THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
CHART SHOWING PRICE OF OIL FROM 1866 TO 1904.
The above chart is adapted from one published in the Report of the Industrial Commission, Volume 1, 1900, and is brought up to date. The figures at The figures at the right and left stand for the price per gallon in cents. The dates are placed at the top. The figures on which the export and crude lines are based are those taken from the "Oil City Derrick Hand-Book." Those on which the water-white line is based are from the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter.
A shows the variations in the price per gallon of refined oil for export in barrels in New York. The price of barrels varies slightly, but is usually estimated at 2½ cents per gallon.
B shows the variations in the price per gallon of crude oil in bulk at the wells.
C shows the variations in the price per gallon of water-white oil (150º test) in barrels in New York. This is the usual domestic oil.
The margin or difference between the price of crude and refined is easily calculated. Thus at the end of 1876 the crude line shows the price of crude to be about nine cents—the price of refined about twenty-nine; the margin was therefore twenty cents.
will show the difference or margin between the two prices. It is out of this difference that the refiner must pay the cost of transporting, manufacturing, barrelling and marketing his product, and get his profits. Now in 1866, the year after Mr. Rockefeller first went into business, he had, as this chart shows, an average annual difference of 35 cents a gallon between what he paid for his oil and what he sold it for. In 1867 he had from 26½ to 20 cents; in 1868, from 20 to 22½; in 1869, from 21 to 18; in 1870, from 20 to 15.[1]
There were many reasons why this margin fell so enormously in these years. All of the refiners' expenses had rapidly decreased. In 1866 but two railroads came into the oil coun-
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- ↑ See Appendix, Number 57. Tables of yearly average prices of crude and refined.
