0n
TarbellTakes
Goliath:lda
Versus
rm TheLady
OilCo.
tl Strndard
PAULAA. TRECKEL
too, as the mighty industialists
ln the Gilded Age, politiu becamea big business,
tate' Men now enteredpolitia
pouredmoneyinto govemmentcirclesat an un?trecedented
to rnake theirfortunes' The new politia
went into business:
for the samereasonthey
"A politicalparty"' con'
of industry'
evendeived muchof itsvoubularyJrom the world
"is in onesenseajoint stock'
company
tendedAmeican statesmanwittiam H. Seward,
of the con'
the action and management
in which thosewho contributethe most direct
only
known as the Millionaires' Club' because
cern." The United StatesSenatebecame
sizablegtortionof both majorpartiesnot
the ich and powerfulseemedableto get in. A
conti'
the industial baronsbut eagetlyaaeptedtheir campaign
only vigorouslydeJended
tookbibesas well
Uuiio^. A numbetof politiciansshamelessly
and Democrats-hada mo'
In the 1880s,the iwo nationalparties-the Republicans
of Ameim'
to the grdssroots
nopoly on Americanpolitics, and neitherwas responsiue
con'
had teft rnany victimsin its wake--utorkers,farmers'
The industial consotidation
peoplewho wantedtheirshareof
andptofessional
sutnefs,and.smallor aspiringbusiness
as long as the wealthycapfor success
opportunityond wealth. They had little chance
tainsofindustry-menlikeAndrewcamegie,J.PierpontMorgan,andJohnD'Rock'
mogulswere d'eter'
Such business
efeller-ruled the country, including its politicians.
emltiresby ruthlessand sometimes
mined to eliminate comptetitionto their business
illegalmeans'
majorpartiesto redresstheir
tJnableto persuadethefederalgovernmentand the two
launchedtheir own reformmovements'
the victimsof industrialconsolidation
grievances,
againstthe big industrialists
themselves
Americanfamrers organizedalliancesto protect
agicultureto
at cooperatiue
an
who ran the country. The Alliance movementwas ffirt
,,thefumishingnrercltants,"banks, trusts,and railroads'The alliances'
Jreefarmersfrom
People'sparty of Kansas(whichdrew
in turn, Ied to potitical organization,frst in the
party' or
in the nationalPeople's
men and wornenalike to itsbanners)and ultinately
histoian LawrenceGoodwyn'the
the Poputistparty, in 1892.Accordingto Populist
"the largestdemocratic
constituted
agroion rcvolt that culminatedin the Populistcrusade
wasto
of that rnasstnouernent
in Ameican history."And the objective
rnassmol/eftient
gouerrtmentto thepeople'
restore
journalistsassociof inuestigatiue
Another reforn-mindeiO*n of the eruwasa cadre
sidney McClure, thejoumal
ated withMcclure's M.grrirr.. Foundedby satnuel
to the socialand economicills that
was dedicatedto exposingand fnding solutions
"a teamofjournalists"
aroundhim
plaguedindustial Ameriia. SoonMcCluregathered
he
"muckrakers."TheodoreRooseveh
gauethentthat narnebecause
knownpopulaily as
90
8
O N T H E S T A N P A R DO I L C O '
T H E L A D Y V E R S U SG O L I A T H :I D A T A R B E L LT A K E S
with socialeuils,with rakingup themuck,otflth, of Ameithoughtthem too obsessed
cansociety.
Tarbell,
In the sprightlyselectionthatfollows, PaulaA. Treckeltelk the story of lda
'lady muckraker'of her time" Rejectingmaniagebecause
it would hauere"the
foremost
(sheako wrcteapopularbijournalismasherprofession
stictedherfreedom,Tarbell chose
in New
ographyof AbrahamLincoln)and in 1894joined Mcclure's Magazine staf
"muckraking"teatnof investigatiue
a memberof McClure's
YorleCity . Thereshebecame
By now,
reporters-Ray StannardBaker, Lincoln Stffins, and William Allen White'
of the ShermanAnti-Trust Act of 1890,
thepressureforreformhad ted to thepassage
of trade.But' asTreckelsays,thefl'easure
andotherrestraints
whichoutlawedmonopolies
"againstAmerica'spowerfulindustialists'"
wasdfficult to enforce
oil comIn 1903, Tarbellwentafteroneof thecountry'smightiesttrusts,standard
wen appisedthat shewasprepaing
pany, ownedby millionaireJohn D. RockeJeller.
