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, 1. Th overage oil well, drilled by Union Oil
Company in California, costs 65,888. If you
were to divide that expense between two men,
it would cost them $32,944 apiece. But if you
divide it among 31,652 people, as we do, the
average cost to each person is only $2.08.
2 For th Union Oil Compony is owned not
by one man, or two, but by 31,652 -Western
men and women. In this principle of multiple
ownership you have the secret of America's
amazing ability to produce more goods (at
lower prices) than any other nation on earth.
3 Multiplo ownership has made our kind of
peacetime living, and our kind of war produc
i tion, possible. Here's why. In the old days, when
everything from shoes to rifles was made by
hand, almost any business could be financed
. and operated by one man. ?
4 But with tho advent of the machine age,"
many businesses began to require more money j
(for plants, machinery, research, etc.) than any j
one man could put up. In the early 1890's, for
example, you could drill an oil well in the i
California fields for about $2,500.
in u- y
5m Today, because we go so much deeper and
use such expensive ecpipment, it costs almost 26
times as much. There aren't very many men who
can finance that kind of drilling single-handed.
For out of 169 exploratory wells drilled by the
industry in California last j&itonlj proved of
any importance.
- ' s' ' . :
O But under our system of Free Enterprise
we Americans have been able to pool the money
and the talents of a lot of people under a legal
agreement known as a corporation. That way,
we can tackle a job collectively that we could
never handle alone.
,
7 Iff we're going to start a farm or a drug
store, or a machine shop we still do it single
handed. But if we're going to make something
like steel, gasoline, light bulbs; automobiles,
refrigerators, house paint, window panes,
bathroom fixtures, etc, we get other people to
go in with us.
0 As a result, we've been able to achieve the
highest standard of living, and the greatest war Y
production in the world. Multiple ownership is K ;
not the only phase of our Free Enterprise sys-: ;r-
tern that has made this possible. Bur it s so
important, that without it, our American way' -1 '
of life could never have been. . r '
UJU nCDKJ (DO EL . . CD (DEC mil
' i rM 'CH if cd n n, n"i? c n xi n
i The company that became Union OH 1
-'Jufqitndai'iH 1886 out of this per-
iotial savings of nine Santa Paula,
- California business
Toiilflry, tf w owned by 31,652 people, :
mos of whom live right here in the
West-3,628 in San Francisco, 434 in
Seattle, 7 in Grant's Pass, Oregon,
274 in San Diego, etc - m
TheCompany's Profits which,inl942,
amounted to 3.8 on capital invested,
ere shared among these people.
' " Zos ar this net Profit amounted to
I : $1 74.94 per stockholder. Of this sum,
?, $147.42 teas paid out in dividends
$27.52 was left in the business.
" - - . , . .. ,
. n return for these profits, the 31,652 t
owners have financed the tank ships,
- oil wells, nfineries and service stations
.1 that make Union Oil's operations p6s-
'sible. - . ; : . .
. 4 j . ..'.. ' -r ' . .' -This
is A story ? wos A merican
'corporations By pooling the money
and talents of a lot of People, we are
able to do a job collectively tliatwe
could never do alone.
... i
AnERICA'3 flFTl FUEEDOM I FREE EUTERPRISn
' J "'-'This series, sponsored by the people of
L : .4lUnlon Oil Company, is dedicated to
? discussion of bowzndwby American busi- '
ness functions. We hope you'll feel free .
to send in any suggestions or criticisms ,
you have to offer. Write: The President,
UmonOilCompany.UnionOil Building,
Los Angeles, California, v .
,, . ::r '. ...