he railroads had paid the Standard in rebates no less
than $10,000,000. And the very payment of these enormous rebates
enabled the Standard to decrease the price of oil to the producer and to
increase it to the consumer.

It is claimed by the defenders of the Standard monopoly that under the
trust the price of petroleum has been constantly decreased to the
consumer. That the price of kerosene is lower now than it was fifteen
years ago is undoubtedly true, but the reductions were brought about not
by the trust, but in spite of the trust. The price now maintained is an
unnatural one. The Standard Oil Company never lowered the price of its
oil except when compelled to do so by competition. The largely increased
output of crude oil, the improved methods of refining, the greatly
lowered cost of transportation would have lowered the price of coal oil
without the philanthropy of the Standard Oil Company. Iron, steel,
calico, woolen goods and a thousand other commodities have within almost
the same period suffered much larger reductions than coal oil. But even
if the Standard monopoly had voluntarily lowered the price of its
products, the American people could never approve of its methods. They
can never be made to believe that the end sanctifies the means,
especially when those means are railroad favors, secret combinations,
bribery, intimidation and lawless arrogance.

Many other interesting cases might be given. The Southern Pacific
Railway Company, for instance, owns nearly all of the railways of
California, and enjoys at the present time almost a complete monopoly of
the transportation business of that State and much more of the Pacific
Coast. Perhaps no set of managers would be more considerate of the
people's rights in the absence of legal restraint than those in charge
of this company, yet there is not a business man on the Pacific Coast
who comes in contact with this company who does not realize and feel
the power of its iron hand, unless it be those who for various reasons
are recipients of its special favors. It has become notorious that the
legislature, Board of Railroad Commissioners and some of the judges of
the courts of that State are as servile to the demands of this railway
company as are its own employes.

The railway company is a closely organized body of shrewd, active men,
while those who furnish business for it are not organized, and they will
never be able to properly protect their own interests until