The History of the Standard Oil CompanyTarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
History
The History of the Standard Oil Company
Tarbell, Ida M. (Ida Minerva)
Petroleum industry and trade -- United States -- History; Standard Oil Company -- History
that the Standard Oil Company would not interfere with that branch
of the trade. He promised, with tears in his eyes, that he would
stand by me in this transaction, and that I should not be wronged;
and he told me that, in case the sale was made, I might retain
whatever amount of the stock of the B—— Oil Company I desired, his
object appearing to be only to get the controlling stock of the
company. He said that while the negotiations were pending he would
come and see me, and I thought that his feelings were such on the
subject that I could trust him and that he would deal honourably by
me.
“Seeing that I was compelled to sell out, I wanted the Standard Oil
Company to make me a proposition, and endeavoured to get them to do
so, but they would not make a proposition. I then made a proposition
that the whole stock of the B—— Oil Company with accrued dividends
should be sold to said Standard Oil Company for $200,000, which was,
in fact, much below what the stock ought to have been sold for; but
they ridiculed the amount, and at last offered me only $79,000, not
including accounts, and required that each stockholder in the B——
Oil Company should enter into a bond that within the period of ten
years he or she would not directly or indirectly engage in or in any
way be concerned in the refining, manufacturing, producing, piping,
or dealing in petroleum or in any of its products within the county
of Cuyahoga and state of Ohio, nor at any other place whatever.
“Seeing that the property had to go, I asked that I might, according
to the understanding with the president of the company, retain
$15,000 of my stock, but the reply to this request was; ‘No
outsiders can have any interest in this concern; the Standard Oil
Company has “dallied” as long as it will over this matter; it must
be settled up to-day or go,’ and they insisted upon my signing the
bond above referred to.
“The promises made by Mr. Rockefeller, president of the Standard Oil
Company, were none of them fulfilled; he neither allowed me to
retain any portion of my stock, nor did he in any way assist me in
my negotiations for the sale of my stock; but, on the contrary, was
largely instrumental in my being obliged to sell the property much
below its true value, and requiring me to enter into the oppressive
bond above referred to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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