Vacuum Standardized

Like the advertisement-girl who was often a bridesmaid but never a bride, Vacuum Oil Co. has many times been rumored as about to ally with Standard Oil of New York, has just as many times failed to complete the alliance. Last week the merger was announced, with just one hitch. The hitch was that both companies are fragments of the old "Standard Oil Trust," and strong will be the belief that what the Supreme Court has rent asunder no man may dare put together. To argue against this, the companies will maintain, when the government brings a trial injunction, that after the dissolution the Standard Oil companies were to pursue whatever lawful courses they chose, and that this course is distinctly lawful, for Vacuum and Standard of New York are noncompetitive. In the U. S., Vacuum concentrates on lubricating oil (Gargoyle, Mobil oil), Standard of New York on gasoline (Socony) Abroad, Vacuum markets gasoline and kerosene in Egypt, parts of Europe, Africa, and Australasia, while noncompetitive Standard of New York does the same thing in the Near East, India, Aden, and the Orient.

Standard of New York. One of the major sections of the "Oil Trust" was Standard of New York, whose 1928 income was about $40,000,000. A distributing company itself, it controls Magnolia Petroleum Co. and General Petroleum Corp. of California, through which it operates some 221,000 acres of oil land.

Vacuum. Reputedly the oldest of oil companies in existence, Vacuum was founded in 1866, seven years after the first commercial production of petroleum, by Matthew Ewing, inventor, and Hiram B. Everest, grocer, on the basis of a vacuum distillation process which Mr. Ewing maintained could turn petroleum 100% into kerosene. This was a valuable claim because the lighter distillations, such as are used for gasoline, were in those days dumped into rivers as waste-products. When the process failed, Mr. Ewing dropped out, but Mr. Everest developed Vacuum Harness Oil, sold it in second-hand oyster cans.

In 1880 Vacuum was absorbed by Standard Oil and developed rapidly when lubricating oil was needed for the stationary engine, the automobile, and finally the electric generator, motor and transformer and the steam turbine.

Merger. The union of the two companies would create a concern with assets of about $900,000,000, with earnings far above those of Standard of California, about equal to Standard of Indiana, but below Standard of New Jersey. The two companies would distribute petroleum products equal to about 9% of the total U. S. consumption. Especially potent would be the new combination in battling the Royal Dutch-Shell group which has been engaged in combat with Standard of New York both here and abroad.

The merger would be accomplished through a new holding company, General Petroleum, in which New York holders would receive share for share, and Vacuum three for one. Thus the identity of each company would be kept separate, and the management preserved. At the head of Standard is Herbert Lee Pratt, whose family is said to be the dominant stockholder. A few years ago the Rockefeller interests were revealed as having a 23.6% interest in Vacuum and a 17.8% interest in Standard of New York, but it is believed that to make the merger seem less a revival of the "Rockefeller Dragon," these holdings have been diminished and placed in other Standard Oil companies while the Pratt family has similarly withdrawn from others and concentrated in Standard of New York.

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