"Miss Tarbanel"and compared
deided her as
an expostof hk company,Rockefeller
But "Miss Tatbell" was undaunted'
her to a worm that f ignoredwould disappear.
"The History of Standard
Through tenacityand painstaking research,she produced
government
Oil," whichserializedln McClure's Magazine. Her exposthelpedthe
celebrated
breakup Rockefeller'shuge monopoly,and it made Tarbell one of the tnost
slew the
wornenin the land. Wat follows is the tale of how this amazing woman
AmericanGoliath.
GLOSSARY
ffihwasi$ssi$w}ilw
A writer for
BAKER, RAY STANNARD
McClure'sMagazinewho examined comrption and "I
violence in the labor union movement' He stated,
learned that common human suffering and common
human joy, if truly reported, never grow stale'" In
his introduction to The Shameof the Cities,he added
that America's problems could be resolvedthrough
"good conduct in the individual' simple honesty,
courage,and efiiciencY."
(1914) One
FEDERAI TRADE COMMISSION
'Woodrow
Wilson's New
of the accomplishmentsof
to overseethe
effort
noble
a
represented
Freedom, it
It
investigated
practicesof large corporations.
complaintsand could order companiesto resolvethe
problems that sufaced. Many of its early members
were conservativeswho respondedto only the most
grievous of misdeeds.
Irish immigrant
McCLURE, SAMUEL SIDNEY
chain and a
newspaper
influential
an
who established
on the
fo-cused
that
Magazine,
magazine,McClure's
of
one
was
Tarbell
-"iot problems of his day' Ida
hired'
-rtty ot.ttred young writers that McClure
Although his inexpensive masscirculation joumal contained fiction, essayson science,and profiles of
leading figures like Thomas Edison, investigative
journalism became its most prominent feature'
A company or group of companies
MONOPOLY
that controls a market so completely, asCamegie
did with steel or Rockefeller with oil, that a
particular co{porate entiry can dictate supply and
pri..t and thus destroy competition'
TheodoreRoosevelt
MUCKRAKER
inadvertently coined this word. He compared the
young reform-minded writers who published articles
Pilgrim's
for McClure'sMagazineto the man in"muke"
(filth)
the
raking
*ho was so busy
Progress
9l
ry.
]l:.:ff}*.:
r r z : r
. : : : : : : _ l : : .
j : -
:
R E F O R MA N D E X P A N S I O N
celestialcrown over his
that he never noticed the
the American people were
;."d *i;;"l*less,
*ith writing like Uqto.n Sinclair's
.;;;"11.i
industry' xay
ooit"n"f of the meat-packing
of the-labor
i"t.t't r"tid destription
corruPt
###
SOUTH IMPROVEMENT
combined the largest and
Rockefeller .rr,.'p'i'"''tt*
Its
'ailtoads and oil 1sfinsris5'
*"tip.*.nf
it destroyed
resourceswere so great that
comPetition.
Steffen'snle of a
movement, and Lincoln
businessand Politics'
"U;;b;een
Rockefeller invested in this
OIL RI,FINERY
crude oil to useful
business,which converted
that provided both
commodities such "' ktto""t
businesses'
ffi;;ilrrfo'
a-ttlca's homesand
Ct"""t"nd' Ohio' which
His baseof opt'"t'o"^*"
* trtt oit fields of westem-Pennsvlvania
;;t;i;;.
