In 1879 the owners of the Vacuum Oil Works, of Rochester, N.Y., Messrs. H. B. and C. M. Everest, father and son, made over a three fourths interest in their concern, which manu factured a patent lubricating oil, to the Standard Oil Company, the Everests remaining managers on a salary, and also being co-directors along with Messrs. H. H. Rogers, J. D. Archbold, and Ambrose McGregor, of the Standard Oil Trust, of which the Vacuum Oil Company was now run as a subsidiary. The following year three of the employees, Wilson, Matthews, and Miller, having got some money together, thought that they would like to start refining on their own account, and did so, setting up the Buffalo Lubricating Oil Company in the town of Buffalo. C. M. Everest warned them he would do all in his power to injure their concern. He tried especially, by an offer of $20,000, to get Miller, who was the most practical refiner of the three, to break his contract with his two new partners, and on June 7, 1881, H. B. Everest took Miller to the office of his lawyer, Mr. Geo. Truesdale, in order to come to an arrange ment with him. Mr. Truesdale afterwards testified as follows in regard to this interview (Proceedings in Relation to Trusts, House of Representatives, 1888, Report No. 3,112, p. 864) :— I told him (Miller) that I did not know the exact terms of his contract, but if he had entered into a contract and violated it I presumed there would be a liability for damages as well as a liability for the debts of the Buffalo party. Mr. Miller and Everest both talked on the subject, and Mr. Everest says, " I think there are other ways for Miller to get out of it." I told him I saw no way except either to back out or to sell out ; no other honourable way. Mr. Everest says, substantially, I think, in these words : " Suppose he should arrange the machinery so it would bust up, or smash up, what would the consequences be 2 "—something to that effect. " Well," I says, " in my opinion, if it is negligently, carelessly done, not purposely done, he would be only civilly liable for damages caused by his negligence ; but if it was wilfully done, there would be a further criminal liability for malicious injury to the property of the parties—the company." Mr. Everest said he thought there wouldn't be anything only civil liability, and said that would—he referred to the fact that I had been police justice, had some experience in criminal law—and he said that he would like to have me look up the law carefully on that point, and that they would see me again.
Shortly afterwards Miller blew up a still in the Buffalo works twice over by overheating, but did no further damage beyond spoiling the 175 barrels of oil contained in the still. He ab sconded, was kept in idleness, or semi-idleness, by the Vacuum Company at a salary of $1,500 a year, and the latter company proceeded to harass the Buffalo Lubricating Oil Company out of existence by taking one vexatious action after another against it on the ground of in fringement of patents. These were all decided in favour of the Buffalo Company by the Courts except in one case, for a purely technical in fringement it was condemned to pay 6 cents (3d.) damages. Finally, the Buffalo Company turned on its adversary and took an action against the Vacuum Oil Company directors, H. H. Rogers, J. D. Archbold, A. McGregor, and the two Everests for criminal conspiracy, insti Luting at the same time civil suits for damages. The trial, at which Mr. J. D. Rockefeller and all the forces of the Standard Oil were mustered, aided by the most eminent counsel in the States, came off at Buffalo on May 2, 1886, and Messrs. Rogers, Archbold, and McGregor escaped owing to the judge withdrawing the case from the jury, because, although they were directors of the Vacuum Oil Company, it could not be proved that they had advised Miller to cause an explosion. The two Everests were con
demned. By various means the Standard con trived to stay execution of the sentence until May, 1888, two years later ; the statute provided a penalty of one year's imprisonment or $250 fine, or both. Great efforts were made to obtain a mitigation of the sentence. A petition signed by forty " leading citizens" of Rochester was handed in to the judge, praying him, on account of the " untarnished fidelity and integrity " of the convicted men, to make the penalty as light as the Court was authorised by law to fix. In the result the two Everests were each fined $250 for the criminal offence, and the Vacuum Oil Company settled the civil suits for $85,000 (£17,000). This is the case on which the late Mr. Henry D. Lloyd (whose work, " Wealth against Commonwealth," was the first to expose the Standard's misdeeds), based the caustic com ment : " The Standard Oil Trust is evangelical at one end and explosive at the other." It was remarked in a previous chapter that the unfair advantages conceded to Mr. Rockefeller by the conspiring railroads afford a sufficient answer to the Standard Oil Trust's contention that the secret of its success lies in its superior business ability. But there is no need to deny a high level of business ability to Mr. Rockefeller and his associates. The Standard Oil people have always enjoyed this legitimate advantage of knowing exactly what they intend doing. Granting, however, that the Standard people are the keenest of business men, it is equally certain that they have pushed their keenness to the point where it has become mere unscrupu lous cunning and chicanery. This is conspicu ously shown in the history of the Trust in its character of salesmen.
Every local agent for the sale of Standard oil is required to furnish reports to the statistical department of the Standard Oil Trust at 26, Broadway, New York, of all the transactions entered into by every dealer in his district. His business, in short, is to know everybody else's business and to report it. This is done by filling up printed forms showing in parallel columns against every retailer's name in the district, be he shopkeeper or pedlar, the description and brand of goods he buys and sells, how the goods have been transported, their price, and the name and address of the wholesale dealer who supplied them. The agent is stimulated in every way by reproof and reward to obtain the most intimate and apparently trifling details bearing upon the above points, and, as is well known in the United States, is generally converted by the system into a mere spy, who will not stick at bribery or any other dirty trick so long as he can give his chiefs the desired information. The United States Government agents found that the Standard's " statistical department " was presided over by a man named Christian Dredger—a name which, allied to the occupa tion, certainly reminds one of " the man with the muck-rake." The knowledge that a local grocer or pedlar is buying elsewhere than from the Standard is no sooner received by mail or telegraph at the statistical department than a Standard agent is told off to swoop down upon the " irregular trader," and either by threats of underselling and ruining his business in case he persists to offer the " independent" oil, or by promising him a secret rebate on pub lished prices, secures his submission. If the agent can persuade the retailer to countermand his order from the independent, so much the better.