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Influence Of The Standard Oil Company On Rockefeller's Oil Industry

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The Influence of The History of the Standard Oil Company on Rockefeller's Oil industry

In 1859, Edwin Drake drilled the first U.S. oil well in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania. After five months of drilling and obtaining the nickname“crazy Drake'', Edwin discovered an oil well 65 feet deep. Oil refining was necessary to use the oil (King). At first, refiners boiled the oil, however, this process was extremely dangerous (King). Oil refineries were mostly located in Cleveland and Pittsburgh due to easy railroad access (King). The oil industry was very unstable at this time, there were lots of booms and busts due to the disorderly running of the oil refineries (King). Four years after the first oil well was drilled, in 1863, John D. Rockefeller founded …show more content…

Ida Tarbell’s 1904 exposé, The History of the Standard Oil Company, led to outrage from the public and thus prompted Standard Oil to respond to the controversies. Charles Morris, a foremost practitioner of antitrust law and a Harvard graduate, critiques Tarbell’s book, stating that the locational advantage comes with disadvantages like high land prices and unreliable access to supplies. Morris also implies that Tarbell’s argument regarding rebate legality was incorrect since contracts in restraint of trade were not illegal. He also states that Tarbell’s claims that Standard Oil’s rebates were “unethical” is meaningless. 2006 (Morris). While the ethical scaling of Standard Oil’s business practices is hard to determine, other factors of Morris’ arguments are inaccurate. For example, in the Supreme Court case, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the rebates were pronounced illegal. The Supreme Court document declared that “rebates, preferences, and other discriminatory practices in favor of the combination by railroad companies; restraint and monopolization by control of pipelines, and unfair practices against competing pipelines”221(Supreme Court 1911). Stephen Leccees, a historian with a Ph.D. in history from Fordham University, argues that due to the public already being wary of big business and after The History of the Standard Oil Company was published, the public viewed Standard Oil as unethical and detached. “The History of the Standard Oil Company in McClure's Magazine from 1902 to 1903 created a public firestorm, prompting John D. Rockefeller and his associates to turn to the infant field of public relations. Despite their efforts, historians largely ignore, marginalize, or criticize Standard Oil and Rockefeller's response” 2017 (Leccese 245). The criticism of the public led Standard Oil to change its public relations to begin a proactive PR campaign compared

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(Lowrie, "Ida M. Tarbell: Investigative Journalist Par Excellence") “Oil historian Daniel Yergin called the “most important business book ever written.” Tarbell had many opportunities to get rich off of her work but she refused because it was against everything she stood for. She took years researching John D.

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The petroleum market rose in 1859 after former rail director Edwin Drake successfully unearthed an oil well with his own oil drill. After this breakthrough, investors realized that oil sites made more financial sense than whaling voyages. Whaling was dangerous, time-consuming, and expensive—while often yielding no profit. But oil drilling was generally risk-free, would not cost anyone’s life, and was more likely to yield something profitable with the reliability of Drake’s oil drill. Consequently, many whaling ports lost their funding to oil sites, and kerosene replaced whale oil as America’s leading natural resource.

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In this book she writes “So long as the Standard Oil Company can control transportation as it does to-day, it will remain master of the oil industry, and the people of the United States will pay for their indifference and folly. . . .”(Tarbell). After years of battling the Standard Oil Company they were brought to the supreme court and in 1911 The Standard Oil Company was shut down because it was under violation of the Sherman Antitrust

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559 Words | 3 Pages

Ida did not hesitate to criticize Rockefeller for stooping to unethical business practices in quest for his numerous successes. Her writings were credited with the eventual breakup of Standard Oil, which came after the U.S Supreme Court rule in 1911, that the company was violating the Sherman Antitrust act. The Sherman Antitrust act allowed only Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells have much more in common than just their names. Both have exposed underlying issues in American society through pieces of writings, persistence, and course of actions they took.

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1260 Words | 6 Pages

He did this by buying smaller refiners or drove them out of business across the United States. By the early 1880’s, the Standard Oil company had control in about ninety percent of the oil refineries located in the United States. To eliminate business Rockefeller was accused of using unethical practices. Including, undercutting oil prices of other companies known as predatory pricing. He was also accused of colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors ability to distribute product.

