Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-12-11
The Men VINO Struck OIL
From The Elmer Times

Rockefeller, is in the minority. Most
writer's allude to them in a sarcastic
vein, or give vent to abuse. If Rookie
Teller gives testimony on the witness
stand, and is questioned on the details
of events Transporting in the sixties, he
must answer definitely or be accused
of equivocating to cover up misdeeds.
When he testified hat the oil business
was hazardous, the reporters gave evil
denee of hysteria.
Oil was first found in Pennsylvania
in 1859 by Col. Drake, who was dig
ging for salt. Studious men, who
looked into the matter, found that
petroleum was a deposit of stored oil
which had been accumulating through
the centuries, In pockets in the earth.
1t was learned that when a pocket was
once emptied, and the supply exhaust
ed, it did not replenish its-self again,
but was thereafter a useless well. No
one pretended to know whether or not
there were oil pockets in other parts of
Pennsylvania, in other states OF in
other countries.
1t was quickly realized that petrol
cum was a valuable discovery, and that
there was wealth to be obtained from
oil wells if they could be located and
the oil refined. A few superstitious
people took fright at the stories of the
saturation of the inner earth with oil
and taught that this proved that the
Almighty would destroy the globe with
fire when He got ready, and that the
saturation with oil was a part of a plan
to have it ready to set off on short
notice. To them it was a revelation
and a warning to be ready to go when
the torch should be applied.
To other men there was the CONNER
cial side, and they prepared to make
money out of the discovery. Some sue
ceeded and some failed. 1t was like
the chase for gold in California when
the trail of the seekers across the great
American desert was lined with human
skeletons, or the rush to the Klondike
in later years. Some got wealth, some
met death; some lost the money they
had accumulated at other work, and
every participant was ready to ackow-
ledge the hazard encountered.
Men bored for oil and won, and bored
and lost. Poor today and rich tomor-
row.. 1t was a craze. Everybody wanted
oil and wealth. Rockefeller placed his
faith in tho pn,oo roioI poooibilitiaa IF
/ the new discovery. He developed it,
!, made markets, and with the aid of
} able business men with whom he sur
rounded himself, and with the unboun-
; ded confidence banks had in his ability
and integrity, he was able to obtain
money to develop the business. If,
instead of increasing discoveries of new
feif fields, there had been decreasing
supply, land no one knew which way
the cat would Jump Rockefeller would
have gone down with DeLesseps and
other business wrecks. He effected
tremendous economies in the collection
and distribution of oil by combining
with other oil companies, established
pipe lines to get clear of the domination
of railroads, demanded the lowest rates
where more than one railroad was COM
peting for the oil carrying trade, and
J kept up while others went down. He
J found more gold in his mine than he
ever dreamed of.
The Standard had competitors not
more scrupulous than itself. To lose
the hold on the market meant ruin.
/, Standard Oil put unheard of theories
into practice, (unheard of SO far as big
} combinations were concerned) and de-
! cided to deal direct with consumers,
, until today every man who OWNS an
engine, Except possibly ~automobiles)
: may buy his oil at wholesale, if on the
. line of a Standard Oil wagon route, and
these routes not only this country
; but parts of Europe and Asia. This
t policy encouraged the use and develop
t ment of gasoline engines and saved oil
users a mint of money, while it return
ed to Standard Oil big profits.
No one could rob them of this trade,
: because with the machinery of distri-
, button they possessed, independent
companies could not compete and make
a profit. We doubt not that oil has
: been furnished more cheap
: ly in the past fifteen years, than would
have been possible without this gigan-
: tic combination.
The Standard studied ways to in
said, the manufacture of the Otto Gas
and Gasoline engines in this country
! and Europe, manufactured and market
ed oil heaters and lamps, engaged in
directly in street lighting, and in a