Podcast
History That Doesn't Suck
Ida's serialized work in McClure's magazine, later published as a book, which detailed the practices of Standard Oil, including its monopolistic tendencies and impact on the oil industry.
Suddenly, at the very heyday of this confidence, a big hand reached out from nobody knew where to steal their conquest and throttle their future. The suddenness and the blackness of the assault on the...
— Episode: 113: A Square Deal (pt. 2): Consumer Pro...
Episode: 113: A Square Deal (pt. 2): Consumer Protection–Th...
Ida's serialized work in McClure's magazine, later published as a book, which detailed the practices of Standard Oil, including its monopolistic tendencies and impact on the oil industry.
Suddenly, at the very heyday of this confidence, a big hand reached out from nobody knew where to steal their conquest and throttle their future. The suddenness and the blackness of the assault on their business stirred to the bottom their manhood and their sense of fair play and the whole region arose in a revolt which is scarcely paralleled in the commercial history of the United States.
throughout her series, Tarbell acknowledges Standard Oil's legitimate greatness and recognizes the extraordinary business acumen of John D. Rockefeller,
Where did you get that stuff?' Ida answers, 'Mr. Rogers, you can't for a moment think that I would tell you where I got it. You will recall my efforts to get from you anything more than a general denial that these practices of espionage so long complained of were untrue, could be explained by legitimate competition. You know this bookkeeping record is true.
You are today the most famous woman in America,' and he continues, half-joking, 'People universally speak of you with such irreverence that I'm getting sort of afraid of you.