The Oil Men’s Last Stand: Seattle’s Battle Over Fire Safety and Corporate Power

The question of oil storage within the city limits will be brought up at the meeting of the Common Council when Chairman Durie, of the Committee on Fire and Water, will carry to final passage the ordinance introduced by him February 16.

Public agitation of this question was begun by the Board of Trade at a January 17 meeting, when, upon the suggestion of President Adair, a committee of three was appointed to urge upon the city authorities the necessity of passing an ordinance prohibiting the indiscriminate storage of oil and other combustibles within the fire limits by corporations and individuals. The Chamber of Commerce in chief the fire department hands with the Board of Trade in urging immediate action, and the business community was profoundly stirred for a course of action regarding the perilous oil trade over which the oil dealers exercise such control.

When Mr. Durie submitted the ordinance he stated that it should be laid upon the table, so that any hints or amendments making it thoroughly effective without working a hardship on any one might be introduced. It was finally brought up last week to quietly upon the table without a single suggestion, amendment or objection to its provisions having been offered by the men most affected by it, and it was not until last Friday that it was announced the ordinance would likely be brought up that night, that the oil men awoke to the fact that their interests were at stake and bestirred themselves about securing more time. In response to their request the ordinance was left on the table for another week and Mr. Durie has done all in his power to bring about a settlement that would prove satisfactory alike to the oil men and the Council.

One of the plans made by Mr. Durie was that the oil men should build their warehouses on a block on Main Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, which is the only site within the limits prescribed by the proposed ordinance. He also tried to induce owners of lots in this block to build warehouses and lease them at reasonable rates to the oil men. In both he was unsuccessful, and as a last resource, he proposes up the ordinance which will doubtless pass, and then rest upon its enforcement.

A reporter attended a conference held by Agent Cummings of the Standard Oil Company and W. U. Wands, vice-president, and Agent Hallory, of the Eagle Oil and Refining Company, yesterday, to learn what reasons they had for objecting to the proposed ordinance and the modifications of the same suggested by Mr. Durie.

The position of the oil men is, briefly told, as follows: They claim, in the first place, that the whole agitation is foolish and unnecessary, as there is no danger of a general conflagration being caused by their warehouses as now located. In support of this they cite numerous instances where large oil warehouses have been burned without a single adjoining building being injured and over 50 per cent of the oil in the warehouse being destroyed. They say that when oil is stored in iron tanks no damage has been caused to adjoining property by their bursting and spreading the fire, but that with capacious oil this never has occurred and cannot occur.

As one of the strongest proofs they cite that rules of insurance upon their warehouses are cheaper than upon similar structures where boots, clothing and other merchandise is stored. In San Francisco several of the largest oil warehouses are situated on the water front, close to the Southern Pacific depot and no conflagration has ever been caused by them, neither is the rate of insurance in adjoining buildings affected by their juxtaposition. In Cleveland, Ohio, center of the oil business, the oil warehouses are allowed to remain unrestricted on the shores of the lake, right in the midst of the large shipping yards, and no general fire has ever occurred therefrom the warehouses, although some of them have burned.

They also object to the ordinance as class legislation and discrimination. The wholesale liquor houses, say they, have more liquor in their stores than there is oil in our warehouses, yet not one suggests that they be made to provide storage places away from the water front or commercial center! Then the soap factories keep large quantities of oils and greases that are more inflammable than coal oil, and yet no effort is made to move them away from the waterfront.

They object to the ordinance because they think they can't comply with its provisions and remain in Seattle. They say there is no place on Elliott Street where warehouses can be built near the railroad tracks and yet be 150 feet in the water front, as provided in the ordinance. They say it is out of the question to accept the substitute offered by Mr. Durie, because the owners of the property ask an exorbitant ground rent per month for each lot.

In short, the only ordinance that will suit the oil men is one providing that they shall not store oil within the fire limits, and as all the warehouses are now outside of the limits, such an ordinance would not change the situation in the least.

The oil men claim that the passage and enforcement of the ordinance will put them out of business, that it is unreasonable in all its provisions and entirely uncalled for by the existing circumstances. It is understood that the oil men will represent their cause at the meeting of the Council tonight and that if the ordinance passes, they will contest its validity in the courts.