lanes of Lake Erie'
""i .f"r,.a the shipping
A reform
PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT
with
level
sate
the
movement that started at
and
Wisconsin
in
sovernors like Robert i"fotlt"t
1914
to
1901
tie nationai level from
il;il
of Theodore
during th" p,t'iaeniial 'dmi"i'ttttions Woodrow
Taft' and
Roosevelt, Wilham Howard
regulation and antitrust
Wilson. In seeking railroad
championed the interests
leeislation, the progressives
laborers, and consumers'
oif"*"rr,
from
Kickbacks to large corporations
REBATES
could
iailroads
the
the railroad,' A' p"-Uftt t"*t'i'
in the rates they charged'
not Pracdce di"nmi""tion
crrstomersto stay
yet they depended on their better
used this 4"g't stratesv to
i;;;;;;"t':Rockefeller
rates that smaller
sain favorable transportadon
3o*Pttti.t could not demand'
SHERMAN
ANTI-TRUST
ACT (1890)
It dominated the
STANDARD OIL COMPANY
1881' through illegal and
businessof refining "tL ut
had 90
11e1
Ro ckefesomedmes cutthro at tactics'
under his conffol
percent of this rt'"'"'i"t i"jo*ty
strangled
that
established" -o"opoly
ilil
a reluctant
forced
Tarbell's writings
coir.;iit-J;.
trust
mammoth
this
federal government to dismantle
in 1911.
One of S' S' McClure's
STEFFENS, LINCOLN
He wrote a seriesof
staffof investigative authors'
that
ti,Ml"-:"polis
afticles exposing to*po91
leaders'
involved businessand political
lda's father' who hoped
TARBELL, FRAI\IKLIN
t1:. manufacrure of oil
that he might p'oAi^'t'ro"g!
"black gold" to the
tanks that would t'ffio"itte
rebatesto destroy
Rock"felltiused illegal
;fi";;;
her
like him' Ida learned from
;"fl;;';to's
"it was your privilege and
father's misfoftunes that
dutY to fight injustice'"
Under
advocates'
"fo*"t' andconsumer
il;;;?;*
it illegal
made
*}i;f
tt"""t'
.""t"iiiti'
Congress
be "in
to
or
coTPe.qqon
destroy
to
for corporations
it
Although
;;r;;;1 of tradeor cornmerce'"
its language
combinations'
,.*i"i.A t"me business
to'pot"'ions continuedto eliminate
;ffi;;"a
andform monopolres'
compe-tition
who
youthful assistant
SIDDALL, JOHN Tarbeli's
on the illegalactivities
;Jt;;;;
!"tht' evidence
andother
iiTr'Jsi""i"td oil companv'Hemade certain that
Iulasazine
;;i#;;;-M,clu""
theaccusationsagamstthegiantoil'corpoStionwere
could not charge the
accurate and that notf"ftf"t
magtzine with libei'
92
COMPANY A
TRUSTAmethodofcombining.resourcesthat
laws establishedby many
avoided the antimonopoly
from holding
prohibit o"" io'potttion
;;;;;
example' had'
for
stock in another' no"t"ftUtt'
companies.delegatetheir
stockholderc of u"'ioo' oil"trustees"
who made
interests to Stt"d"d Oil
entire entity' Thus' one
decisions ttt"t Ut""gted the
of many
""a directed the interests
;;;;.""gta
comPanies.
TUTTLE, HENRY B'
A co-ownerin a produce
,ilir#*'-l',':l',1;:f
ry':,iii
"u""."
:Sfi
I
in Americanbusiness'
bookkeePer and, ln
#il;:;;
;;'f'l;;;ers
A well-known
WHITE,.WILIAM ALLEN
who
intemadonalist
ioumalistandlater a leading
'#ffi
of
; "'ai"'r" i'r'ai"';11'1ocracies
ot me
populanty
nigl""d and France' The
him'""The thing
""ptistd
"was
Progressivemovement
noted'White'
that constant$ amazedme"'
p"oPl' were with us'"
;;;;;v
DILCO'
T H ES T A N D A RO
T H E L A D YV E R s U SG O L I A T HI :D A T A R B E L TL A K E SO N
he Lion and the Mouse made its Broadway
debut on Saturday, November 25, 1905'
"the richest and the
The play told the tale of
ablest and the hardest and the most unscrupulous"
millionaire in America, John Burkett Ryder, and his
confrontation with Miss Shirley Rossmore, a young
"clear moral intensity." The story opened
woman of
with Miss Rossmore'sfather, a judge, accusedof accepting securitiesfrom Ryder in exchange for making judicial decisionsin the millionaire's favor' To
prove her father's innocence, Miss Rossmore-the
"mouse" to Ryder's "li6n"-5g1 out to expose the
millionaire's criminal activities.
