St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-24

the Rockefellers, the church builder
Pratt, the Floridian developer Flagler
and Archbold, and all the rest of the
gilded crew, he cannot prove his knOwl-
edge. The tax collector is equally at
fault. State, nation, county, town, get
just what the trust chooses to give
them, and that is all. A thing of night
Is the Standard Trust, and all its deeds
are darkness.
1t is scarcely necessary to rehearse at
any length the history of the Standard
oil monopoly. Every reader knows the
monStrOuS character of the transactions
which built it up to the point where the
protection of trust organization be-
came advisable. AS every one knows,
the Oligarchy which controls it is COM
posed OF men who were poor as Jobs
turkey a score of years ago, and that
every step of their increase in wealth
has been made at the cost of honor and
at the expense of the public. At the
end of the war John G. Rockefeller was
getting SIS week as clerk; Sam An
drews, his early partner, was taking in
$40 week as porter. They did very
little business until 100000, derived
from a whisky diStillery, was put into
the business on behalf of John M. Flag
Ter, and from that time the business
doomed.
In 1874 occurred the only serious set
back that Rockefeller has ever had. At
this time the Standard Oil company
was an organized fact, with a huge
capital, and had already begun its syS-
tenn of squeezing competitors. getting
rebates from railroads, and looking after
legislators with itching palms. Rookie
Teller thought he would gObble up all
the oil territory which then lay in the
Oil City and TituSville district. So he
organized the Southern Land 81 I'M
provement company and started in.
The Oil men were SO incenSed by his
methods that they formed mob and
started for his hotel, intending to do
him violence. But when they reached
the front door he skipped out of back
window, and made rapid tracks out of
the place. 1t is said that he has never
dared show his face in the oil country
since, and that if he were to go there
even at this time his life would be in
danger. Since then he has been con-
tent to transact his business here
through agents.
The secret agents of the Standard
Trust are everywhere. Nobody ever
existed that understood the art of cor
rupting and buying men so well as this
one. No man IN the oil business is safe.
LILO NiOolCOU lllCuU, Ills lIuSGSu
may be secretly salaried tool of his
great enemy. Here is an instance-one
of hundreds which has never appeared
IN print: A large producer in the
Bradford region founded a partnership
with man whom he supposed to be
perfectly honest, but who was secret
emiSsary of the Standard. He now
thinks the latter furnished money for
the partners interest, and had the part
nerShip formed in order to get the whip
hand of the producer. After awhile
large losses occurred to the firm because
the pipe line would not draw off the oil
as fast as the wells produced it. The
Standard end of the firm made great
to do about it, and yet, somehow, his
anguish did not appear to go very deep.
At length, in an unguarded moment, he
let slip to an acquaintance the fact that
he was not really suffering very much
financially as his half of the losses were
made good to him on the ''strict q. to-
Got You by the Throat.
From this article the Minnesota farmer
can learn why it costs him so much to
live.
1t cannot fail to be read by every pro-
ducer and consumer, whether tlller of
the soil or mechanical artisan.
PlOwS, reaperS, threSherS, mails, stoves,
iron, sugar, groceries, household goods
all are taxed, and accordingly mOnop-
oily has the country by the throat.