Standard And Oil Argumentative Essay

During the Gilded Age, the United States saw an increase in the power of big businesses, many of which monopolized their industries. This time period, although it appeared successful from the outside, was filled with governmental corruption. Manipulated by the robber barons of the Gilded Age, the United States government fell victim to their control. Contrary to this downfall, the nation celebrated much success in the numerous life-changing inventions attributed to this era. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, among others, there also came a major increase in the demand for oil. Entering the flourishing oil business in 1870, John D. Rockefeller created the Standard Oil Company, which later dominated the entire oil industry. Although he had years filled with success in the business, Rockefeller faced a disastrous court case that dissolved his company and years of his hard work. Despite this catastrophic event, Rockefeller found other ways to contribute his knowledge and hard-work by making innumerable philanthropic donations. After many years and countless efforts, John D. Rockefeller had one of the most outstanding and positive influences on the United States through his work in the oil industry and his philanthropic actions.

While Standard Oil did come to basically control the price of oil in the United States, it never engaged in 'predatory', or deep and unnecessary price cutting to push out it's competitors. John McGee states this about how Standard Oil accomplished this by other means: “It is correct that Standard discriminated in price, but it did so to maximize profits given the elasticities of demand of markets in which it sold. It did not use price discrimination to change those elasticities. Anyone who has relied upon price discrimination to explain Standard's dominance would do well to start looking for something else. The place to start is merger” (McGee 168). Carnegie on the other hand preferred to buy out all competitors that were in the same area of production as he was, and consolidate. Through consolidating most steel mills in the Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania area, he was able to control that particular step of the production process in the steel business, therefore maximizing his profits like Rockefeller, but in a different way. Carnegie preferred stable prices and stable business, and Harold Hotelling manages to place Carnegie's view on why he consolidated his mills as such: “This is the fact that of all the purchasers of a commodity, some buy from one seller, some from another, in spite of moderate differences of price. If the purveyor of an

As shown in Document A, reformers sought to break up large companies that controlled their area of competition, such as the Standard Oil monopoly on oil fields. However, the way at which they were picked was to organize them into good or bad trusts. The way this was done was at the control of the government, thus creating no set standards as to what company trusts to break up to create competition and which ones to keep. Despite the indecision, this was somewhat successful. As the Clayton Antitrust Act states (Document E), “... it shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, either directly or indirectly to discriminate in price between different purchasers of commodities which commodities are sold for use, consumption, or resale in the United States…”, meaning that women, and other minorities could buy the same items for the same price of others at any store in

Rockefeller was obsessed with controlling the oil market and used many of undesirable tactics to flush his competitors out of the market. Rockefeller was also a master of the rebate game. He was one of the most dominant controllers of the railroads. He was so good at the rebate that at some times he skillfully commanded the railroad to pay rebates to his standard oil company on the traffic of other competitors. He was able to do this because his oil traffic was so high that he could make or break a section of a railroad a railroad company by simply not running his oil on their lines. Another one of Rockefellers earlier mentioned but not explained tactics was his horizontally integrated monopoly. Rockefeller used this horizontal monopoly to set prices and force his competitors to merge with him. (All with Doc. J) Document J shows that Rockefeller had his tentacles, or his influence and power around every piece of the oil industry. That, also, includes the politicians and their support.

and the wealth it brought, when any other competitor tried even to step foot into the oiling industry, Rockefeller dropped his prices until the rookie industry was forced out. After he ! regained monopoly, he then jacked up the prices. Sure, the people were

The government also enacted the Hepburn Act, which made shipping internationally difficult on the railroad. Despite the fact that government grants led to incompetent railroads, the Interstate Commerce Commission and Hepburn Act were put into place, which made it so Hill “could not offer rate discounts on exports traveling on the Great Northern en route to the Orient” which was helping improve the economy with increased trade. Hill and other market entrepreneurs were not corrupt or unfair when choosing to not have subsides, but rather the political entrepreneurs were corrupt and insolvent. Also, Folsom argues that John D. Rockefeller was negatively impacted by government intervention. The Sherman Act was intended “to prevent monopolies and those companies ‘in restraint of trade’. Yet Standard Oil had no monopoly and certainly was not restraining trade” . Rockefeller’s goal was not to create a monopoly but in order to keep his business succeeding he needed directors in each state. By enacting the Sherman Act, Rockefeller’s company struggled, due to competition rising. These laws essentially stopped the growth of successful businesses, such as Hill and Rockefeller, who became so successful due to no government intervention.

