626 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



understood the profit wliicli lay in " higgling." These Ohio re- 

 finers handled an article whereof freight was a large element 

 of price ; so, making " special rates " their opportunity or cover, 

 they gradually succeeded in obtaining enormous rebates from 

 ordinary terms, not only on the oil shipped by them, but on oil 

 shipped by competitors. With this infamous advantage, the 

 growth of their operations and of their power was rapid. Not 

 many years elapsed before they were able to lay a pipeage system 

 for their oil at a cost of thirty million dollars, supplanting the 

 railroad system which had given them their chief impetus. In its 

 struggle to extend and maintain its practical monopoly, the inves- 

 tigations of this " trust " at Albany and Washington disclose how 

 the combats of swamp and jungle may be repeated in counting- 

 house and exchange. Violence and fraiid were employed to 

 further the process of pushing rivals to the wall. Clerks were 

 tempted to betray a competitor's confidence, workmen were bribed 

 to explode his stills. To-day the Standard Oil Trust refines three 

 fourths of the petroleum of the United States ; fortunately, its in- 

 terests chime with those of consumers, who therefore share in the 

 benefits of its high and compact organization. The field of oil 

 production constantly widens, bringing to market an increasing 

 volume of crude oil ; as the " trust " owns nearly all the transport- 

 ing, storage, and manufacturing facilities in the country, it finds it 

 best to make prices so reasonable that its sales may be the largest 

 possible. This " trust " possesses almost every advantage which 

 would inure to a state monopoly, managed by eminent ability at 

 work for individual gain. It enjoys the immense saving which 

 results from organizing the whole Union as a single market, 

 whose wants can be systematically ascertained, and as systemat- 

 ically supplied from the trade-center of each territorial division. 

 It reaps the gain which flows from so adjusting supply to demand 

 that labor can be given uniform or nearly uniform employment, 

 which comes from preserving credit from undue cheapening, and 

 thus minimizing one of the chief perplexities of business — the 

 estimation of risks. By unification of management, any new im- 

 provement in machinery or process is introduced at once into 

 every refinery the trust controls. Mr. Dodd, one of the Standard's 

 solicitors, declares its profits during 1886 to have been thirteen per 

 cent, a much smaller return than that popularly supposed. It is 

 worthy of note that the Standard people are now buying large 

 tracts of oil lands, presumably with intent to control the produc- 

 tion of oil as well as its distribution, refinement, and sale. 



Incited by the success of the Standard, a great many " trusts " 

 have been formed, imitating its methods in endeavoring to control 

 the production of some leading article of trade. None of them, 

 however, exhibit the ability of its management, or the sensitive- 



