228  The  Price  of  Gasoline.  /Am  jour.  Pharm. 
J  l        May,  19 17. 
withdrawing  entirely  from  such  owners  the  right  to  vote  or  hold 
office  or  otherwise  exercise  power  of  control,  whether  the  same  is 
done  directly  or  indirectly.  Such  withdrawal  of  rights  might  even 
be  extended  to  the  right  to  receive  benefits  and  earnings.  It  might 
be  made  applicable  to  all  potentially  competitive  corporations. 
As  to  4. — If  it  is  deemed  inadvisable  by  Congress  to  prevent  com- 
mon ownership,  with  its  almost  inevitable  restriction  of  competition, 
it  is  suggested  that  legislation  might  be  enacted  fixing  upon  the  com- 
mon owners  of  stock  in  potentially  competing  concerns  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  acts  of  such  corporations,  so  owned,  which  result  in  the 
prevention  of  competition  or  the  abolition  of  competitive  conditions. 
As  to  pipe  lines,  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Commission  that  it  would 
in  the  long  run  be  the  simplest  and  most  effective  policy  to  segregate 
the  ownership  of  the  pipe  lines  from  the  other  branches  of  the 
petroleum  industry.  This  would  mean  that  no  controlling  portion 
of  the  stock  of  any  pipe-line  company  engaged  in  interstate  com- 
merce should  be  owned  by  any  individual,  company,  or  corporation, 
or  by  any  group  of  individuals,  companies,  or  corporations,  that  are 
also  interested  as  owners  in  any  oil  producing  or  refining  properties ; 
and  vice  versa. 
In  view  of  the  bearing  of  accurate  information  upon  industry 
and  competitive  conditions,  it  is  suggested  that  an  appropriate 
branch  of  the  federal  government  should  be  provided  with  adequate 
means  for  carrying  on  the  statistical  work  required.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  work  be  performed  with  integrity,  ac- 
curacy, and  dispatch.  It  is  believed  that  (independently  of  any 
remedies  that  may  be  adopted  to  secure  a  more  competitive  organi- 
zation of  industry)  to  make  available  currently  the  statistical  in- 
formation here  contemplated  would  go  far  toward  preventing  such 
abnormal  and  unequal  price  advances  as  occurred  in  the  gasoline 
markets  of  the  United  States  in  1915. 
With  regard  to  quality  of  product,  the  Commission  suggests  the 
desirability  of  classifying  gasoline  products.  It  is  a  simple  matter 
to  ascertain  what  proportion  of  a  sample  of  gasoline  is  sufficiently 
volatile  to  insure  the  reasonably  easy  starting  and  flexibility  of 
operation  of  the  ordinary  internal  combustion  engine.  If  a  law  were 
enacted  which  would  provide  that  only  such  petroleum  products  as 
contain  the  desired  proportion  of  sufficiently  volatile  elements  shall 
be  sold  in  interstate  commerce  as  gasoline,  it  is  believed  that  it  would 
lead  to  a  desirable  measure  of  classification  and  uniformity  in 
quality. 
