The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-03
The Man Who Invented Trusts.
New York Letter

When any legal question comes up al
fecting the Standard oil people the name
of s. c. 7. Dodd appears in the proceed
ings. Mr.. Dodd is the attorney for the
Standard Oil trust, and since the big con-
Germ moved its headquarters to New York
he has made this city his home. He is
credited with having evolved the trust
plan under which the Standard has been
doing business during the past ten years,
though have also heard it said that G. V.
Culver, of this city, is the father of the
plan, and that Dodd. who knew Culver in
Pennsylvania, borrowed it from him. The
best opinion is, however, that Dodd orig
mated the scheme under which the STAN
dard has greatly enlarged its bust
ness and which has been SO extern
siyely initiated by other big in
dustrial combines" Dodd is a
quiet, unassuming man, and he
does not impress one at first glance
as being one of the best paid and shrewd-
est lawyers in the country. The Standard
employs him by the year at very large
salary and has all his services. He came
here from Franklin, Pa, small town on
the Allegheny river, where not many years
ago he practised law as young man. Had
the young Mr.. Dodd been able to control
all the law business of that section of the
state, it would not have amounted to as
much as is now involved in one of his
cases. Besides being a very able lawyer
he has funny bone. and when young
attorney at Franklin often employed his
time between infrequent briefs in writing
humorous poetry. His local weekly
newspaper was always favored with
these efforts, though not over his
own signature. Since he has at
tanned such eminence in his profession
and no longer has time to court the Muses.,
- ,l.-A L. L. u Al.
line will be worth while. Mr.. Dodd's
town of Franklin is where large part of
the lubricating oil of commerce is pro-
duced, and from the subject and treatment
of the poem which I have seen from his
pen it may be inferred that he was seek
ing the oleaginous treasure himself with
Indifferent success. The poem consists of
a dozen or two stanzas after the general
style of Byron's lines beginning: 1.-THE
Isles of Greece! The Isles of Greece ~
The following stanzas will give an idea of
the whole:
/ sat upon the rocky brow
Which o'erlooks Franklin-far-famsd town;
hundred derricks stood below
And many a well OF great renown;
Icounted them at break of day
And when the sun set where were theyf
They still were there But where art thou
My dry holef On the river shore
The engine stands all idle now,
The heavy augur beats no more;
| And must a well of so great cost
Be given up and wholly lost?
IT'S awful when you bore a we'll
Down in the earth six hundred feet
To find that not single smell
Comes up your ious nose to greet;
For what is left the bored one here?
| For grease wish. for grease a tear.
| Must but wish for wells more blessedf
Must but weepf No; must TOLL
| n.
remnant OF thy odorous oil
II not three hundred, grant but three
|. Precious barrels day TO me.
What! Silent STILL and silent ALI
All, no. The rushing of the gas
Sounds like distant torrents fall
And answers, bore ahead you ass
lew feet more; you miss the stuff
| Because you don't go deep enough!
In vain, In vaini Pull up the tools!
FIJI high the cup with lager beer!
Leave oil wells TO the crazy fools
Who from the East focking here,
See! at the first sight OF the can
How hurr-es each red shifted man.
Fill high the cup with lager beerl
| The maidens in their promenade
| Toward my lease their footsteps steer
| To see II yet my fortunes made
| But sneers their pretty faces spoil
| 10 nnd have rot yet struck oil.
| Place me in oil Creeks rocky dell,
Though mud be deep and prices high;
| There let me bore another well
| And find petroleum or die.
| No more I'll work this dry hole here
| Dash down that cup OF lager beer
| 1t was Mr.. Dodd, the lawyer, and not the
| poet. who drew up and introduced at the
| meeting OF the Standard stockholders the
| other day the resolution which dissolved
| the big trust. So, whether he created the
| oil trust or not, he had great deal to do
| with smashing it. The extraordinary sue
| cess with which this gentleman has met in
| his career should he valuable lesson to
| poets az showing them what they may ac-
| complish If they will only abandon poetry
and attend strictly to practical mundane
| affairs.