sentative at that time told me that in February 1967 they were going to start to build the bay and completely remodel the entire station, so I thought well, we are finally getting somewhere. February passed and halfway through March nothing was happening, so I asked again what was going on. They said do not worry, the weather has not been good enough to start work but the place will be done in time for the next inspection campaign. Along came April and still nothing was happening so I started calling and asking every time I had a chance to bring it up. Then they started telling me they were having trouble getting building permits from the city of Pittsburgh, but it would take time to get to the right people in town to get the permits.

Well, the whole summer of 1967 passed and nothing ever happened. I started to get disquieted and lost faith in the company and their representatives. I had thought of taking over another station close by but I did not want to leave what I had built up there. I liked the place I had and did not care to leave for 50 years if I could only have what I needed to run the business the way it should be run and be able to go home at a decent hour like everyone else. I did not want to leave the location that I had because I had built it up from 300 gallons a day, when I took it, to 1,000 or better per day. I rented the lot next door to my station to put all my U-Haul equipment, such as trucks and trailers so I would not be cluttering up the station area. I worked this U-Haul franchise into a well-paying thing. During the summer months I would have a gross business of no less than $500 per week and sometimes reaching $1,000 per week on just truck and trailer rentals. I did not want to leave this to go elsewhere and possibly not be able to take them along. My phone number and address had been established in the newspaper ads that I run in two different newspapers each week and in the phone book. Leaving there and going elsewhere would be like starting completely over again. I was working this station into something. I knew what I wanted but was bucking up against a blank wall because of lies that I got from the Sun Oil Co. When I went to Mr. Gans to talk about my termination he said as far as he knew up until that instant there had been no money appropriated for a third bay on Buttermilk Hollow Road. I asked him why his representatives would tell me just the opposite. He said, well sometimes the representatives have a tendency to give misleading information and say things they are not quite sure of. I asked him then about the merchandise in my station that I had purchased from Sun Oil, such as their tires and batteries. He said that this was not their problem and I would have to work this out myself. At that time, Dave Schand spoke up to him, which I could not hear, and Mr. Gans changed his mind and said we will take back anything which is resaleable and reusable.

The night of the termination they came to the station and picked out only the tires from the last order and said the rest were an out-ofdate line and they would not take them. I would have to keep them. One of the newest tires they came out with, the Polyester Citation, was setting there unwrapped which was used for display at one time and to show the customers. Dave Schand said, we cannot take this one because it is unwrapped. I then blew my stack about how I had accepted tires that I ordered from Sun that came on the van unwrapped and I did not complain. He took it and said they would have to send it directly to a company station because they could not resell it.

I accepted quite a lot of merchandise that was pulled from closed stations even with prices printed on them and never complained. When we got to the Sun batteries, again they separated the newest ones only and said the rest were old and could not be accepted, so I would have to take them home along with the older tires. Again, I blew my stack about how I accepted batteries even after they came out with their new internal connector batteries, ones that were not of the newest type I accepted from the van because the warranties were the same, so, what is the difference. But now they will not take them because they call them obsolete now. But, they did not take the ones they called obsolete and I took them home with the older stock of tires. Not 6 months before termination I had some batteries that were around for quite awhile I stocked a battery to fit almost every car on the road and three or four of the fast movers. The ones I had were for Ford products-4N group. They were wet batteries with the acid already in them. They sat around so long they would not charge up. So, I asked to have them picked up and, being they were of the older line, credit them to my account and send me the 2SM group, which they did. Now, 6 months later they cannot credit ones that were not even as old as these wet ones were. Why?

In approximately January 1967, I was approached by a Sun Oil representative and the Kelly-Springfield tire salesman in my station, to talk about spring dating for summer tires. A few weeks before this, the Sun representative insinuated that if I did not cooperate and buy Kelly tires from him that he would find someone for my station that would. He said if you order tires, this may help to get things in gear to get your third bay. He said, I will arrange to have the tires delivered to the Blawnox warehouse and we will keep them there for you till your bay is complete and we can stock them up on double tier tire racks that are going to be across all three bays. We will deliver 40 or 50 to hold your over until the building is complete.

