This article is about an oil company that was dissolved in 1911. [5] One review from the Economic Journal fixated on the monumental nature of Tarbell's work, stating that "it is difficult to write about Miss Tarbell's remarkable achievement without using language approaching the edge of hyperbole. Socony-Vacuum had Asian marketing outlets supplied remotely from California. [11]:79 Numerous regional competitors (such as Pure Oil in the East, Texaco and Gulf Oil in the Gulf Coast, Cities Service and Sun in the Midcontinent, Union in California, and Shell overseas) had organized themselves into competitive vertically integrated oil companies, the industry structure pioneered years earlier by Standard itself. Most of its output was kerosene, of which 55 percent was exported around the world. The original book was a two-volume hardcover set. Conoco and Atlantic elected to use their respective names instead of the Standard name, and their rights would be claimed by other companies. The Mei Foo Shield, A monthly publication of the North China Department of Standard Oil Co. of New York for its Far Eastern Staff. The author documents the shenanigans and skulduggery of John D. Rockefeller, a greedy oil entrepreneur who at one point in history virtually cornered the petroleum market. Of the initial 10,000 shares, John D. Rockefeller received 2,667; Harkness received 1,334; William Rockefeller, Flagler, and Andrews received 1,333 each; Jennings received 1,000, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler received 1,000. For over 100 years, Standard Oil has provided exceptional service and value. But with all his wealth and power, Rockfeller could not protect himself from Tarbell. The state of Ohio successfully sued Standard, compelling the dissolution of the trust in 1892. The value of Rockefeller's shares rose after the breakup as the new companies had a positive development on the stock exchange.[1]. Anderson, Irvine H. Jr., The Standard-Vacuum Oil Co. and United States East Asian Policy, 1933–1941, Princeton University Press, 1975, p. 16. The Standard Oil Company’s originated in 1863. "MISS TARBELL'S BOOK: A Glance at the Widely Advertised "History of the Standard Oil Company. Stocks end mixed: Nasdaq closes above 14,000 for the first time ever while S&P 500, Dow end six-session winning streak See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. and later throughout the northeastern United States. Prior to Pearl Harbor, Stanvac was the largest single U.S. investment in Southeast Asia. [34] All three were destroyed in the 1937 USS Panay incident. Over the next few decades, both companies grew significantly. Naomi R. Lamoreaux. (Several of these companies were considered among the Seven Sisters who dominated the industry worldwide for much of the 20th century.) The articles also helped to define a growing trend to investigation,… Exxon Mobil is a combination of two of the United States’ oldest oil companies: Jersey Standard and Vacuum Oil Company. Of all the subjects which seem to have attracted the attention of the public to the affairs of the Standard Oil Company, the matter of rebates from railroads has perhaps been uppermost. The government said that Standard raised prices to its monopolistic customers but lowered them to hurt competitors, often disguising its illegal actions by using bogus supposedly independent companies it controlled. B. Jennings, with 1,000 shares; and the firm … Of the 34 "Baby Standards", 11 were given rights to the Standard Oil name, based on the state they were in. The History of the Standard Oil Company is a 1904 book by journalist Ida Tarbell. [43] It did not try to monopolize the exploration and pumping of oil (its share in 1911 was 11 percent). Vice-president John Dustin Archbold took a large part in the running of the firm. Would the public have been better off if older and more costly methods of producing, processing and shipping oil had continued to be used, leading to prices far higher than necessary? Three supermajor companies now own the rights to the Standard name in the United States: ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp., and BP. 80. Standard Oil of Brazil – originally owned by Standard Oil of New Jersey (now by Exxon). "The Rise and Supremacy of the Standard Oil Co.,", Montague, Gilbert Holland. It ordered Standard to break up into 34 independent companies with different boards of directors, the biggest two of the companies were Standard Oil of New Jersey (which became Exxon) and Standard Oil of New York (which became Mobil). [30], The North China Department of Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York) operated a subsidiary called Socony River and