The Price of Gasoline

Report Outline
Cost of Gasoline Production
Dominance of the Standard Companies
Production Amd Consumption of Gasoline
Movement of Gasoline Prices
Summary of Price Changes 1918–1924
Gasoline Price Changes 1925
Differences in Prices Between Cities
Charges of Monopoly and Trade Restraint
Recommendations of Investigating Bodies
Special Focus

Sharp Increases in the prices of gasoline during January and February, which carried, the average price nearly 50 per cent above the December level, led to the introduction of a resolution by Senator Trammell, B., Florida, during the special session of the Senate for a new investigation of the oil industry by the Federal Trade Commission. Senator Trammell, failed to secure action on his resolution prior to the adjournment of the special session, but the resolution will be pending when Congress reconvenes and the action finally taken upon It will depend in large measure upon the course of gasoline prices during the coming months.

Previous Investigations

During the last ten years the oil industry has been under practically continuous investigation by federal agencies. Nine investigations of various phases of the Industry have been made by the Federal Trade Commission. Four of these related directly to the high cost of gasoline. The Senate Manufactures Committee, under the chairmanship of Senator LaFollette, Investigated the condition of the industry and the prices of petroleum products in 1922–23, and the Department of Justice, at the request of the President, made an investigation of gasoline prices in the spring of 1924. Attorney General Sargent announced on April 15 that a new investigation of gasoline prices had been undertaken with a view to filing additional suits under the Sherman act, if price manipulation was disclosed.

The almost continuous Investigation of the oil industry, in which state agencies have joined during recent years, reflects an attitude of suspicion on the part of the general public, which appears to be due principally to the fluctuations from time to time and the differences from place to place in the prices of gasoline, and to a belief that the fixing of prices, without regard to conditions of supply and demand, has netted large profits to the dominant oil companies.