Standard Oil

   

Standard Oil was an oil refining company founded by John D. Rockefeller and partners in 1863. Borrowing heavily to expand his business, he drew five big refineries including the business concern of Henry Morrison Flagler into one firm, Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. By 1868 he headed the world's largest oil refinery.

On January 10, 1870 he formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and started his strategy of buying up the competition and consolidating all oil-refining under one company. By 1878 Standard Oil held about 90% of the refining capacity in the U.S. In 1881 the company was reorganized as the Standard Oil Trust. The three main men of Standard Oil Trust were Henry H. Rogers, William Rockefeller, and, the most important, John D. Rockefeller.

In 1890 the US Congress passed Sherman Antitrust Act. This act is the source of all American anti-monopoly laws. The law forbids every contract, scheme, deal, conspiracy to restrain trade. It also forbids conspirations to secure monopoly of a given industry. Standard Oil Trust attracted attention from antitrust authorities and the Ohio Attorney General filed and won an antitrust suit in 1892.

Unwanted attention was also drawn to the Standard Oil Trust by Ida M. Tarbell, an American author and journalist, known as one of the leading muckrakers.

Tarbell had been born in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Her father was forced out of business by John D. Rockefeller's South Improvement Company, a predecessor to Standard Oil. She was hired by McClure's magazine in 1894. She soon turned to investigative journalism, and was the first to really use investigative reporting, as we know it today, redefining this in-depth technique of writing. Ida’s method was to use various documents concerning the Standard Oil Company, accompanied by interviews of employees, competitors, lawyers and experts on the topic. Tarbell and her fellow staff members Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens became a celebrated muckraking trio.

Tarbell became acquainted with Henry H. Rogers, the most senior and powerful director of Standard Oil, through his friend, the famous author Mark Twain, who arranged a meeting. Meetings between Tarbell and Rogers began in January of 1902 and continued regularly over the next two years. Tarbell would bring up various case histories and Rogers would provide for her an explanation, documents and figures concerning the case. Rogers was surprisingly open with Tarbell, as he knew she would write the series with or without his help, and he wanted to make sure her information was correct, and for the company’s case to be “made right”.

Following extensive interviews with Henry H. Rogers, Tarbell's investigations of Standard Oil for McClure's, ran in 19 parts from November 1902 to October 1904. They were collected and published as The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904. The book placed fifth in a 1999 list of the top 100 works of journalism in the 20th century.

Although public opposition to Rockefeller and Standard Oil existed prior to Tarbell's investigation, it fueled public attacks on Standard Oil and in trusts in general, and the book is credited with hastening the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil. "They had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me," Tarbell wrote about the company.

The Standard Oil Trust was broken up after the United States Supreme Court declared the company to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act on May 15, 1911. However, the owners remained in charge of the smaller companies which made up four of the Seven Sisters.

Standard Oil was often not appreciated by the public. It developed a reputation among many for dubious business practices, including subduing competitors and engaging in illegal transportation deals with the railroad companies to ensure it could undercut its competitors' prices. Standard Oil, formed well before the discovery of Spindletop and a demand for oil other than for heat and light, was well placed to control the growth of the oil business. It was perceived that it did this by ensuring it owned and controlled all aspects of the trade.

During a massive strike by employees of the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, what was referred to as the Ludlow Massacre occurred on April 20, 1914. The state militia fired on a tent city inhabited by workers and their families, causing numerous deaths and a public relations disaster. John D. Rockefeller Jr. was forced to take action to bolster his public image to avert large-scale market losses. [1] (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/sfeature/sf_8.html)

Perhaps the most infamous action of Standard Oil was its involvement with IG Farben. The two organizations worked together to build a plant for the manufacture of synthetic rubber in Nazi Germany, using slave labor from Auschwitz.

The following quotation (from journalist Thomas Lawson's 1905 book, Frenzied Finance) perhaps epitomizes the company as perceived by many of Standard Oil's detractors.

"Standard Oil" has from its birth to present writing been responsible for more hell than any other trust or financial thing since the world began. Because of it the people have sustained incalculable losses and have suffered untold miseries.

There were eight distinct groups of individuals and corporations which made up the big "Standard Oil":

  1. The Standard Oil, seller of oil to the people, which was made up of many sub-corporations either by actual ownership or by ownership of their stock or bonds;
  2. Henry H. Rogers, William Rockefeller, and John D.Rockefeller, active heads, and included with them their sons;
  3. A large group of active captains and first lieutenants, men who conducted the affairs of the different corporations or sections of corporations in which some or all of the "Standard Oil" were interested;
  4. A large group of captains retired from active service in the Standard Oil army;
  5. The estates of deceased members of the wonderful "Standard Oil" family, which were still largely controlled by some or all of the prominent "Standard Oil" men;
  6. "Standard Oil" banks and banking institutions, and the system of national banks, trust companies, and insurance companies, of which "Standard Oil" had, by ownership and otherwise, practically absolute control;
  7. The "Standard Oil" army of followers, capitalists, and workers in all parts of the world;
  8. The countless hordes of politicians, statesmen, lawmakers and enforcers -- political structure -- and judges and lawyers.

Successors

Successor companies to Standard Oil include:

Other Standard Oils:

  • Standard Oil of Iowa - pre 1911 - became Standard Oil of California
  • Standard Oil of Minnesota - pre 1911 - bought by Standard Oil of Indiana
  • Standard Oil of Illinois - pre 1911 - bought by Standard Oil of Indiana
  • Standard Oil of Kansas - refining only, eventually bought by Indiana Standard
  • Standard Oil of Missouri - pre 1911 - dissolved
  • Standard Oil of Nebraska - eventually bought by Indiana Standard
  • Standard Oil of Louisiana - always owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso)
  • Standard Oil of Brazil - always owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Esso)
  • Standard Oil of Colorado - a scam to cash in on the Standard Oil brand in the 1930s
  • Standard Oil of Connecticut - A fuel oil marketer in Connecticut not related to the Rockefeller companies

Related articles

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