Standard Oil Ownership

It is a far cry from the original Standard Oil Co., which Miss Ida M. Tarbell described so vividly, to the present-day Standard Oil of New Jersey. The New Jersey company, in common with many another prominent U. S. corporation, has gone in for the "employe ownership" idea.

On Dec. 31 of this year the first plan of this sort operated by the Company will terminate, and title to about $40,000,000 of stock will pass to about 16,000 subscribing employes. All told, about 900,000 shares will have been distributed to employes during the past five years. This total, though only about 5% of the outstanding common stock, is nevertheless the largest aggregation of shares except for the holdings of John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Under the Company's plan, it puts in 50 cents for every dollar put in by an employe for stock subscription. On the face of it, therefore, an employe pays only two-thirds of the price of the stock he buys. Actually, the situation is even more favorable than this to an employe owing to withdrawals, interest, etc. In a similar plan operated by a subsidiary, it was found that about 90% of employes permanently retain their stock.