Unlikely as it may apPear,the plot of this Broadway melodrama was snatched from the headlines of
the day. It was loosely basedon the story of Ida M'
Tarbell and her investigation of millionaire John D'
Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company monoPoly. Although it lacked the Broadway play's love
story and h"ppy ending, Tarbell's investigation of
how Rockefeller achieved domination of the oil industry had more than its share of intrigue, crime, and
comrption. Tarbell used her senseof moral outrage,
passionfor justice, and historian's eye for detail to
reveal the inner workings of Rockefeller's business
empire to the world. Her work helped lead to the
prosecution of Standard Oil by the United States
government and the company's subsequent dismantling in 191i.
Ida Minerva Tarbell was bom on November 5,
1857. in the frontier town of Hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania, one of the rough and rowdy oil boomtowns of the region. Her father, Franklin Tarbell,
hoped to make his fortune in the young industry by
manufacturing tanks to hold the black gold taken
from beneath the Pennsylvania hills' As a child, Ida
saw how boom and bust cycles swept through the
"Lady Muckraker" by Paula A. Treckel. This article is reporducted from the June 2001 issueof Ameican Hisnry Illustrated',uith
permission of PRIMEDIA Special Interest Pubbcations (History
Group), copyright American History lllustrated, and the author'
showslda Tatbellat workin hetstudy'
Thk 1905photograph
"lady
madethepublicawareof thecomtptand
muckraker"
The
of the StandardOil Company'(Tarbell
practices
monopolistic
Libtary,AlleghenyCollege)
Pelletier
Archiues,
dirry, oil-slick communities that dotted the countryside and witnessed the horrors of accidents-fires
and explosions-that plagued the industry'
In !872, suddenly and without warning, the region's railroads-the link necessaryto bring the oil
to market-doubled their shipping rates, deeply cutting the independent producers' profits' Then word
leaked out that the railroads had favored a mysterious
Cleveland-based ourfit called the South Improvement Company by giving it rebates, in direct violation of federal law. Young Ida watched as her father
and his friends crusaded against this menace to their
livelihood. Violence swept the oil fields of western
Pennsylvania as vigilantes destroyed the South Improvement Company's oil cars and bumed out the
"It
men who joined or sold out to that organization'
was my first experience in revolution," Tarbell re"it was your privilege and dury to
called. She leamed
fight injustice."
R E F O R MA N D E X P A N S I O N
takeover of the
The force behind the threatened
D' Rockefelier' a
region's oil production was John
beginnings to beman who had risen from humble
wealthiest and most powcome one of the nation's
upsate New York in
eri industrialists.Born in
of con artist William
1839, Rockefeller was the son
long-suffering wife' Eliza'
Avery Rockefeller and his
taught John the imporThe family's poverry soon
money and fired his
mnce of saving and investing..Some
day, sometime,
dreamsof becoming wealthy.
to be worth a-hundredwhen I am a man, I want
"And I'm
to a friend'
confided
he
thousand-dollars,"
day'" The somber boy
going to be, too-some
the Baptist church' which
found spiritual comfort in
of self-reliance and selfinstilled in him the values
work would
and the belief that hard
*prou.-.nt
and in heaven' Throughbe rewarded both on eafth
his church for practical
out his life John turned to
lessonsin living'
moved to CleveWhen the Rockefelier family
sought work to help
hnd, Ohio, 16-year-old John
"I did not go to any small estab,oppo* his famrly'
"I did not guess what I
lishments," he recalled'
big'" During a
would be, but I was after something
in a producemeeting with Henry B' Tuttle' Plftner
"I underboldly stated'
shipping fitm, Rockefeller
like to get work'"
,trnd bookkeeping, and I'd
,,'W'e'll gu. yo-t a chance," Tuttle said' and he
easymeans of shipping the
on Lake Erie provided an
Over time John
valuable commodities it produced'
more refineriesin
D. Rockefeller purchasedseveral
his holdings as
the area; in 1870 he incorporated
Standard
";;;;"ca's Oil.
