The History of the Standard Oil Company

The inspiration behind The History of Standard Oil Company was largely fueled by Ida Tarbell's childhood experiences. Her father, Franklin Tarbell, worked for Standard Oil and lived through what Ida called "hate, suspicion, and fear that engulfed the community." As a direct witness to the schemes and horizontal integration of John D. Rockefeller and his associates, Tarbell began building the foundations of The History of the Standard Oil Company early with growing senses of interest and discontent.[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. After this initial success, her shift turned to John D. Rockefeller. She began by interviewing Henry H. Rogers, one of her father's fellow independents who became one of Rockefeller's colleagues, as well as others close to the inner workings of Standard Oil, that included one of the founders Frank Barstow as well. Eventually, Tarbell uncovered a crucial piece of evidence proving that Standard Oil was rigging railroad prices and preying on its competition.[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.[2][3] Journalists, politicians, and citizens alike celebrated the accomplishments of Tarbell - a woman "outside" the inner workings of business and without significant money or influence. These reactions are immortalized in political cartoons utilizing imagery of Rockefeller's hidden agendas being demolished by investigative journalism and muckraking.[4]

Several journal and newspaper reviewers addressed The History of Standard Oil Company by praising its calmness in the face of hatred, focus on facts, and genuine exposure of the effects that greed can have on businessmen seeking success. A 1904 editorial review from The New York Times relayed the highlights of the volumes to the public, noting the diplomatic tendencies of Tarbell within her work - still widely respectful of the achievements of John D. Rockefeller but critical of Standard Oil's business strategies that were unfair and of questionable legality.[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. So careful is she in her facts, so sane in her judgements, that she seems to have reached the high-water mark of industrial history." [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. As such, The History of Standard Oil Company harbors great significance as a standard-bearer of modern investigative journalism.[3]

In 1999 a jury under the aegis of the New York University's journalism department selected The History of the Standard Oil Company as the fifth best work of journalism in the United States in the 20th Century.[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".[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.[...] 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?"[9]

• Complete text at the Internet Archive
• American Experience | The Rockefellers | Special Features | A Journalistic Masterpiece