Standard Oil was the United States’ first monopoly, and it was a rollercoaster of a ride for the company. Standard Oil started from the ground up and grew into a massive enterprise, that would eventually make John D. Rockefeller the richest man in the world. This would come at a price, the demise of Standard Oil, but multiple companies are born out of the demise of Standard Oil that become some of the largest oil companies today. Standard Oil even caused the United States of America to create a federal act to try and control monopolies from eliminating competition in unethical ways, and from becoming so powerful that they can control not just their markets, but other markets too, and from having the ability to change the price on consumers

In Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1911) Standard oil and 37 other corporations were alleged to have engaged in conspiring to restrain the trade in petroleum and monopolize the petroleum industry. The Supreme Court ruled that combining the defendants oil companies’ stock to be a restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolize the oil industry and maintain dominance and therefore a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

John D. Rockefeller also started at humble beginnings. By taking risks and investing he found himself engulfed in the rapidly expanding oil industry. Not yet in the business directly he started his own company, The Standard Oil Company of Cleveland. Rockefeller's stake in the oil industry increased as the industry itself expanded caused by the rapidly spreading use of kerosene. The Standard Oil eventually, in a few years, purchased and controlled almost all the refining firms in Cleveland, plus two refineries

The Standard Oil Trust of Ohio was and American oil producing, refining, and transporting company. It was founded in 1863 by John D. Rockefeller and lasted until 1911. During 1868, Rockefeller expanded the oil company to become the largest oil refining company in the world. In 1870, the company was renamed Standard Oil Company. After it was renamed, Rockefeller purchased most of the oil companies that were currently in business to make one large company.

Miguel Martinez 2/4/16 SBU 200 1. Standard Oil changed society by building an overwhelming market. This company led into drilling, pipelines, storage tanks, transportation and marketing. Standard Oil Company was huge and also strong. Standard Oil also impacted society by making huge generous donations to colleges.

In the article, On the Limitation of the Term ‘Petroleum Products’ in the Determination of the Oil Pollution of Bottom Sediments (2017), Z.A Temerdashev (also this article’s corresponding author), L.F. Pavlenko, I.G. Korpakova, and G.V. Skrypnik et al. investigate the overuse of the term ‘petroleum products’ upon measuring levels of exposure to toxins, carcinogens, and mutagens in bottom sediments of the Sea of Azov & the Black Sea, as well as identify a more effective way of studying this concept. Through the process of bioaccumulation, toxic bottom sediments disrupt the food chain of organisms living the the ocean. Although scientists, along with much of the world’s environmentalists, have already gained knowledge of the potential risks

As it turns out there was in fact big oil in these decisions. The trolley case of California is a classic example. Until the thirties an efficient electric trolley line was in place in many of the major cities in the U.S. the most famous case of this is the Los Angeles lines that were the largest in the country. “all this went out the window starting in 1939, when GM got together with Standard Oil of California (now Chevron), Firestone, and other auto-related firms to set up a holding company that bought up trolley lines, dismantled them, and replaced them with buses” (Straight Dope). Chevron did in fact have a large hand in this. Eliminating these trolleys created a fossil fuel dependent system of busses and increased demand for oil driven autos. This was not the only case however, “1974 one Bradford Snell, a staff attorney for the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee, advanced the startling proposition that GM had sabotaged energy-efficient electric transit systems in 45 cities around the country” (ibid). They were actually found guilty of conspiracy “Government attorney Bradford Snell has written that in 1949 GM and its partners in NCL were convicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago of criminal conspiracy in this matter and fined $5,000 each for anti-trust violations (contracts in restraint of trade, i.e. forcing subsidiaries to buy products from their owners: GM buses, Firestone tires, Standard and Phillips

To make a good article, you are supposed to have a good claim, evidence, and reasoning. You have to make a stronger article that is better than all the others. Out of these two articles, The Benefits of Shale Gas” and “Stop the Fracking!”, “Stop the Fracking” presents the stronger argument because of their evidence, claim, and reasoning.

Being raised around a diesel truck has opened my eyes up to the many different concerns and thoughts about diesel vehicles. In the 1890’s the first diesel engine was built by a guy named Rudolf Diesel, ever since then the diesel engine has evolved tremendously. Many people will argue that diesel fuel is the worst fuel on the market for several reasons. A few of the reasons that people will claim that diesel fuel is the worst fuel is because it is too expensive and it's harder for people to afford, that the fuel isn’t efficient enough, also people claim that diesel fuel is worse for the environment than any other type of fuel. Little do the people that make those claims know that diesel fuel is improving and becoming a better product.