years folindustry boomed in the
became an everthe Civil War and railroads
lowing-important
adforce, Rockefeller used every
more
the market allowed'
-r"rr,rg*:1.gal and illegal-that
reduced ratesfrom railroads
One tactic was to "t""
shipments on a regular
by guaranteeingthem volume
refused to join forces
basis.When other companies
conffol the production
with Rockefeller or agree to
them out of business'Ida
and price of oil, he d'ove
effect of Rockefeller's
Tarbell saw for herself the
an alliance befween
machinations when he formed
railroads and a handful of
three of the most powerful
Improvement Comoil refiners, called it the South
gain further dominance'
pany, and use'dit asa tool to
Oil's 40 companies
Uring such tactics, Standard
of the nadon's oil refing"it"l control of 90 percent
ing industrybY 1881'
refineries' Rockefeller
In addition to buying
fields themselves' He built
sought conffol of the oil
of pipelines and
his own transportation nef,vvork
products both at home and
tankers' and marketed his
produced addedbenefits
abroad' Rockefelier's efforts
technology and
as well. He introduced cutting-edge
And asthe cost of proceficiency to the oil industry'
h i r e d t h e b o y t o h a n d l e t h e c o m p a n y ' s b o o k s , essingpetroleum dropped' so too did prices for fuel
the most successfulcareers
thereby launching one of
oil and lighting Products'
was ruthlessly cornerin American business
Whilelohn D' Rockefeller
in
salary
clerk's
his
invested
hard and
Ida Tarbell was attending
John worked
ing the ,tltiorr', oil market'
18 he had
age
By
businesses'
an early age
local grain and livestock
in westem Pennsylvania' From
.J[.g.
busiproduce
his own
an independent' profesmade enough money to start
,fr. n]"a planned to become
the
When
Clark'
"I would never marry"' she pledged'
ness with Englishman Maurice
sionalwoman,.
comof
price
the
..Itwouldinterferewithmyplan;itwouldfettermy
Civil War dramatrcally increased
invested his profits
Rockefeller
young
the
as a freshman at Almodities,
freedom." In 1876 she enrolled
crude oil
bought
Refineries
Pennsylvania' She was
in a local oil refinery'
legheny College in Meadville'
products
into
it
processed
Following her graduafrom the oil producen and
th". only woman in her class'
of
center
the
then
was
for a year before joining
such as kerosene' ClevebnJ
tion in 1880, Tarbell taught
oilthe
to
close
was
it
Pennsylvania, Chautauqua
the refining industry because
the staff of the Meadville,
its locadon
and
Pennsylvania'
rich fields of western
94
ryzggal
8
T H E S T A N D A R DO I L C O '
I D A T A R B E L LT A K E S O N
T H E L A D Y V E R S U SG O L I A T H :
of the Chautauqua
AssemblyHerald, a publication
Assembly'sLiterary and Scientific Circle'
TttbeTT
During her six years at the Chautauquan'
started
She
journalism'
learned ,h" "r, and craft of
assumedthe duout as a researcher and eventually
editor' Nevertheties, if not the title, of managing
one Sunday'
less,Tarbell longed for more' In church
"You're dying of rea ,risiting minister thundered,
and
spectabifity!" at his complaisant congregation
she decided to try
,porr.d Tarbell to action' In 1889
pen' The young
supPorting henelf with her own
headed for
journalist left the Chautauquan tnd
France.
In Paris
Tarbell was ready for a new beginning'
lifetime and reinshe made friendships that lasted a
reeling from
Ida Tarbell rehrmed to a nation still
crash of 1893'
the panic causedby the stock market
and at least
More than 15,000 businesseshad failed'
had lost their
one third of all manufacturing worken
they faced
jobs. Midwestern farmers also suffered.as
prices' Tarbell's
rising interest rates and falling crop
financial distress clouded her homeo*r, a-ly's
independent oil
coming. Her father had become an
an increase in
prodo.", just as Standard Oil forced
Refinen were reth" pri." of the region's crude oil'
independent proluctant to buy crude from smalf
he had to mortgage
ducen like Franklin Tarbell' and
his debts' One of
the family's Titusville home to pay
his own business
his friends committed suicide when
failed.
evolving
The nation as a whole was changing'
ventedhenelfasahistorian,researchingthelifeof
into a more indusfrom a largely agrair;rneconomy
Manon
Madame
heroine
French Revolutionary
trialone.Withthechangecameabuses_notjustthe
herseH Tarbell
Phlipon de Roland' To support
hands of a few
great concentration of wealth in the
news synwrote articles on French life for American
and Rocke"The Paving of the Streets of
industrialists such as Andrew Camegie
dicates. One story,
boss politics' and
feller, but also urban corruption'
of
interest
the
piqued
Alphand,"
Paris by Monsieur
emerged in
child labor. The ProgressiveMovement
of Mc'
founder
McClure'
Sidney
editor Samuel
Congress to
resPonseto these issuesand prompted
from Ireemigrated
had
McClure
Magazine.
