aptly be that Germany was doing no moro against the Standard Oil Company than wo oursojvea had done, and it could be poiuled out very clearly and forcibly forci-bly th.at as wo have found the Standard Oil monopoly to be too oppress! vo for oursclvoB. and accordingly broke it up, with what grace shall we appeal to Germany to support that same. monopoly mon-opoly that, we have found to be so emailing? . Aa a matter of fact, onr procedure, against the Standard ' OU Company helped its business in the United States, and increased the price of oil lo all tho pooplo. It i3 difficult in 1 view of what wo have done, to sec hoy wo could make any effective protest pro-test to Gorniany against precisely the same sort of action taken by the German Ger-man government for exactly the same relief, that we ourselves sought lo obtain. ob-tain. U is not to bo presumed, of course, that the German government would be ignorant of the procedure that our government took in our own courts against tho Standard Oil Company; Com-pany; aud if we should remoustrate to Germany against what she is doing about tho Standard Oil, a reply that the German government was simply following in our own footsteps and doiug precisely what we ourselves had douc. with respect to the Standard Oil Company, there would be nothing possible pos-sible left for us to say. |