The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-10
ITS DAY IS OVER.
Miss Ida Nj. TarbelI Talks of
Standard Oil Fine.
elimination of 35 Years OF
Unchecked Wickedness.
COMPANIES REBATING
Led to Passage of Interstate
Commerce Law.
Its Managers Are InsOlent and
Stupid She Says.
COMPANIES RELATING

New York. Aug. 1O-"The day of the
Standard Oil company in it's old form Is
over. 1t must either conform now to
Justice and fair dealing or it will fall
utterly. I don't mean that its day Is
over this year or will be over next yea;'
but 1t is as surely ended as right is
right"
Miss Ida NJ Tarbell in an interview
thus expressed her satisfaction at the
assessment of the s29.OOO,O0O fine on the
OIL Trust by Judge Lands Miss Tar
bell is regarded as the greatest authorl-
ity on the workings of the Oil Trust
Her History of the Standard Oil Com
pany" first brought home to the general
public a realization OF the trusts far
/ reaching operations and their true sig
nfficance.
Credit for the tremendous fine as
elimination of her labors is not how
ever taken by Miss TarbeH. She re-
CARDS it rather as the climax of a war
fare extending over thirty-five years
After thirty-fve years of such prac-
tees as the Standard Oil company has
been found guilty Of" said Miss Tarbell,
1T is entirely just that, after conviction,
the maximum punishment should be
( imposed. am only sorry that the pun
ishrnent cannot be something more than
a fine.
what I have done has been for the
! sake of the public. 1t is not that have
been vindictive, as many people seem
to believe. On the contrary, have
tremendous admiration for the Standard
Oil company and for many of the men
in it. In one way they have done
great public service. but they have
wiped out any possibility OF gratltu t
from the public fer these services by
their Illegal methods of operation in
connection with their good work
Its s5 Years of Evil Practices.
eff the offenses of, which they have
1ust been found guilty were their first,
we might say that the fine was excess
sive and be doubtful about the wis
dom of imposing it. But it is only the
last offense we know of in thirty-five
years. 1t was just thirty-hve years
ago that the United States govern
ment had to investigate the standard
OIL company for its illegal contracts
with railroads The state of Penn
sylvanfa arose in what was almost
revolution against the Standard
practices Pennsylvania, Ohio and
New York in the seventies passed laws
to try to stop the trusts drawbacks
and rebates which it was receiving.
cit was very largely the rebating
Of the Standard Oil company that led
to the passage Of, the interstate com
dard violated the laws until the state
ordered 1t to be disbanded.
at do not believe that there is a
single year in the whole thirty-five
in which some state or the United
States has not had some suit on
against the trust, and in the last fir
teen years a dozen states have been
trying to pass laws to force 1t to de-
cency and fairness
1.-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 cor
porations. They utterly lack the col
lective sense. 1t is the individualism
gone mad-reduced to an absurdity.
cit is rather interesting to notice
that they put out now the same sort
OF aggrieved message to the public
that they always have given out when
they have been caught breaking laws.
They always point to the great num-
Der of men they employ to the large
amount of money which they bring
into the country and to the immense
sums spent in various charitable and
educational undertakings. with the
inference that it is impossible for such
good men to be guilty of such offenses
as those with which they are charged.
ut 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
IT have not examined carefully the
& Alton railroad. but it has been a we'll
known fact that for good many years
there has been a constant discrimina-
ton by the railroads in favor of the
Standard Oil company's refinery at
Whiting, Ind. That refinery supplies
ern territory. There are no independ-
ent ref1neries in or near Chicago. The
nearest independent refining center of