Clure's
in L890' making it
p"r, th. Sherman Anti-Trust Act
one of
land in 1866, and in 1884 he had established
trade through unfair
lU.gA to monopohze ot restrain
A dynamic'
the earliest U.S. newspaper syndicates'
law was vague'
collaborations or conspiracies' The
as a
him
described
Kipling
energetic man-Rudyard
enforcing it
however, and authorities had difficulty
launched his
".yJon. in a frock 662i"-l![6Clure
againstAmerica's powerful industrialists'
to the
mrgzzine in 1893 to campaign for solutions
LinAt McClure's a team of journalists-Tarbell'
always looking
pr.rritg problems of the day' He was
and Ray Sannard
coln Steffens,William Allen White'
forfresh,talentedwriterstojoinhisstaff'Onatrip
in their ardcles
Baker-reflected Progressiveconcems
the
up
bounded
he
1892'
of
surruner
to Paris in the
Yet not everyoneapabout someof the era'sexcesses'
into her
and
building
apartment
Tarbell's
Ida
stain of
Although he
proved of this new breed ofjournalism'
forever'
it
changing
life,
magazine'swriten'
t r"* and befriended many of the
come to New
McClure askedTarbell if she would
Roosevelt
including Tarbell, President Theodore
to give up
York to work at his magazine' Reluctant
joumalists focused
publicly complained that these
only to
agreed
she
independence,
"In Bunyan's Pilgim's
her hard-eamed
only ,rpon sociery's evils'
she
while
McClure's
to
articles
;'yoo -"y recall the description of
submit occasional
Progrrri," he said,
Roland' But
Madame
of
biography
her
completed
the man who could
the Man with the Muck-rake'
suPPort
by 1894, Tarbell was unable to financially
muck-rake in his
look no way but downwardwith the
with
States
United
the
to
henelf, and she returned
crown for his
hands; who was offered a celestial
and
manuscript
Roland
Madame
her unfinished
look up nor
muck-rake, but who would neither
York'
New
in
McClure's
staffof
the
ioined
A N . DE X P A N S I O N
REFORM
but continued to
regard the crown he was offered'
The president's
,i. ,o himself the frlth of the floor'"
generation of incomments gave a name to the new
the foremost
vestigative iorr*rli,t', with Ida Tarbell
"Lady Muckraker" of her time'
the work
McClure'sJanuary1903 issueepitomized
contributed an
of the muckrakers' Lincoln Steffens
in Minneapolis, part
article about political comrption
"Shame of the Cities" series' Ray Stannard
of his
violence in the
Baker wrote about comrption and
"The Right
called
labor umon movement in a piece
an installment in
to'W'ork." The issuealso included
"The History of Standard
a seriesby Ida Tarbell on
exPos6sof the
Oil," one of the most important
tlventieth century.
interested McThe proliferation of industrial trusts
the best way to
Clure'sstaffmembers' They decided "the
story of a
tell
approachthe subjectwould be to
'h: "t"l
and
,yii.A ffust to illustrate how
Thy
"How about the greatestot
" rcLautu
Tarbell.
r arv'
rec
grew, recalled
ggw,
Tarbell det"h.m all-the Standard Oil Company?"
