The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-10-22

- nc N&% OO1N~o NOS
Co,poratjoR-How 1t Crushed
Competition and Piled
X Up its Riches.
From the Baltimore SUM-
NUMBER II.
Few volumes, / imagine, would be
more interesting than n which would
a with accurate knowledge a full
history of the successive stages of de-
velopment by which a partnership OF
oil reiners in the city of Cleveland,
Ohio, grew into the great combination
whose name heads this article. Much
has been written about it, both by
wav of accusation and defense. MI.
J. F. Hudson, in his book, "The
Railways and the Republic" adapting
a title from Victor Hugo, narrates a
portion OF its story as the "Hlstory
of a Commercial Crime" Others
have recited the same story as hey
would tell of some great scheme OF
universal benevolence. Certain 1t Is
that no one who has not had a full
and confidential knowledge of its
progress from the beginning, n OF
that large part of its history of which
NO record was ever made, will be able
to unfold the wonderful story as we
should like to hear it told. Forum
ately our present undertaking requires
nothing more than a summary OF so
much of the past history as will en-
able us to understand clearly the
present combination. The large
volume of testimony taken by the
House committee contains the testl-
mony of at least two of its founders,
but the purposes of the Investigation
did not require minute inquiry into
any matter beyond the structure OF
the existing "trust" and the railroad
discrimination from which it has be-
heved to have drawn its greatness.
Upon the latter branch of the in
quiry / believe this testimony will
prove of special and permanent value,
for the committee, recognizing the
necessity for expert knowledge in
eliciting the facts, employed counsel
in the person of MI. Gowen, ex,
president of the Reading Railroad
Company, a gentleman particularly
familiar with the general field of in
curry, and a lawyer not often equaled
in his ability to handle witnesses.
HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL TRUST.
Prior to 1870 there was a firm of
oil refners in the city of Cleveland,
Ohio, doing business under. the part
nership name of Rockefeller, Andrews
& Fiagler. They were not producers
of oil, but received their crude oil
from the Pennsylvania fields. The
capacity of their refinery was six
hundred barrels per day.
In 1870 they became incorporated
under the laws Of Ohio as "The Stan
dard Oil Company" with a capital of
one million dollars and a refining
capacity of over a thousand barrels
per day; that is to say, a capacity for
doing about one-tenth of all the oil
refining of the country at that time.
There were many other refining firms
and companies in existence, some of
which had equal plant, equipment and
capacity.
The location of the Standard at
Cleveland was not an advantageous
one. The numerous refneries nearer
the oil fields and the seaboard held
superior positions and enjoyed cheaper
transportation facilities. Those at
Pittsburg, for instance, received their
crude oil by barges on the Allegheny
river, and had a much shorter route
to the seaboard for their refined pro-
duct; then, as now, the great bulk of
our refined oil being sent to foreign
markets. The carriers for the STAN
dard, and doubtless for the other re-
fneries at Cleveland, were the rail.
roadside Erie and the New York
Central, with their connecting lines.
The Eastern refineries were con-
scious of their advantage in position,
and paid little heed to the Ohio COM
pany, which, however, seems very
early to have conceived an ambition
for controlling the refining business
of the country, and it's means of con
quest were, we may believe, suggested
to it by its very ~inferiority in loca-
ton, and, as so often happens, out of
its difficulties grew its greatness.
It's first movement was to acquire
and consolidate with itself the other
refneries in its own city, whose will
ingness to merge into it was probably
auickenad bv the considerations ahova
stated. At any rate, before 1873 the
Standard Oil Company possessed all
the refneries in Cleveland, having
effected their acquisition by the issue
of an additional million and q half of
stock.
In January, 1872, a great uproar
was suddenly raised among the pro-