showed, had a substantial basis; the Pennsylvania yield began to
fail in the eighties and nineties, until now it is an
inconsiderable element in this gigantic industry. Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, California, and other states
in turn became the scene of the same exciting and adventurous
events that had followed the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania.
The Standard promptly extended its pipe lines into these new
areas, but other great companies also took part in the
development. These companies, such as the Gulf Refining Company
and the Texas Refining Company, have their gathering pipe lines,
their great trunk lines, their marketing stations, and their
export trade, like the Standard; the Pure Oil Company has its
tank cars, its tank ships, and its barges on the great rivers of
Europe. The ending of the rebate system has stimulated the growth
of independents, and the production of crude oil and the market
demand in a thousand directions has increased the business to an
extent which is now far beyond the ability of any one corporation
to monopolize. The Standard interests refine perhaps something
more than fifty per cent of the crude oil produced in this
country. But in recent years, Standard Oil has meant more than a
corporation dealing in this natural product. It has become the
synonym of a vast financial power reaching in all directions. The
enormous profits made by the Rockefeller group have found
investments in other fields. The Rockefellers became the owners
of the great Mesaba iron ore range in Minnesota and of the
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the chief competitor of United
States Steel. It is the largest factor in several of the greatest
American banks. Above all, it is the single largest railroad
power in America today.