Re: [CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- Well my computer has been 'ill' ... This is total and absolute nonsense: Das GOAT wrote: snip 1901 "The Spindletop [oil] gusher in Beaumont, Texas, gives John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust its first major competition. The Beaumont Field contains more oil than the rest of the United States combined ... The Gulf Oil Co. has its beginnings as [the investors] get backing from [Anglophile] banker Andrew W. Mellon ... "More than half the world's oil output is from Russia's Baku fields developed by Ludwig Nobel, brother of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, and by snip 1902: "'History of the Standard Oil Company' by Ida Minerva Tarbell appears in McClure's magazine installments, revealing that John D. Rockefeller controls 90 percent of US oil-refining capacity ... US Steel Co. has two-thirds of US snip MJ: Anti-Trust serves business interests who cannot compete in the marketplace period. This propaganda nonsense about monopolies and 'Robber Barons' is bunk. Read and research rather than regurgitate the indoctrinated myths. The Ghost of John D. Rockefeller by Thomas J. DiLorenzo At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on competitiveness in the computer industry last March, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was compared to the infamous 'robber baron' John D. Rockefeller and his company likened to the Standard Oil Company of the late nineteenth century. Federal Trade Commission chairman Robert Pitofsky made a similar analogy in a Washington Post op-ed, where he self-servingly argued for more money for antitrust investigations. Gates's competitors, too, are working diligently to implant the Rockefeller analogy in the public consciousness. Even the Wall Street Journal has joined in this attack; reporter Alan Murray claimed in a page-one article that Gates supposedly enjoys 'monopoly power' that 'even John D. Rockefeller could envy'. Microsoft's critics are right. There are many similarities between Bill Gates's company and the old Standard Oil organization. Like Gates, Rockefeller was the victim of a political assault for the 'sin' of rapid innovation, a vast expansion of output, and rapidly declining prices -- just the opposite of what the antitrust laws ostensibly police. As with Microsoft, the political attack on Standard Oil was launched by less-efficient rivals who wanted to achieve through the political process what they failed to achieve in the marketplace. There is indeed a lesson to be learned from Rockefeller's antitrust ordeal, but it is not the one Microsoft's critics have in mind. Rockefeller's Economic Legacy The firm of Rockefeller, Andrews, and Flagler was formed in 1865 and was a marvel of efficiency because of Rockefeller's penny-pinching ways and the managerial genius of his brother William. (1) Even Rockefeller's harshest critic, the muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell (whose brother's firm -- the Pure Oil Company -- was driven from the market by the more efficient Standard Oil), described the company as 'a marvelous example of economy'. (2) The efficiencies of economies of scale and vertical integration caused the prices of refined petroleum to fall from over 30 cents a gallon in 1869 to 10 cents by 1874 and to 5.9 cents by 1897. During the same period, Rockefeller reduced his average costs from 3 cents to 0.29 cents per gallon. The production of refined petroleum increased rapidly throughout this period of increasing dominance by Standard Oil as well, as increased competition was provided by Associated Oil and Gas, Texaco, the Gulf Company, and 147 independent refineries that had sprung into existence by 1911 -- the year in which the government forced the breakup of Standard Oil. Contrary to popular mythology, Standard Oil's market share DECLINED from 88 percent in 1890 to 64 percent by 1911. Because of intense competition the company's oil production as a percentage of total market supply had declined to a mere 11 percent in 1911, down from 34 percent in 1898. Moreover, Standard Oil's decades-long price-cutting was not 'predatory pricing' -- the theoretical practice of pricing below average cost to drive competitors from the market and establish a monopoly. Any business person would be a fool to intentionally lose money by pricing below average cost for decades. As economist John McGee concluded in his classic analysis of the Standard Oil case, "whatever else has been said about [it], the old Standard organization was seldom criticized for making less money when it could readily have made more" through other means. (3) Indeed, Standard Oil never came close to cornering the market; by the time the antitrust case against it was filed in 1906, it had hundreds of competitors. Nevertheless, Standard Oil was convicted of violating the antitrust laws in 1911 and partially dissolved, despite the fact that the courts conducted no economic analysis of its conduct and performance. That