cidedshewantedtotackletheproject,andshetravand his family
eled to Europe where Sam McClure
from exhauswere vacationing while he recovered
a week while she
tion. Tarbell expectedto stay only
but he askedher to
pitched her idea to the publisher'
their travels' Finaliy' after visiting
ioi.t them in
approved Tarbell's
Switzerland and Italy, McClure
"It had been a strong
story idea. She later admitted,
of my life from
thread weaving itself into the pattern
to critics who
childhood on." Tarbell later explained
by personal
charged that her work was motivated
"'We were undertaking what we regarded
concems,
'We
were
work'
historical
of
piece
as a legitimate
joumalists intent
neither apologists nor critics' only
into the making of
on discovering what had gone
this most perfect of all monopolies'"
to draw uPon'
Tarbell had no shortage of material
Oil almost
Congress had been investigating Standard
creadon in 1870
continually since the company's
rebatesfrom railwhen it was suspectedof receiving
96
hardly looked
D' Rockefellet
On hk ninety-ftst birthday,John
"Miss Tatbanel'"
who calledTarbelt
oil magnate
like theruthless
"dir''idends
of nghteousfaith basedon
He maintaineda religious
gauemuchoJhis hugeJottune
ness."Like Andrew Carnegie,he
ArchiueCenter)
away. (Courtesyof the Rockefeller
In the years slnce'
roads and violating free trade'
volumes of
government investigatorshad generated
documentary eviLrtirrrony, a massivecollection of
and m;aga;zine
dence, as well as countless newspaPer
Tarbell with the
articles. These resourcesprovided
foundationforherwork'althoughatfirstshefound
her disposai overthe sheer mass of material at
"The task confronting me is such a monwhelming.
a bit under it"' she
strous one that I am staggering
lamented.Aidedbyayoung'egerassistant'John
her subject beSiddali, she spent ^ yezr researching
to readers'
fore McClure'.sannouncedthe series
S T H E L A D Y V E R S U s G o L I A T H : I D A T A R B E L L T A K E S o N T H E S T A N D A R D o I
in
Initially Tarbell was going to write the story
the
three parts-in the end she wrote 19' Dissecting
of
precision
inner workings of StandardOil with the
a surgeon wielding a scalpel,she exposedespionage
deand industrial terrorism' In one example, Tarbell
tailed the testimony of Mrs. Butts, whose oil comA
pany had a regular customer in New Orleans'
StandardOil representativeapproachedthe customer
"made a contract with him to pay him $10'000 a
and
year for five years to stoP handling the independent
of a
oil and take Standard Oil'" Tarbell also told
was
young office boy in a Standard Oil plant who
the
told to destroy some company papers when
name of his Sunday school teacher, an independent
inoil refiner, caught his eye' The recordscontained
in
formation, collected by railroad freight clerks
StandardOil's pay, about his teacher'soil shipments'
Armed with such inside knowledge' the great trust
rail
could act against its competition by sidetracking
cars, interfering with or destroying rivals' shipments'
or pressuringbuyen to cancel orders' By showing
how the corporation worked in collusion with the
railroads and carefully explaining its elaborate system
"drawbacks," Tarbell meticulousiy
of rebates and
built her caseagainstthe great monopoly'
Rockefeller himself refused to meet with the
"Miss Tarbarrel"' and he
woman he privately called
met her serieswith stony silence' One day' while
a
strolling in the gtounds of his Cleveland home'
to
friend askedRockefeller why he did not respond
"Not a word!" he intemrpted'
Tarbell's charges.
"Not a word about that misguided woman'" Then
"If I
he pointed to a worm on the ground nearby'
stePon that worm I will call attention to it"' Rocke"If ignore it, it will disappear'"
I
feller said.
Tarbell understood Rockefeller's need for silence'
"FIis self-control has been masterdrl," she said; "he
knows, nobody better, that to answer is to invite disin
cussion, to answer is to call attention to the facts
do'
the case."This, she was confident, he would not
She also never feared that Rockefeller would take
"'What had we to be afraid of?"
stepsto silenceher.
she declared.
The journalist's curiosiry got the best of her' however, when John Siddall learned that Rockefeller
planned to give a talk in October 1903 to the Sunin
day ,.hool at the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church
to
Cleveland. She could not resist the opporruniry
momget a peek at the man. On that crisp October
church
ing, i"rb.ll and Siddall arrived early at the
vividly
and awaited Rockefeller's entrance' Tarbell
"-We
him:
recalled the moment when she first saw
were sitting meekly at one side when I was suddenly
aware of a striking figure standing in the doorway'
man I
There was an au{ul age in his face-the oldest
rehad ever seen,I thought, but what power!" She
"Clear and utterly sincere'
called that his voice was
own
He meant what he was saying' He was on his
rightof
ground talking about dividends, dividends
Siddall
eousness."When the talk ended, Tarbell and
from
slipped out to get a good seat in the gallery'
they could see the Rockefeller pew' Tarbell
*t...
