powerful financial power of the time, they were frequently
fighting in the dark, never knowing where to deliver their blows.

This same characteristic was manifested in the form of corporate
existence which the Standard adopted. The first great "trust" was
a trust not only in name but in fact. The Standard introduced not
only a new economic development into our national organization;
it introduced a new word into our language and an issue into
American politics that provided sustenance for the presidential
campaigns of twenty-five years. From the beginning the Standard
Oil had always been a close corporation. Originally it had had
only ten stockholders, and this number had gradually grown until,
in 1881, there were forty-one. These men had adopted a new and
secretive method of combining their increasing possessions into a
single ownership. In 1873 the Standard Company had increased its
capital stock (originally $1,000,000) to $3,500,000, the new
certificates being exchanged for interests in the great New York
and Philadelphia refineries The Standard Oil Company of Ohio
never had a larger capital stock than that. As additional
properties were acquired, the interests were placed in the hands
of trustees, who held them for the joint benefit of the
stockholders in the original company. In 1882 this idea was
carried further, for then the Standard Oil Trust was organized.
The fact that the properties lay in so many different States,
many of which had laws intended to curb corporations, was
evidently what led to this form of consolidation. A trust was
formed, consisting of nine trustees, who held, for the benefit of
the Standard Oil stockholders, all the stock in the Standard and
in the subsidiary companies. Instead of certificates of stock the
trustees issued certificates of trust amounting to $70,000,000.