Re: [CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- Read what was written and what you posted. 90% control does not mean output. Dogmatic blindness? This propaganda nonsense about monopolies and 'Robber Barons' is bunk. Whether they be 'staged' or productive monopolies, the activities of corporate interests has been detrimental towards the common good. One's Robber Baron is anothers boss, another's father. Yes, there are many sides and ways to perceive, but by their fruits ye shall know. The basic thrust of Goats post was right on and shows how political, economic and social forces are used by "interests" to advance their self-interests. MHO OM K In a message dated 7/17/99 7:02:22 AM, you wrote: This is total and absolute nonsense: Das GOAT wrote: snip 1901 "The Spindletop [oil] gusher in Beaumont, Texas, gives John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust its first major competition. The Beaumont Field contains more oil than the rest of the United States combined ... The Gulf Oil Co. has its beginnings as [the investors] get backing from [Anglophile] banker Andrew W. Mellon ... "More than half the world's oil output is from Russia's Baku fields developed by Ludwig Nobel, brother of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, and by snip 1902: "'History of the Standard Oil Company' by Ida Minerva Tarbell appears in McClure's magazine installments, revealing that John D. Rockefeller controls 90 percent of US oil-refining capacity ... US Steel Co. has two-thirds of US DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
Re: [CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- Kris Millegan wrote: Read what was written and what you posted. 90% control does not mean output. Dogmatic blindness? MJ: Standard Oil's market percentage PEAKED at 88%. Reaching such a level is NOT a monopoly NOR does it imply/infer/mean such a level was sustained for any length of time. MJ: This propaganda nonsense about monopolies and 'Robber Barons' is bunk. Kris Millegan wrote: Whether they be 'staged' or productive monopolies, the activities of corporate interests has been detrimental towards the common good. MJ: There are two (2) types of monopoly; coercive and natural. Coercive REQUIRES Government to ensure its existence, the other has NEVER existed. Kris Millegan wrote: One's Robber Baron is anothers boss, another's father. Yes, there are many sides and ways to perceive, but by their fruits ye shall know. The basic thrust of Goats post was right on and shows how political, economic and social forces are used by "interests" to advance their self-interests. MJ: EVERY decision by EVERY individual is made in their self-interest. Regard$, --MJ If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1949 DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
Re: [CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- Thank you, Goat, for the excellent post. I couldn't agree more! Best wishes, Wm On Sat, 17 Jul 1999, Kris Millegan wrote: -Caveat Lector- Read what was written and what you posted. 90% control does not mean output. Dogmatic blindness? This propaganda nonsense about monopolies and 'Robber Barons' is bunk. Whether they be 'staged' or productive monopolies, the activities of corporate interests has been detrimental towards the common good. One's Robber Baron is anothers boss, another's father. Yes, there are many sides and ways to perceive, but by their fruits ye shall know. The basic thrust of Goats post was right on and shows how political, economic and social forces are used by "interests" to advance their self-interests. MHO OM K In a message dated 7/17/99 7:02:22 AM, you wrote: This is total and absolute nonsense: Das GOAT wrote: snip 1901 "The Spindletop [oil] gusher in Beaumont, Texas, gives John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust its first major competition. The Beaumont Field contains more oil than the rest of the United States combined ... The Gulf Oil Co. has its beginnings as [the investors] get backing from [Anglophile] banker Andrew W. Mellon ... "More than half the world's oil output is from Russia's Baku fields developed by Ludwig Nobel, brother of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, and by snip 1902: "'History of the Standard Oil Company' by Ida Minerva Tarbell appears in McClure's magazine installments, revealing that John D. Rockefeller controls 90 percent of US oil-refining capacity ... US Steel Co. has two-thirds of US DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM A HREF="http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM"THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY /A - THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY BY IDA M. TARBELL CONVERTED TO ELECTRONIC FORMAT BY NALINDA SAPUKOTANA AT UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE CHAPTER 1 PAGES 1 THRU 20 PAGES 21 THRU 37 CHAPTER 2 PAGES 38 THRU 52 PAGES 53 THRU 69 CHAPTER 3 PAGES 70 THRU 85 PAGES 86 THRU 103 CHAPTER 4 PAGES 104 THRU 116 PAGES 117 THRU 128 CHAPTER 5 PAGES 129 THRU 147 PAGES 148 THRU 166 CHAPTER 6 PAGES 167 THRU 186 PAGES 187 THRU 207 CHAPTER 7 PAGES 208 THRU 224 PAGES 225 THRU 240 CHAPTER 8 PAGES 241 THRU 262 JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER *The text was obtained from the book The History of The Standard Oil Company by Ida M. Tarbell. Copyright, 1904, by McCLURE, PHILLIPS AND CO. This was done as a student project in a class on the history of energy. Comments are welcomed! Maintained by Morris A. Pierce 26 June 1996 = PREFACE This work is the outgrowth of an effort on the part of the editors of McClure's Magazine to deal concretely in their pages with the trust question. In order that their readers might have a clear and succinct notion of the processes by which a particular industry passes from the control of the many to that of the few, they decided a few years ago to publish a detailed narrative of the history of the growth of a particular trust. The Standard Oil Trust was chosen for obvious reasons. It was the first in the field, and it has furnished the methods, the charter, and the traditions for its followers. It is the most perfectly developed trust in existence; that is, it satisfies most nearly the trust ideal of entire control of the commodity in which it deals. Its vast profits have led its officers into various allied interests, such as railroads, shipping, gas, copper, iron, steel, as well as into banks and trust companies, and to the acquiring and solidifying of these interests it has applied the methods used in building up the Oil Trust. It has led in the struggle against legislation directed against combinations. Its power in state and Federal government, in the press, in the college, in the pulpit, is generally recognised. The perfection of the organisation of the Standard, the ability and daring with which it has carried out its projects, make it the pre-eminent trust of the world-the one whose story is best fitted to illuminate the subject of combinations of capital. Another important consideration with the editors in deciding that the Standard Oil Trust was the best adapted to illus- [vii] PREFACE trate their meaning, was the fact that it is one of the very few business organisations of the country whose growth could be traced in trustworthy documents. There is in existence just such documentary material for a history of the Standard Oil Company as there is for a history of the Civil War or the French Revolution, or any other national episode which has divided men's minds. This has come about largely from the fact that almost constantly since its organisation in 1870 the Standard Oil Company has been under investigation by the Congress of the United States and by the Legislatures of various states in which it has operated, on the suspicion that it was receiving rebates from the railroads and was practising methods in restraint of free trade. In 1872 and again in 1876 it was before Congressional committees, in 1879 it was before examiners of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and before committees appointed by the Legislatures of New York and of Ohio for investigating railroads. Its operations figured constantly in the debate which led up to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, and again and again since that time the Commission has been called upon to examine directly or indirectly into its relation with the railroads. In 1888, in the Investigation of Trusts conducted by Congress and by the state of New York, the Standard Oil Company was the chief subject for examination. In the state of Ohio, between 1882 and 1892, a constant warfare was waged against the Standard in the courts and Legislature, resulting in several volumes of testimony. The Legislatures of many other states concerned themselves with it. This hostile legislation compelled the trust to separate into its component parts in 1892, but investigation did not cease; indeed, in the last great industrial inquiry, conducted by the Commission appointed by President McKinley, the Standard Oil Company was constantly under discussion, and hundreds of pages of [viii]
Re: [CTRL] THE HISTORY OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY
-Caveat Lector- warfare was waged against the Standard in the courts and Legislature, resulting in several volumes of testimony. The Legislatures of many other states concerned themselves with it. This hostile legislation compelled the trust to separate into its component parts in 1892, but investigation did not cease; indeed, in the last great industrial inquiry, conducted by the Commission appointed by President McKinley-- After which --just a coincidence?-- McKinley was assassinated by a "Polish-American anarchist," Leon Czolgosz. The President's gunshot wounds "were not properly tended to" --how odd-- so he actually died of gangrene a week later. Cui bono? Thanks to McKinley's death, faux-cowboy imperialist Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest president in the nation's history (at the time) -- and the plutocrats, now set free from anti-monopoly legislation, redoubled their efforts to rule of the United States politically through ownership and control of its economy (mirroring the oligarchic "Society of the Elect" of the British Empire, partner of the Anglophile faction, but competitor of the Rockefeller faction). Same year, 1901: "Financiers Edward H. Harriman, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb Co, and James Stillman of New York's National City Bank vie for control of the railroads [brokered] by J. P. Morgan ... Stillman's City Bank is the repository of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co. money ... "US Steel is created by [Rothschild agent] J. P. Morgan, who underwrites a successful public offering of stock in the world's first $1 billion corporation, nets millions for himself for a few weeks' work, and pays $492 million to Andrew Carnegie for about $80 million in real assets ... Carnegie personally receives $225 million in 5 percent gold bonds and is congratulated on being 'the richest man in the world' by Morgan, who merges Carnegie's properties to create a company that controls 65 percent of US steel-making capacity "The Spindletop [oil] gusher in Beaumont, Texas, gives John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust its first major competition. The Beaumont Field contains more oil than the rest of the United States combined ... The Gulf Oil Co. has its beginnings as [the investors] get backing from [Anglophile] banker Andrew W. Mellon ... "More than half the world's oil output is from Russia's Baku fields developed by Ludwig Nobel, brother of dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, and by Rothschild interests ...[However], the world's major supplier of petroleum is [still] the United States, which will produce as much as two-thirds of the world's export oil for 20 years... 1902: "'History of the Standard Oil Company' by Ida Minerva Tarbell appears in McClure's magazine installments, revealing that John D. Rockefeller controls 90 percent of US oil-refining capacity ... US Steel Co. has two-thirds of US steelmaking capacity. Only public opinion and a sense of noblesse oblige restrain its near-monopoly ... Now, let's go back even further, to the context of the Anti-Trust Act in the 1890s. Get a sense of the times. Times no unlike our own, or the near future ... 1892 Economic depression begins in the United States, but the country has 4000 millionaires, up from fewer than 20 in 1840. Democrats campaign on a platform opposing the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 and re-elect Grover Cleveland ... Cleveland wins 46 percent of the popular vote, [his opponent 43 percent], the Populist candidate 22 percent. Steel workers strike the Carnegie mill and are refused a union contract by managing head Henry Cl;ay Frick who calls in Pinkerton guards to suppress the strike. Men are shot on both sides ... Union organizers are dismissed and the men go back to working their 12-hour shifts ... "American workmen are subjected to peril of life and limb as great as a soldier in time of war," says [losing candidate, former] President Harrison. The Populist party polls more than a million votes in the US presidential election as farmers register their protest against the railroads and farm machine makers. A presidential proclamation opens some 3 million acres of former [Indian] lands in Oklahoma to settlement. Shell Oil has its beginnings as English enterpreneur [and Rothschild associate] Marcus Samuel, 57, sends his first tanker through the Suez Canal ... to break the Standard Oil monopoly in the Far East. 1893 Economic depression continues in America as European investors withdraw funds ... Wall Street stock prices take a sudden drop May 5, the market collapses June 27 ... [The] depression ... will continue for 4 more years. The Pullman Palace Car Co reduces wages by one-fourth, obliging workers to labor for almost nothing while charging them full rents in company housing ... and charging them inflated prices at company stores. The American Railway Union is founded by socialist Eugene Victor Debs ... Britain's Labour