I ordered the tires when the tire salesman came around, 200 of them. The tires came about February or March and the Sun representative said when I ordered that even if you do not sell them this will give you a good inventory and when payments come due and if you do not have the payments, we will pick up the tires in quantities equivalent to the amount of the payments. The sales representative said he had the arrangements made by the tires to be stored for me in Blawnox. The tires came by direct delivery from Kelly in a tractor trailer truck to my station. I told the truck driver what arrangements had been made in Blawnox to store the tires so he went over to Blawnox. About 2 hours later the phone rang and they wanted to know if I was crazy or what, sending that truck over there. They knew nothing of storing any tires for me. It was just another lie told to me by the Sun representative, to lead me on so his tire sales would look good and make me think my third bay was in process.

I always stocked Kelly tires from Sun, but I sold more Mohawk tires than any other kind and slowly each year I would move out my share of Kellys too.

About July 20, 1967, I called for a meeting with Dave Shand and the credit manager at my station to discuss a rent cut for myself. I was paying the maximum rent for 4 years but never thought much about it because I was making a living and was happy with my station.

Then, I started to think, why should I pay all this rent when they rent stations not a half a mile or so away for a dollar a month, three or four of them. They have approximately four or six stations that are closed right now and I am wondering if the main office in Philadelphia realizes the shape the Pittsburgh area is getting into. Well, they came out and we discussed it and they checked my P. & L. statement and said they could see no reason for an amendment on rent. I said my inside work as far as lubs and oil changes went is not like it was in the past with these new car guarantees coming out. Every month at least two or three of my regular customers that had older cars would roll in with a new car and there goes some more of my regular service work. I did tuneup work, brake service, and all minor repair work. A customer could come in and ask for a price on a job such as brake service or exhaust system work, and I would give him a price to his satisfaction and he would say, "Well, while it is here you may as well inspect it for me, too." Then, I would have to say that I was not an inspection station. I could not inspect it for him, and nine times out of 10 they would say "If you cannot do the whole job, I will let you know and I would never see them again only for gas or island service.

Which brings us back to the problem of the third bay, which I never got. So I said to them, well, if I am going to get this third bay, give me some rent support until it is done and then I will pay the rate like I always did plus the amount that they raise your rent for when they build third bays.

I did not care how or what they wanted to do as long as I got my station fixed the way it had to be to give complete customer service. At this point, Dave Shand said a rent cut is not what you need to help stimulate your business because this would only add up to a few hundred dollars a month and he was sure that what I was looking for was more than a few hundred dollars. About July 20, Dave Shand and George Duppold came to the station and said they had a few ideas on how to change the appearance of the station so as to draw people's attention again. They said my signs and displays had not been changed in such a long time that no one paid any attention to them any more. They said they were almost positive that if I let them change the place around the way they thought it should look that it would positively stimulate business. I left on vacation on July 23 and they went to work on the place while I was away. I told my dad whatever they wanted to change or whatever signs or displays they had to put up to let them do it just to satisfy their request. They were to light up my U-Haul lot next door and run lights on the street signs for gas price and service work prices. Dave Shand told George Dippold that when I returned he was to work with me because he considered George an expert on station display and points of interest material. They were also to pick up 50 tires that payment was due on that they had me inventory out before I left and turned in the pickup order. When I returned in 2 weeks, nothing but one sign pole was cemented in the ground and no tires were picked up. They did nothing else that they said they would do. One week later I received my termination letter.

I took out a loan at the bank to go into business which amounted to nearly $8,000 with interest. They said I had to have $2,000 down with the company before I could even go to the 6-week training classes. I worked part time for the owner of the station who was there 2 years

before me and I agreed that if he decided to leave that I would buy him out completely, stock and equipment, which I did. After buying him out and putting my $2,000 down with the company, I had about $800 to start off with for coming expenses after the first day. This got me off to a real good start. I had a pretty good idea of what the station could do if it was managed right, that is why I took this big step and I was right.

I still owed the bank $3,000 of the loan the day I left the station. You are always back one load of gas with Sun Oil, so the quickest way for me to get my $2,000 deposit from the company back was to pump out all the gas dry and this gave $3,000 that I will pay off my loan with

when the time comes due.

Why would they take a person like myself that did everything the way they wanted it done and borrow this kind of money to open up the way you should and throw me out just to turn around and put in another fellow who has not got 5 cents and completely finance his way, and is now back to pumping 400 gallons a day again? This does not make sense to me. I say that if a man borrows money like I did that they should not be allowed to touch him until the business has at least paid off its original indebtedness or else the company should buy him completely out to help him cover his debts-equipment, stock, supplies, and all.

