Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-02-20
STANDARD OIL MONOPOLY.
Description of the Makeup Of Great
Corporation.
OF civ corcrsrondepce New Yotk Times,

without an ample foundation ~ pluck
and brains to build on. The chief ain,
of the company now iS.to pick ~ \
good man wherever it can find him,
and to tie him by the bonds Of self.
interest. 1t pays for brains, and takes
one man from bank here, another
from railroad yonder, and still another
from II wholesale or commission house.
1t not only looks sharp fer men, but
it discounts the future wherever its
ample means will allow il to he ahead
OF the market III SO doing. For instance,
last summer il saw that An advance was
coming III iron, and contracted in
Europe for 10000 tons of hoop.iron,
which is now being delivered. To
duplicate that order now would cost
Sl5O,o00 more than was paid AZ the
time OF purchase, or, 70 figure little
closer, Is cents eacH en every barrel
made by it.
The great corporation had very
humble beginning. 1t was only few
years ago that small sign, III NJ.
Flagler d Co, Forwarding and Com.
mission hung over the door Of an old
warehouse on the Cleveland River
Wharf. Mr.. Flagler, now secretary 4.
the Standard, had then associated with
him Mr.. John ID. Rockefeller, now the
Standard president, and Mr.. Samuel
Andrews, untilrecently the superlntend-
ent of the Standard Works. All three
were, and are, remarkable men III their
way. Mr.. RocketelIerwas, ~ start with,
a steady, reliable, thoughtful young
man, hard working and frugal. lie
made Il good head for the firm, possess
lnG good judgment and habit of ex-
aiming into the details Of questions
that he was called upon toarswer. His
tenacity Of grit, after having once taken
hold of u thing, tided them over many
places where u surrender would have
meant disaster.
Mr.. Flagler is a fitting adjunct to Mi.
Rockefeller. He it is who makes the
railroad contracts for his company, and
it is through many of these contracts
that the Standard has gained the nd
vantages and had the opportunities for
profitable business that it has had. Mr..
Andrews, the third member of the firm,
came to this country u poor English la
borer, procured work in the Cleveland
retineries, and being quick, observing
man, soon gathered ideas of his own,
and WAS made the main manager in the
Flagler Rockefeller works. He came
up with the monopoly, until two years
ago, when he sold out for round mil,
lion or SO, and retired from the business.
No three men, however, manage the
Standard of to-day, az there are ten
times that number interested. As n
corporation, they are merciless and
grasping; while rs citizens they are Just
and generous, and counted among the
best men of Cleveland and the other
cities in which they are distributed
As the production of coal oil increas-
ed retineries sprung mp throughout the
region, and every town had from one tt
three i'll full blast night and day. Cory
Pa, had three, jamestown, n. u, two;
and Cleveland half dozen. Owing to
cheap fuel, good shipping facilities and
other advantages, the latter point be-
came the refining center of the west
Shrewd employees would soon learn the
process of refining crude, and expert
enced no difficulty in getting capital To
join them III starting Il still and adding
more and more to the growing industry.
AS Il natural consequence, competition
brought about low prices, which caused
lessenlng of profits. The firm of Rock.
efeller, Andrews & Flagler took long
look ahead, incubated the system of re.
bates, and commenced putting refined
oil on the market considerably below
the schedule prices. As this went ON
for some time, and rs Messrs. Rookie.
feller. Andrews Il Flagler We're con.
stantly increasing their facilities and
capacity, the weaker retiners asked
themselves what it all meant, and ON
inquiry of the Standard were told that
that company would buy them ont il
they were not satisfied with the bust
ness. This seemed fair enough, but
when the price of properties was talked
over the small retiner was astonshed
TO find that the Standard had already
made the price, and would pay that OF
none. Most of the rehners came tC
terms at once, sold out, and quit the
business. A few held ont for time
but when Messrs. Clark K c.. capihi.
ltl6u int EhIllt WAS III tllb lolhbuHTu
hands, and has been kept there eve,
since.
The Imperial refinery OF Oil City and
the Acme of Ttusvile are both posses
sions of the Standard. Its works ii
Cleveland cover acres Of ground, while
its capacity is practically unlimited. II
employs an army Of men, amounting
probably. indirectly, to not less than
500. Its material on hand il immense
the stave.yard contains millions OF oak
slaves, while it is no uncommon sight
to see the blue barrels with white heads
run one after another hours at time
across The tramway from the copper.
shop 10 the flling-house. It's office in
Cleveland is the elegant Standard Block
in Euclid avenue, elegantly furnished
and connected by telephone and tele
graph with its works up the rum" anc
soon to be directly connected with its
offices in Oil City through the United
Pipe-Lin telegraph.
The Standard people are hated and
feared all through the oil region, and
many of the producers lay to their door
Justly and unjustly, nine-tenths Of the
rt1in and tronhie that have followad tnt