“We cherish the memory of our dear associates who wrought gloriously in their time of service and have passed on with unclouded records. We who remain are to carry on … with … an increasing de sire to be of the greatest service to man kind.” Thus, in Cleveland last week, spoke John D. Rockefeller to industrialists celebrating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Standard Oil. It was not Mr. Rockefeller in person. He was hiding his 90-year-old body away from the winter at Ormond Beach, Fla. To Cleveland he had sent his likeness in a talking cinema, the first he ever made.
Early Standard Oil. Everyone of Mr. Rockefeller’s “dear associates” is dead. The beginnings of Standard Oil were in 1862 when Mr. Rockefeller and Maurice B. Clark, Cleveland commission merchants, opened a refinery as a sideline. With them was Samuel Andrews, the technical member of the combination and, later, William Rockefeller, John’s younger brother. In 1865 Mr. Rockefeller bought out Mr. Clark (for $72,500). Needing capital for expansion, Mr. Rockefeller went to Henry Morrison Flagler, who, from supplying grain to a distillery owned by Stephen V. Harkness, had married a Harkness niece and thus become associated with Cleveland’s then richest man. Through Mr. Flagler was arranged a Rockefeller-Harkness meeting, from which Rockefeller & Andrews became Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, the Flagler partnership representing Harkness capital. On Jan. 10, 1870 was organized the original Standard Oil Company (it was Standard Oil of Ohio then) with John D. Rockefeller, William Rockefeller, and Andrews, Flagler and Harkness as incorporators. These were the “dear associates” of whom Mr. Rockefeller’s mirage spoke last week.
Later Standard Oil. Familiar is Standard’s subsequent history, familiar also the many scandals and probes of its business methods. On May 15, 1911 the U. S. Supreme Court declared that Standard Oil Co. (controlling about 85% of the oil industry) had conspired against the public good and that ”for the safety of the Republic we now decree that this dangerous conspiracy must be ended by November 15.” In July the monopoly was split into 34 separate companies (splinters, Wall Street called them) and the great oil monopoly officially ceased to exist. But the largest Standard splinters remain the largest of U. S. oil companies; the Standard group still controls roughly 50% of the industry. Among the major companies once constituent portions of the oil monopoly, now separate but still prosperous, are:
Anglo-American Oil, once a marketing unit of Standard, now passing back to Standard of New Jersey by a proposed merger with its subsidiary, Standard Oil Exporting Corp. Anglo-American is the largest distributor in England.
Standard of California, biggest producer of crude oil in the U. S., third largest refiner in the world. Most important recent developments have been the Kettleman Fields discovery in 1928 and the purchase of Pacific Public Service to dispose of natural gas (TIME, Oct. 14).
Standard of Indiana, largest refiner in the world, arena of the famed Rockefeller-Stewart quarrel (TIME, Jan. 28).’
Standard of Kansas, manufacturer of petroleum byproducts.
Standard of Nebraska, distributing.
Standard of New Jersey, a holding company with many interests. Half-owner with General Motors of Ethyl Gasoline. Controller of the new Standard I. G. Co., handling German dye trust hydrogenation (gasoline from coal) patents outside of Germany. Focal point of Rockefeller support during the market break. Standard Oil of N. Y. (“Socony”), production, refining and marketing. Controls Magnolia Petroleum in Mid-continent and Southwest and General Petroleum in California. Large exporter, especially to Far East and Levant. Battle with Royal Dutch-Shell now shifted from India to Atlantic seaboard.
Standard Oil of Ohio, refining and distributing.
Vacuum Oil, large foreign business, contracts with Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Expected merger with Standard of New York supposedly held up by federal objections.
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