Ross
Shaw Sterling was born in Anahuac, Texas, in February, 1875. He received
little formal education and worked as a farmer until opening a feed
store at Sour Lake in 1903. This was a great success and he later
purchased a number of small banks. He also invested in the oil industry
and in 1910 he started a new venture which developed into the Humble
Oil and Refining Company.
In
1925 he sold Humble Oil and used the money to invest in real estate
in the Houston area. Sterling also purchased The
H ouston Dispatch (1925) and The
Houston Post (1926).
A
member of the Democratic Party Sterling
was elected governor of Texas and he took office on 20th January,
1931. At this time the major oil producers in Texas were concerning
about the fall in price of oil. The Texas Railroad Commission, under
the control of these companies, attempted to limit the production
of oil (prorationing) in the new fields of East Texas. On 31st July,
1931, the federal court in Houston sided with a group of independent
oil producers and ruled that the Texas Railroad Commission had no
right to impose prorationing.
Large
oil companies in Texas such as Humble Oil were in favour of prorationing
and Sterling came under great pressure to intervene. On 16th August,
1931, Sterling declared martial law in Rusk, Upshur, Gregg and Smith
counties. In his proclamation Sterling declared that the independent
oil producers in these counties were "in a state of insurrection"
and that the "reckless and illegal exploitation of (oil) must
be stopped until such time as the said resources may be properly conserved
and developed under the protection of the civil authorities".
Sterling
now ordered the commander of the Texas National Guard, Jacob F. Wolters,
to "without delay shut down each and every producing crude oil
well and/or producing well of natural gas". Wolters who was the
chief lobbyist of several major oil companies in Texas, readily agreed
to this action. Wolters used more than a thousand troops to make sure
that the oil wells in East Texas ceased production. The Texas Railroad
Commission was now in firm control of the world's most prolific oil
fields. It now controlled the supply of the oil in the United
States. As a result, the price of oil began to increase.
The
courts ruled that Sterling had exceeded his authority by the declaration
of martial law and he was easily defeated
by Miriam A. Ferguson when he attempted
to be elected for a second term as governor.
When
Franklin D. Roosevelt gained power
he attempted to push a bill through Congress that would give his Secretary
of the Interior, Harold Ickes, the authority
to regulate domestic oil production. However, Sam
Rayburn, a politician from Texas, as chairman of the House Committee
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, was able to kill the bill. It
was left to another powerful Texan, Tom
Connally, to sponsor the Connally Hot Oil Act. This gave the Texas
Railroad Commission the authority to proration oil.
Sterling
returned to the oil industry after losing his post as governor of
Texas. He established Sterling Oil and Refining Company in 1933. He
was also president of the R. S. Sterling Investment Company and the
American Maid Flour Mills. He was also chairman of the Houston National
Bank.
Ross
Shaw Sterling
died in Fort Worth on 25th March, 1949.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
Available from
Amazon Books (order below)
