But again the Standard secured delay—this time by peti tioning that the case be argued before the Supreme Court of the state. They declared that such was the state of public feeling in Clarion County that they could not obtain justice there. They charged the judges with bias and prejudice, declared secret societies were working against them, and called attention to the civil suits which were still hanging fire. Over this petition serious trouble arose in court—there was a wrangle between the judge and the Standard's counsel. The newspapers took it up—the whole state divided itself into camps, and the case was again postponed, this time until the first of the year. Postponement obtained, compromise was again proposed upon the basis of abandonment of all those methods of doing business which the producers claimed in jured them, and as a mark of their sincerity the United Pipe Lines on December 24, 1879, issued an order announcing the abandonment of immediate shipment throughout the region.
A meeting between the legal advisers of the two parties to discuss the proposed terms was arranged for January 7, 188o, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City—the very time to which the trial of the case for conspiracy had been post poned. It was hardly to be expected that when such negoti ations were going on in New York the trial in Clarion County would be pushed very briskly. It was not. There was a hitch again, and for the fourth time proceedings were stayed. The. conferences, however, went on.
These negotiations with the Standard continued for a month, and then, early in February, Mr. Campbell, the presi dent of the Union, called a meeting of the Grand Council for February 19, 188o, in Titusville, Pennsylvania. For several weeks the Oil Regions had known that President Campbell and Roger Sherman, the leading lawyer of the Union, were in conference with the Standard officials. It was rumoured that they were arranging a compromise, and it was suspected that the meeting now called was to consider the terms. Natu rally the proposition to be made was looked for with suspicion and curiosity. The meeting was the largest the Grand Council had held for many months. It was supposed to be secret, like all gatherings of the Union, but before the first session was over, the word spread over the Oil Regions that Mr. Campbell had brought to the meeting contracts with both Mr. Rocke feller and Mr. Scott, and that they were receiving harsh criti cism from the Grand Council. The very meagre accounts which exist of this gathering, historic in oil annals, show that it was one of the most exciting which was ever held in the country, and one can well believe this when one considers the bitter pill the council was asked to swallow that day. Mr. Campbell began the session by reporting that all the suits at which they had been labouring for nearly two years had been withdrawn, and that in return for their withdrawal the Stand ard and the Pennsylvania Railroad officials had signed con tracts to cease certain of the practices of which the producers complained.
The Standard contract, which Mr. Campbell then presented, pledged Mr. Rockefeller, and some sixteen associates, whose names were attached to the document, to the following policy: i. They would hereafter make no opposition to an entire abrogation of the system of rebates, drawbacks and secret rates of freight in the transportation of petroleum on the railroads.
2. They withdrew their opposition to secrecy in rate mak ing—that is, they promised that they would not hereafter receive any rebate or drawback that the railroad company was not at liberty to make known and to give to other shippers of petroleum.
'3. They abandoned entirely the policy which they had been pursuing in the management of the United Pipe Lines—that is, they promised that there should be no discrimination what ever hereafter between their patrons ; that the rates should be reasonable and not advanced except on thirty days' notice; that they would make no difference between the price of crude in different districts excepting such as might be properly based upon the difference in the quality of the oil ; that they would receive, transport, store and deliver all oil tendered to them, up to a production of 65,000 barrels a day. And if the produc tion should exceed that amount they agreed that they would not purchase any so-called "immediate shipment" oil at a discount on the price of certificate oil.
4. They promised hereafter that when certificates had been given for oil taken into the custody of the pipe-lines, the transfer of these certificates should be considered as a delivery of the oil, and the tankage of the seller would be treated as free.* Mr. Rockefeller also agreed in making this contract to pay the Producers' Union $4o,000 to cover the expense of their litigation. In return for this money and for the abandonment of secret rebates and of the pipe-line policy to which he had held so strenuously, what was he to receive? He was not to be tried for conspiracy. And that day, after the contract had been presented to the Grand Council, Mr. Campbell sent the following telegram : " TITusvILLE, February 19, 1880.
" To HIS EXCELLENCY HENRY M. HOYT, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Sir—As prosecutor in the case of the Commonwealth vs. J. D. Rockefeller, Number 25, April Sessions of Clarion County, I consent to the withdrawal of the requisition asked of you for extradition of J. D. Rockefeller et al., the same having been in your hands undecided since July last and a nolle prosequl having been entered by leave of Court of Clarion County in the case, and I will request William L. Hindman, the prosecuting attorney, to forward a formal withdrawal.
Your obedient servant,