The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-08
TODAY IS 33RD BIRTHDAY OF
 STANDARD OIL COMPANY

Today is the thirty third anniver-
 sary of the forming of the Standard
 Oil company, one of the greatest
 and the father of the brood of mono-
 polies and near monopolies that have since sprung up in nearly every in- dustry. The trust agreement of 1882 was formerly thought to have been the beginning of the giant petroleum merger, but recent investigations have shown that it dates from a trust agreement signed April S. 1879. This old document shows that of the 35,O00 shares originally issued, John D. Rockefeller held S,9S4, while Henry M. Flagler, the famous Florida rail- road builder, had the second largest holding, 5000 shares. The other stock
 holders were. Charles P. Catt, s. V. Hardness, O. H. Payne, J. A. Bost- wick and William Rockefeller. Among
 the properties assigned to the trust, in consideration of "the sum of one dollar.'' were the entire capital stocks
 of the Atlantic Refining Co.,, Stan- dard Oil Company of Pennsylvania, Model Oil Co.,, Camden Consolidated Oil Co.,. Republic Refining company. American Transfer Co.,, and the en-
 tire or partial holdings of a number
 
 ty-seven stockholders in all of the original trust Despite the dissolu- tion of the trust by the United States Supreme. Court, the oil business is now said to be more profitable than ever, and so far there has been prac- tically no independent competition. One of the most revolutionary in- ventions of modern times, the lino> type, was originally patented twenty two years ago today. There had been many attempts prior to that time to produce a practical machine that would do away with hand type com- position, but none had proved sue.
 cessful until the linotype was per. fected by Otto Mergenthaler, of Bal timore. It is said that over 25,O00 of these machines are now in use. Other typesetting mechanism, including the monotype, which casts each letter sep- arately instead of a line at a time. have since been placed on the market and are widely used.
 This will be Childrens Day at the White House, when all the young sters of Washington. without distinc- take part in the annual Easter egg rolling on the grounds of the Execu- tive Mansion. President Cleveland inaugurated the custom, which has since been observed every year. Adults are permitted to enter the grounds only when chaperoned by children, and many bright newsboys and other thrifty urchins do a prof.
 itable business hiring themselves out to grown-ups who want to see the fes. tivities.
 Seventeen years ago today the Brit
 ish ship Lord Spencer sailed from San Francisco, in command of Capt. Leahy with a crew of thirty and several
 passengers. bound around the Horn
 to England, and has never since been
 heard of.
 Today is the centennial of the ad-
 mission of Louisiana to the Union as
 a State. A century before in TIP, Louis XIV, of France had named the region Louisiana, in honor of himself. In 1762 France ceded it to Spain, but in 1900 it was reterceded to France, and was purchased from that nation by the United States in 1903 for $15.- 000.000. It was divided into the terri tories of Orleans and Louisiana and the former was admitted by Congress as, the State of, Louisiana, April 8, 1872 and the name of the latter was changed to Missouri.