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1490 Words | 6 Pages

Rockefeller established an oil refinery near Cleveland. Within the first two years it was the largest in the area. Eventually, after many successes in the industry, Rockefeller turned his full attention to the oil business. In 1870, Rockefeller and his partners started the Standard Oil company. This business immediately began making money, partly because of the favorable economic conditions and partly because of Rockefeller’s drive to streamline the company’s operations and keep margins high.

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By the early 20th century, millions of Americans were engaged in oil-related industries; this increased employment. Rockefeller saw the vast potential of the industry, as he described: “We saw the vast possibilities of the oil industry, stood at the center of it, and brought our knowledge and imagination and business experience to bear in a dozen, in twenty, in thirty directions.” Much of Rockefeller’s whole life was characterized by various business-related controversies for his aggressive expanding desire but by the later parts of his life he became to be remembered as a philanthropist for his charitable efforts. The overall image of Rockefeller had varied significantly depending on who he was viewed, for example, his ex-competitors, politicians and critical biographizes.

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1950 Words | 8 Pages

This fact, exposed by trustbusters and muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell, led to a monumental shift in public sentiment towards large trusts and ultimately led to the revolutionary Supreme Court case Standard Oil Company of New Jersey vs. United States, which created a new standard for big

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The Standard Oil Company caused this by not being honest with their trustees and made them accept unfair offers. John D. Rockefeller stated to them, that anyone who refused his offer would be run into bankruptcy. He also stated that after running them into bankruptcy he would make sure to cheaply buy their estates at any auction held. We notice this when a competitor complains to the government by saying, “My refinery has been shut down during the past three years, owing up to the powerful and all-prevailing machinations of the Standard Oil Trust... I have had to consequently shut down, with my business absolutely ruined and my refinery idle."

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Muckrakers and unions helped by protesting against the dangerous conditions, unfair treatment, and dishonest dealings during the Progressive Era. These ordinary citizens often used writing or pictures to show the corruption of businesses and cruelty toward workers to the public. A prime example of this is Ida M. Tarbell, whose articles lead to the breaking up of Rockefeller’s oil monopoly. Tarbell wrote about social issues for McClure’s magazine, and in 1902, she published “The History of the Standard Oil Company”, which criticized corruption in the dominant oil corporation. Her writings made the public both aware of the issue and angry about it, and the growing outrage lead to the government disbanding the Standard Oil Company on the idea that it was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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742 Words | 3 Pages

Ms. Tarbell series on Standard Oil published in, “1904” would cause the government to act. “Tarbell meticulously documented the aggressive techniques Standard Oil employed to outmaneuver and, where necessary, roll over whoever got in its way. A short while later, President Theodore Roosevelt used the phrase “muckraker” (from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress) in a speech in reference to Tarbell….” (Connecticut History.org). Ms. Tarbell earned praise of President Theodore Roosevelt for exposing Standard Oil’s corrupt practices.

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938 Words | 4 Pages

He was able to influence the prices of oil and make his the most appealing, lowering the price in areas of high competition but lowering it in areas with little demand. Without legal documentation, Rockefeller bought out other companies, bribing them with money if they kept the buy a secret. He quickly was able to dominate the oil industry because he had secretly bought out all his competition without the other companies knowing, or the public, who were unaware that he controlled 90% of the oil market in the United States. At his prime, many claimed Rockefeller to be a robber baron, stating he engaged in business practices that were not only illegal, but then prohibited any other competition from existing to create a marketplace that would

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John D. Rockefeller Sr: How did John D. Rockefeller impact the Industrial Revolution John Davison Rockefeller Sr. once stated “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success” (John D. Rockefeller Quotes). John D. Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil in which then became one of the wealthiest men in the world. Rockefellers ongoing funding as a philanthropist and trust in oil is how the man's name still lives on to this day (The Rockefeller Archive Center). For thousands of years oil has been a main resource for human consumption, and remains the same.

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Rockefeller was the first man to manufacture oil and founded Standard Oil Company. With the development of oil which is an essential resource, came great responsibility and dominance. However,

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Have you ever wondered about the state of the American Dream? It used to be a beacon of hope and prosperity, a promise of a better life for all. However, lately, it feels like that dream is slipping away. It is a concerning trend that many people wonder if the American Dream is still alive or if it has become a distant memory. The American Dream has been prevalent throughout the history of the United States, containing the idea that any individual from any background can achieve success through hard work and determination.

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