No company man or representative ever gave me any idea that they were dissatisfied with anything. I say if a man has a problem and he cannot go up to another man and say, "We do not like this or we suggest you try doing it this way," or give a man at least half a chance to make correction, this is not the man I want to talk to or deal with. There is a Sun representative which is not even in this area but lives in this area that came in to a friend of mine's station and made the remark that I knew 6 months ago that they were going to cancel me out and this is a lie. I knew nothing until I got my letter and then I could not believe it. Mostly because not even 4 weeks before the letter came they were at my station telling me how they are going to help me improve my business, and give me a hand to stimulate the customers' interest. Then bingo, you are out, and out in a fog to boot.

I am sure there were no customer complaints because they did not say they had any kind of complaint at all. When a customer wanted service done to his car, he got it at his convenience when he wanted it whether it was day or night. The boys did not close at 5 o'clock and that was it for the day. I would do repair work in the evenings just to take care of a customer who would work all day and could not make it in the day. Windshields were always cleaned, front and rear, and oil checked on almost every car except for possibly the one dollar sale of gas.

I always went along with the company on the game they had, which was Sunny Dollars.

I think I have covered almost every important point of this story. There are probably a lot more little things I will remember after I mail this in but I would like to go over this with you when I get up to see you.

Thank you.

Mr. SNOW. Mr. Chairman, we have with us two other men who will not take any time of the committee, whose attendance I would like

to show here and give the names to the reporter. Also, Mr. Joseph Grom, Louisville, Ky., who has come a long way and has brought a number of exhibits that show the types of contracts that retailers are required to enter into, how the credit card controls limits the retailer. Also the so-called manager contract in which the manager is an independent contractor but wholly controlled by the retailer. These exhibits require a little explanation which I appreciate the committee cannot now hear. I would like to introduce Mr. Grom. Perhaps I could submit these for the record, with the explanation at a subsequent meeting of the committee, if you could handle it that way. Mr. Grom.

Senator HART. I believe at this point, you talk to committee staff and see how best we can arrange it. The telephone call was to advise that the full committee is in session. For that reason, we must recess. Mr. SNOW. Mr. Grom, do you want to say one word?

Mr. GROM. Is there any time this afternoon that you will be available?

Senator HART. Yes. I have a 2 o'clock meeting of the Special Committee on Western Hemisphere Immigration. We have another scheduled witness. The dilemma is we do not know when the full committee will conclude its session. Consequently, I cannot tell you when I will be back. I wish I knew myself. With staff, we will attempt to advise you as to an appropriate time. Thank you.

Mr. SNOW. Thank you, Senator, very much.

(A recess was taken.)

Senator HART. The committee will be in order.

We left on an uncertain note as to how we would be able to reassemble. I am glad we made it and I would ask Mr. Snow to proceed. Mr. SNow. Mr. Chairman, we support these measures so that a legal, a sound legal foundation can be provided for independent business. Today the service station operators' business is built on quicksand so far as the contract is concerned. The dealer game of how to survive in quicksand produces 75,000 losers every year, men who go out of business, forced out of business, fail in business because of hardships that are related to the economic controls, economic serfdom, the Federal Trade Commission calls it, which are imposed. We ask your support for measures to give a legal foundation first to independence and then for means of protecting this independence.

Our next witness who will present an instance of a type of contract that represents the extreme of control is Mr. Joseph Grom, of Louisville, Ky.

Mr. GROM. Senator Hart, I am a Texaco dealer, president of the Kentucky Gasoline Dealers Association. Since the committeeSenator HART. What city in Kentucky? I missed it.

Mr. GROM. Louisville. Since the committee is considering ways to give protection to franchisees, I want to urge that this protection be broad enough to cover all contracts the oil companies and suppliers use to control the retail business they do not operate. Here is one of the contracts used by Humble Oil. The man who operates the station and runs the risk must enter into agreement where everything he touches is controlled. About 50 units operated by Humble or more than half are controlled by this type of agreement, where the supplier fixes the price of products. Why should not the operator under this contract, have the right of employees? As our counsel has proposed,