Coastal Fleet, North Coast Division, which became the North China Division of Stanvac (Standard Vacuum Oil Company) after that company was formed in 1933. The theory that Standard Oil engaged in “predatory practices” and “exploited” consumers has prevailed in history books. These companies are 2 of the 34 oil companies that Standard Oil was broken up into after the 1911 Supreme Court decision that ended John D. Rockefeller’s trust. [51][52] Two of these companies were Standard Oil of New Jersey (Jersey Standard or Esso), which eventually became Exxon, and Standard Oil of New York (Socony), which eventually became Mobil; those two companies later merged into ExxonMobil. The Standard Oil trust streamlined production and logistics, lowered costs, and undercut competitors. Dodd, skirted around existing Ohio anti-trust (or anti-competition) law by creating a new form of a trust in 1879 in order to allow the growing corporation to own stock in other corporations. The lawsuit argued that Standard's monopolistic practices had taken place over the preceding four years: The general result of the investigation has been to disclose the existence of numerous and flagrant discriminations by the railroads in behalf of the Standard Oil Co. and its affiliated corporations. But when this deal became known, competitors convinced the Pennsylvania Legislature to revoke South Improvement's charter. The Standard Oil Company 4.3 Assignment: The Standard Oil Company Directions Use what you have read about the rise of large corporations and what you learned in this lesson to analyze another image by Keppler and explain Keppler's depiction of the Standard Oil Company. For successor companies with similar names, see, Monopoly charges and antitrust legislation. ExxonMobil keeps the Esso trademark alive at stations that sell diesel fuel by selling "Esso Diesel" displayed on the pumps. Established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller and Henry Flagler as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world at its height. From 1882 to 1906, Standard paid out $548,436,000 in dividends at 65.4% payout ratio. [7] In his 2008 book Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller, Steve Weinberg described the exposure of Standard Oil as "arguably the greatest work of investigative journalism ever written". Standard Oil Company. By 1880, Rockefeller had bought out Clark, invited Henry M. Flager to join him, and operated the largest oil refineries in Cleveland. Standard's actions and secret[13] transport deals helped its kerosene price to drop from 58 to 26 cents from 1865 to 1870. Other vessels included Mei Chuen, Mei Foo, Mei Hung, Mei Kiang, Mei Lu, Mei Tan, Mei Su, Mei Xia, Mei Ying, and Mei Yun. Standard Oil Company.” . Standard Oil's organizational concept proved so successful that other giant enterprises adopted this "trust" form. [31] To distribute its products, Standard Oil constructed storage tanks, canneries (bulk oil from large ocean tankers was re-packaged into 5-US-gallon (19 l; 4.2 imp gal) tins), warehouses and offices in key Chinese cities. "The Later History of the Standard Oil Co.,", This page was last edited on 18 February 2021, at 15:59. [48], Standard's president, John D. Rockefeller, had long since retired from any management role. Originally serialized in nineteen parts in McClure's magazine, the book is a seminal example of muckraking, and inspired many other journalists to write about trusts, large businesses that (in the absence of strong antitrust laws in the 19th century) attempted to gain monopolies in various industries. As we celebrate our 100th anniversary, Standard Oil has become the largest family-owned heating oil company in Connecticut. [7] Its history as one of the world's first and largest multinational corporations ended in 1911, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a landmark case, that Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly. [2][3], Public outcry erupted at the conclusion of Tarbell's 19-part exposure of Standard Oil published in McClure's, eventually resulting in the expedited breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. In 1873 standard oil acquired about ___ percent of the refining capacity in Cleveland. Standard Oil Company photo and image search. Some economic historians have observed that Standard Oil was in the process of losing its monopoly at the time of its breakup in 1911. [14] Competitors disliked the company's business practices, but consumers liked the lower prices. Its successors such as ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Amoco, and Chevron are still among the companies with the largest revenues in the world. Yet