The Proposed German Petroleum Monopoly

The German government's plan to create a monopoly which shall displace the subsidiaries of the Standard Oil Company in the control of the petroleum trade of the Empire is a matter of the greatest importance to the United States, because kerosene constitutes one of our chief exports, and because Germany has hitherto been one of the chief buyers of this commodity. If we examine the plans for the new monopoly, we find that there is no intention to exclude American kerosene as such, nor even the product of the Standard Oil Company, from the market; and, if we examine the course of events which has brought about the demand for government intervention, we realize that the desire to break the absolute control which a foreign trust has established over the import and sale of a commodity of immense importance to the middle and lower classes is perfectly justifiable.