SUGAR CREEK WORKMEN. ~ Are Afraid the Refinery Is Going to Close Up.

March 17, 1909
SUGAR CREEK WORKMEN.

Are Afraid the Refinery Is Going to
Close Up.

JEFFERSON CITY, March 16. -- There was never a more pathetic little delegation called upon any governor than tonight called upon Mr. Hadley. It was made up of workmen from the Sugar Creek district who have been building homes near the oil refinery.

In it were Frank Woodward, George V. Hackett, W. H. Harvey, B. F. Karkin and Edward Linn. The delegation called first on Representative N. R. Holcomb, who made an appointment for a meeting with the governor.

"We are all working men, governor," said Harvey, "and we have started to build homes for our families. The plasterers are ready to go to work in some of our houses. We have been told that the oil works are to be closed and that every one of us will be thrown out of work and our homes destroyed. Is it true?"

"I can not tell you what will be the ultimate outcome in law, but I can tell you that I do not think you need lose any sleep over your work or your homes," said the governor.

"How long will it take to get a final decision?" Woodward asked.

"It will take several months to get the case on the supreme court docket, and then six or nine months to get it argued," the governor answered. "When it is all done, I think the refinery will still be running. You are, like many others, laboring under a misapprehension. The decision of the court puts the Standard Oil Company out of the state, but it does not put the Sugar Creek refinery out of the state," the governor concluded.