economist John S. McGee reviewed over 11,000 pages of trial testimony, including the charges brought by Standard Oil’s competitors. Jersey Standard, led by Walter C. Teagle, became the largest oil producer in the world. The Mei Foo Shield, May 1926, November 1927, Rosenbaum, David Ira. John D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was the guiding force behind the creation and development of the Standard Oil Company, which grew to dominate the oil industry and became one of the first big trusts in the United States.John left high school in 1855 to take a business course at Folsom Mercantile College. "Trust-busting" critics accused Standard Oil of using aggressive pricing to destroy competitors and form a monopoly that threatened other businesses. After this initial success, her shift turned to John D. Rockefeller. Standard Oil Co. was an American oil-producing, transporting, refining, marketing company. However, the deal fell through and the firm was sold to Royal Dutch Shell. For example, Standard created the first synthetic competitor for beeswax and bought the company that invented and produced Vaseline, the Chesebrough Manufacturing Co., which was a Standard company only from 1908 until 1911. Merchants without ties to the oil industry had pressed for the hearings. Sometimes connecting roads prorate on oil—that is, make through rates which are lower than the combination of local rates; sometimes they refuse to prorate; but in either case the result of their policy is to favor the Standard Oil Co. Standard Oil of Connecticut is a fuel oil marketer not related to the Rockefeller companies. [2], After her education and to accumulate writing experience, Tarbell began working at McClure's Magazine, where she wrote several successful series on historical figures. Authority was centralized in the company's main office in Cleveland, but decisions in the office were made in a cooperative way.[12]. Publication date 1904 Topics Standard Oil Company Publisher New York : McClure, Phillips Collection kellylibrary; toronto Digitizing sponsor MSN Contributor Kelly - University of Toronto Language English. Her father was an oil producer whose business had failed because of Rockefeller's business dealings. [55] [59][60][61] The only company since the breakup of Standard Oil that was divided into parts like Standard Oil was AT&T, which after decades as a regulated natural monopoly, was forced to divest itself of the Bell System in 1984.[62]. The Anderson Ferry Marina near Cincinnati, Ohio is pictured. Other notable Standard Oil principals include Henry Flagler, developer of the Florida East Coast Railway and resort cities, and Henry H. Rogers, who built the Virginian Railway. In 1896, John Rockefeller retired from the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, the holding company of the group, but remained president and a major shareholder. In response to state laws that had the result of limiting the scale of companies, Rockefeller and his associates developed innovative ways of organizing to effectively manage their fast growing enterprise. . [41] Because of competition from other firms, their market share had gradually eroded to 70 percent by 1906 which was the year when the antitrust case was filed against Standard, and down to 64 percent by 1911 when Standard was ordered broken up[42] and at least 147 refining companies were competing with Standard including Gulf, Texaco, and Shell. The committee then shifted focus to Standard Oil's operations. Established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller and Henry Flagler as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world of its time. Standard Oil of Illinois - pre-1911 - bought out by Amoco. In a seminal deal, in 1868, the Lake Shore Railroad, a part of the New York Central, gave Rockefeller's firm a going rate of one cent a gallon or forty-two cents a barrel, an effective 71% discount from its listed rates in return for a promise to ship at least 60 carloads of oil daily and to handle load and unload on its own. It is an exposé about the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the richest figure in American history. [49] The dissolution had actually propelled Rockefeller's personal wealth.[50]. [8], In a 2010 column, economist Thomas Sowell criticized Tarbell for what he characterized as cherry picking which data to include in her book: "One of the crucial facts left out of Ida Tarbell's book was that Rockefeller's improvements in the oil industry brought down the price of oil to a fraction of what it had been before.