Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-08-14
IDA TARBELL
NOW REJOICES
Hopes OIL Trust vii Be Fore
cd to Pay Big Fine.
RESULT OF A 35-YEAR HGHT
Says Standard Oil MagnateS Have Al
ways thought They Were Strong
er Than the GOVernment--ThinkS
John D. Rockefeller is a
Fanatic.
(FrOm the New York Press.)

From the New York Press.)
THE day of the Standard Oil Com
pany in its old form is wore. 1t
must either conform now to justice
and fair dealing or it willfallutterly.
don't mean that its day is over
this year or will be over next year,
but it is as surely ended as right is
right"
Miss Ida NJ Tarbell, in an inter
view to the World last night.
thus expressed her satisfaction at the
assessment of the $290OO,OOO fine on
the Oil Trust by Judge Lands. Miss
Tarbell is regarded as the greatest
authority on the workings of the
Oil Trust.
After 80 years of such practice as
the Standard Oil Company has been
found guilty Of" said Miss TarbelI,
"it is entirely just that, after convic-
ton, the maximum punishment should
be imposed l am only sorry that
the punishment cannot be something
more than a fine.
30 Years of Investigation"
1T was just 80 years ago that the
United States Government had to in
vestigate the Standard Oil Company
for it's illegal contracts with rail-
roads The State of Pennsylvania
ton against the Standards practices.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York in
the '7Os passed laws to try to stop
the trusts drawbacks and rebates
which it was receiving.
1T was very largely the rebating
of the Standard Oil Company that
led to the passage of the Interstate
Commerce Act in 1887. In Ohio the
Standard violated the laws until the
State ordered it to be disbanded.
Il do not believe that there is a
single year in the whole 35 in which
some State or the United States has
not had some suit on against the
trust, and in the last Is years doz-
en- States have been trying to pass
laws to force it to decency and fair
| ness.
"IndiVidualism Gone Mad.'
THE difficulty with the men in the
Standard Oil Company seems to be
that they have no sense that the pub
lie has any part in the conduct of
corporations. They utterly lack the
collective sense. 1t is individualism
gone mad-reduced to an absurdity
1T is rather interesting to notice
that they put out now the same sort
ofaggrieved message to the public
when they have been caught break
| ing laws. They always point to the
great number of men they employ,
| to the large amount of money which
| they bring into the country and to
the immense sum spent in various
| charitable and educational under
takings, with the inference that it
| is impossible for such good men
to be guilty of such offenses as
those with which they are charged.
| 1T seems never to occur to them
that this is something the public can
see through, and that nobody would
sympathize with them when they
complain, even if they were not
guilty.
Trying to Make Trust "Play Fair"
"The point is that the public for
IS years has been trying to make
the Standard Oil Company play fair
1t has given the trust repeated
warnings in the way of public up
risings, the passage of laws and
adverse decisions. But every time
the trust has snapped it's fingers
and gone on in the same old way
1T is a sort of iRsolence which a
people would be a very supine to toll
crate indefinitely. 1t is being demon
Istrated clearly that the American
people do not propose to endure it
any longer. The Standard Oil men
are not only insolent, but they are
stupid as well, and show that they
entirely misunderstood the power of
public opinion and the genuineness
of the public's sense of fair play.
They have had every chance to
readjust their business and conduct
| it as gentlemen should, and all they
have ever done, after a public ex-
| plosion, is to readjust it so they
could carry on their same old prac-
tees in new line,
Alleged Spy System.
1T is not merely taking illegal
rates the misdemeanor of which
they were convicted in Chicago
that the public has against them.
Their methods of competition are
perfectly well known in all parts of
the country. There are hundreds
of towns in which their citizens have
seen these methods in operation.
They have a spy system which
they apply to shipments of indepen-
idents which would do credit to the