minds of the people. This
method, they argued, must be outside the laws of the land which they
themselves had made, and they were confronted with the fact that the
possessors of these fabulous fortunes were creating a power not
recognized by their Government and which practically placed the
Government in the hands of the fortune-owners. They realized that in
some way the magic of this fortune-making was connected with, or seemed
to be compounded in, institutions called corporations and trusts, and
that among these the head and centre was a great affair called "Standard
Oil." Wherever this "Standard Oil" was, all knew that strange wonders
were worked. Within the sphere of its influence dirt changed to gold,
liquids to solids, and what was, was not, and what was not, was. Whoever
became a part of this mysterious "Standard Oil," at the same time was
rendered "powerful"; as though touched by a fairy's wand, he changed
from pauper to millionaire. But what was "Standard Oil"? The people knew
that at the beginning it was only an aggregation of men, private
individuals, who had accumulated much money by securing a monopoly of
selling oil, and that these men were "Rockefellers," and that Standard
Oil and "Rockefellers" had been cute and cunning in the conduct of their
oil-selling to a degree greater than had been rival sellers of oil or of
other necessities. And as time wore on much more was heard of the
cleverness of Standard Oil and "Rockefellers," as the victims of the
cuteness and the cunning "hollered" in public places, and the
newspapers and writers of books exclaimed against their practices and
exactions. But many other things were happening simultaneously, and to
the great bulk of the people it was interesting rather than portentous
that there existed in the country a giant oil-thing whose owners were
reputed the richest men in the world.

It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the monster
"Standard Oil" loomed up before the people as the giant of all corporate
things and that its ominous shadow seemed to dwarf all other
institutions, public or private. In multitudinous forms it was before
the people.

In awed whispers men talked of its mysterious doings and canvassed its
extraordinary powers as though "Standard Oil" were a living, breathing
entity rather than a mere business institution created by men and
existing only by virtue of the laws of the land.

About the time that the world had begun