"It was plain that he, and not the minister'
noted,
was the pivot on which the audienceswung'"
States
Tarbell's findings strengthenedthe United
government's case against Standard Oil' Following
depublicarion of her series, President Roosevelt
cided to make an example of the great oil trust'
On November 15, 1906, the government charged
and its 70
the StandardOil Company of New Jeney
Act'
affiliates with violating the Sherman Anti-Trust
found
The company and its trusteeswere eventually
restrain
guilry of creating a monopoly, conspiring to
use of
the
and control interstatecommerce through
pipelines'
railroad rebatesand drawbacks, conffolling
elimiconducting industrial espionage, and illegally
nating competition from the marketplace' Following
the
a series of appeals,the Supreme Court upheld
of
May
in
original decision against Standard Oil
up'
1911, and the mighty monopoly was broken
of New
Rockefeller retained stock in Standard Oil
subsidiariescreatedby
Jerseyand the 33 independent
97
R E F O R MA N D E X P A N S I O N
the breakthe Supreme Court's decision' Ironicdly'
world's richest
up of ih. ,**, made Rockefeller the
1913' And
man with a net worth of $900 million in
23' 1937'
by the time of his death at age 98 on May
as
known
was more widely
John D. Rockefeller
"the world's greatest philanthropist" than the great
"Lion" of the industrial age'
suit
In addition to prompting the government's
published
against Standard Oil, Ida Tarbell's series'
Oil
Standard
in two volumes es The History of the
of new
Companyin 1904, contributed to the Passage
In
Iaws to Protect comPetition in the marketplace'
Trade
1914 rtre govemment establishedthe Federal
Commission to overseebusinessactivities'
Ner'v
Despite an illustrious career-in 1922 the
"Twelve
York Tirnes included her as one of the
Tarbell
Greatest Living American Women"-Ida
Historian
never equaled The History of StandardOll'
declared'
and Rockefeller biographer Allan Nevins
"It was the best piece of businesshistory that Amerdeath on
ica had yet produced'" Before Tarbell's
young history professoraskedher'
January 6,1944, a
-"If
would
you could rewrite your book today' what
you change?"
"Not one word, young man"'
"Not one word"'
replied,
she proudly
Q U E S T I O N TS O C O N S I D E R
fortune
1 Compare Rockefeller's climb to financial
of selecwith that of Andrew Carnegie, the subject
showed
tion 5. How had both men in their youth
98
Do you adinitiative and the abiliry to invest wisely?
them for
mire them for their energy or condemn
labor and
their ruthlessnessin taking advantage of
destroyingcomPetition?
prices
2 Rockefeller's control of an industry reduced
kerosene'
for fuel oil and lighting products such as
'Why
that
then did the federal government conclude
his actions were destructive? Compare Rockefeller's
it with the
businessand the govemment's reaction to
and the
present-day court actions against Bill Gates
.l"i- th"t Microsoft unfairly destroyed competition'
(Seeselection31 for a portrait of Gates')
plagued Ida
3 Describe the economic problems that
from
Tarbell's America when she returned home
Maga'
Paris. How did the young writen * McClure's
was
What
zine hope to solve these problems?
Theodore Roosevelt'sopinion of their efforts?
affected
4 How had the Standard Oil Company
feelings
Tarbell's life? Do you think that her personal
did she
motivated her attack on Rockefeller? What
discover about the giant oil corporation?
discussed
5 What did Rockefeller mean when he
"dividends of righteousness" at the Euclid Avenue
Tarbell was
Baptist Church? Why do you think that
so anxious to seehim?
giant
6 Once Tarbell's charges against Rockefeller's
what did the
oil monopoly became widely known'
Rockefederal govemment do in response?Did
of Tarfeller's wealth increaseor diminish as a result
action?
bell's claims and the resultant government
compare
Again, reflect back to selection 5 and
when
Rockefeller's reputation with that of Carnegie
both men were in the nvilight of their careers'