[...] Standard Oil's breakup split the company into 34 separate companies. The company was perceived to own and control all aspects of the trade. [20][21] David O. Whitten and Bessie Emrick Whitten, Standard Oil controlled by a small group of families—see, Arthur Schmidt, "Weetman Dickinson Pearson (Lord Cowdray)", in. The company grew by increasing sales and through acquisitions. Who established the standard oil company of Ohio. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998. p. 33. These reactions are immortalized in political cartoons utilizing imagery of Rockefeller's hidden agendas being demolished by investigative journalism and muckraking. The result was that although in 1911 Standard still controlled most production in the older regions of the Appalachian Basin (78 percent share, down from 92 percent in 1880), Lima-Indiana (90 percent, down from 95 percent in 1906), and the Illinois Basin (83 percent, down from 100 percent in 1906), its share was much lower in the rapidly expanding new regions that would dominate U.S. oil production in the 20th century. The Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits the restraint of trade. BP acquired its rights through acquiring Standard Oil of Ohio and merging with Amoco, and has a small handful of stations in the Midwestern United States using the Standard name. Energy is vital to daily life it keeps our world moving and provides access to essentials like clean water, food and health care. Whether the breakup of Standard Oil was beneficial is a matter of some controversy. They include: Other companies divested in the 1911 breakup: Note: Standard Oil of Colorado was not a successor company; the name was used to capitalize on the Standard Oil brand in the 1930s. Rates have been made low to let the Standard into markets, or they have been made high to keep its competitors out of markets. [6], Though Standard Oil Company accrued more cumulative value after it was broken up, the exposure of what Tarbell described as immoral and illegal business became a striking symbol of the power of the press. Manns, Leslie D., "Dominance in the Oil Industry: Standard Oil from 1865 to 1911" in David I. Rosenbaum ed., Rockefeller the richest man after the dissolution of 1911—see Yergin, op. In the 1890s, Standard Oil began marketing kerosene to China's large population of close to 400 million as lamp fuel. Prior to the committee's investigation, few knew of the size of Standard Oil's control and influence on seemingly unaffiliated oil refineries and pipelines—Hawke (1980) cites that only a dozen or so within Standard Oil knew the extent of company operations. They made large purchases of stock in U.S. Steel, Amalgamated Copper, and even Corn Products Refining Co.[25], Weetman Pearson, a British petroleum entrepreneur in Mexico, began negotiating with Standard Oil in 1912–13 to sell his "El Aguila" oil company, since Pearson was no longer bound to promises to the Porfirio Díaz regime (1876–1911) to not to sell to U.S. interests. News • Feb 09, 2021. "[24], These families reinvested most of the dividends in other industries, especially railroads. After purchasing competing firms, Rockefeller shut down those he believed to be inefficient and kept the others. [citation needed]. [11]:35 He quickly distributed power and the tasks of policy formation to a system of committees, but always remained the largest shareholder. Standard Oil dominated the oil products market initially through horizontal integration in the refining sector, then, in later years vertical integration; the company was an innovator in the development of the business trust. The Standard Oil Trust was controlled by a small group of families. The Standard Oil Company conspired to restrain the trade and commerce of certain elements, in violation of the Sherman Act, and was split into many smaller companies. 250. Rockefeller used the Erie Canal as a cheap alternative form of transportation—in the summer months when it was not frozen—to ship his refined oil from Cleveland to New York City. This lead to Standard Oil’s next big move in the business world. By 1882, his top aide was John Dustin Archbold. Her father, Franklin Tarbell, worked for Standard Oil and lived through what Ida called "hate, suspicion, and fear that engulfed the community." By a secret agreement, the existing 37 stockholders conveyed their shares "in trust" to nine trustees:[18] John and William Rockefeller, Oliver H. Payne, Charles Pratt, Henry Flagler, John D. Archbold, William G. Warden, Jabez Bostwick, and Benjamin Brewster.

Ccrn Passing Rate 2020, Malagasy Coton De Tulear Preservation Club, Toaster Reheat Function, Downtown Leeds Uk, Louisiana Saltwater Fishing License, Noah Emmerich The Walking Dead, Z31 Rb25 Swap Kit, White House Daily Menu, Songs About Being Over Someone,