from great fires and losses, but it has taken care of its affairs in
such a way that it has not found it necessary to appeal to the general
public to place blocks of bonds or stock; it has used no underwriting
syndicates or stock-selling schemes in any form, and it has always
managed to finance new oil field operations when called upon.

It is a common thing to hear people say that this company has crushed
out its competitors. Only the uninformed could make such an assertion.
It has and always has had, and always will have, hundreds of active
competitors; it has lived only because it has managed its affairs well
and economically and with great vigour. To speak of competition for a
minute: Consider not only the able people who compete in refining
oil, but all the competition in the various trades which make and sell
by-products--a great variety of different businesses. And perhaps of
even more importance is the competition in foreign lands. The Standard
is always fighting to sell the American product against the oil
produced from the great fields of Russia, which struggles for the
trade of Europe, and the Burma oil, which largely affects the market
in India. In all these various countries we are met with tariffs which
are raised against us, local prejudices, and strange customs. In many
countries we had to teach the people--the Chinese, for example--to
burn oil by making lamps for them; we packed the oil to be carried by
camels or on the backs of runners in the most remote portions of the
world; we adapted the trade to the needs of strange folk. Every time
we succeeded in a foreign land, it meant dollars brought to this
country, and every time we failed, it was a loss to our nation and its
workmen.

One of our greatest helpers has been the State Department in
Washington. Our ambassadors and ministers and consuls have aided to