Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/145

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY AND POLITICS

OIL MEN CHARGE STANDARD WITH INTRENCHING ITSELF IN STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS—ELECTION OF PAYNE TO SENATE IN OHIO IN 1884 CLAIMED TO ESTABLISH CHARGE OF BRIBERY—FULL INVESTIGATION OF PAYNE'S ELECTION DENIED BY UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS—PAYNE HIMSELF DOES NOT DEMAND INVESTIGATION—POPULAR FEELING AGAINST STANDARD IS AGGRAVATED—THE BILLINGSLEY BILL IN THE PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE—A FORCE BILL DIRECTED AGAINST THE STANDARD—OIL MEN FIGHT HARD FOR IT—THE BILL IS DEFEATED—STANDARD CHARGED WITH USING MONEY AGAINST IT—A GROWING DEMAND FOR FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE STANDARD A RESULT OF THESE SPECIFIC CASES.

 

THE cases described in the last two chapters naturally aroused intense interest in the Oil Regions. The two in Ohio demonstrated afresh the chief grievances which the oil men had against the Standard Oil Company since 1872—that they were securing rebates on their own shipments and drawbacks on those of their competitors. The Buffalo case demonstrated that when their ordinary advantages failed to get a rival out of the way they winked at methods which a jury called criminal. It was fresh proof of what the oil men had always claimed, that the Standard Oil Company was a conspiracy! At the same time that these cases were arousing their indignation anew there occurred in Ohio an affair which gave them new evidence of their old charge that the Standard was steadily intrenching itself

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