The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-07
Standard oil Silence Broken.

Standard Oil insiders are gradually be-
| ing weaned from their time-honored pol
| icy of silence under any and all circum-
stances. There have been individual de-
partures from this rule of reticence sew
eral times, but the first official aclSnowl-
| edgement that the public has right TO
know WIN. Standard Oil corporations are
| doing will be a statement to follow the
| next annual meeting of the stockholders
| of Amalgamated Copper A half promise
| has been made that for the first time in
| its history this big copper company will
make a report which will give the mi
ncrity stockholders and the general pub
lie a look in on its business operations
and management. If that report is re-
ceived in good spirit similar statements
regarding other corporations controlled by
the same people may be expected.
The trouble with the Standard Oil
group has been its inability to realize or
| recognize its changed relationship to the
public which years of prodigious prosper
| ity and increased wealth have wrought
Standard Oil, as the phrase is now inter-
preted is no longer a little group of COM
mercial buccaneers whose operations be-
gan forty years ago and whose very
| financial life then depended on the Sc
crecy with which they were conducted.
The group has enlarged until its influence
spreads all over the world. Its interests
have become amazingly diversified and
vitality affect the pocketbooks of hundreds
of thousands of men and women whose
money Is invested in business enterprises
controlled by Standard Oil capital. These
properties embrace scores of ndustrials
and many of the most important railroad
systems in America as well as leading
banks and trust companies in the larger
cities. Standard Oil capital has become
so stupendous in volume and its invest
ments so vast and varied that 1t is now
imbued with public interest and there is
valid excuse for the elamor for light upon
it's uses and employment
The business sense of the whole country
is taking alarm at the overhanging
shadow of a financial absoutism con-
trolled by one man or a small group of
men acting in unison. If this power could
always be exerted for the public good
there would be less to fear, but unfor-
tunately there can be no guarantee on this
point and a myriad of people seem on the
point of emphatic revolt against the fur
Their growth of sinister power which
has heretofore insisted upon shroudng
| itself In mystery and denying to the peo-
pie all knowledge and information as to
las operations or plans.
The senior Rockefeller is understood to
be deeply grieved because certain people
have made the charge that his fortune is
tainted. Other members of his family
as well as his close associates complain
bitterly that they are being unjustly ac-
cused of extortion in their dealings with
the people through owned and controlled
corporations. They especially cite the
case of Consolidated Gas and make the
plea that they are only getting fair
interest on invested capital whereas they
are being violently assailed for robbng
consumers and committing wholesale muir
der by smothering people with noxious
gases literally forced down the threats
of the victims. There has undoubtedly
been an awakening of conscience in
STANDARD Oil quarters. AS the chiefs Of
this remarkable group grow old they
evnce a desire to become good or at least
to be thought good. The mountains of
dollars they have heaped up seem to them
less valuable as the years roll on and
as the graveyards get nearer They have
no shrouds with pockets large enough to
carry way the grotesque fortunes they
have reared through years Of merciless
business tyranny and oppression. Look
ing back over the roadway they have been
pursuing for nearly half a century they
shudder at the endless rows of skeletons
of business rivals that mark the stretch
from the beginning down to this very
hour The review is not cheerful for
even hardened senses. Is it possible they
are becoming frightened as TIE day APP
proaches for a final reckoning?