ricks, in dingy shanties, by rusty, deserted oil stills, men have always talked of the iniquity of the railroad rebate, the injustice of restraint of trade, the dangers of monopoly, the right to do an independent business; have always rehearsed with tiresome persistency the evidence by which it has been proved that the Standard Oil Company is a revival of the South Improvement Company. It has all seemed futile enough with the public listening in wonder and awe to the splendid rehearsal of figures, and the unctuous logic of the Mother of Trusts, and yet one can never tell. It was the squawking of geese that saved the Capitol.
Certain it is that many and great as are his business qualities, John D. Rockefeller has never been allowed to enjoy the fruits of his victory in that atmosphere of leisure and adulation which the victor naturally craves. Certain it is that the incessant agitation of men with a "private grievance" has ruined some of his fairest schemes, has hauled him again and again before investigating committees, and has contributed greatly to securing a federal law authorising so fundamental and obvious a right as equal rates on common carriers. Certain it is that the incessant efforts of those who believed they had a right to do an independent business have resulted in the most important advances made in the oil business since the beginning of Mr. Rockefeller's combination, namely, the seaboard pipe-line, for transporting crude oil, due to the Tidewater Pipe Line, and later the use of the seaboard pipe-line for transporting refined oil, due to the United States Pipe Line. Certain it is, too, that all of competition which we have, with its consequent lowering of prices, is due to independent efforts.
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