Teddy Roosevelt the Trustbuster - Big Oil - Extra History - #1

titusville pennsylvania 1872 down with the conspirators reads one banner no compromise says another the protesters small independent oil refiners march toward the railroad junction led by local oil man franklin tarbell they swarm over the railyard flipping rail cars spilling their cargo of oil barrels and smashing open any marked with the standard oil logo news has leaked that john d rockefeller's rising giant the standard oil company has brokered a secret deal with the railroads the rail barons will double their transportation rates on all oil producers but give standard a rebate driving small independent producers out of business so rockefeller can buy them out but despite the pennsylvania legislature dissolving this backroom deal things are already in motion through strong-arm tactics and rootless expansion standard will soon control the u.s oil market making rockefeller the richest person on earth franklin tarbell cannot stop rockefeller no man can because it will be franklin's 14 year old daughter ida who will break standard oil [Music] thanks so much to curiositystream for helping to keep this history flowing to get a discounted deal with nebula included check out the link in the description below by the turn of the 20th century a few massive corporations often called the trusts due to the corporate structure they were organized under dominated american life from railroads to meat to steel and oil trusts strangled competition and wielded more political power than many senators and governors but in 1901 the trusts would find a new opponent a president unexpectedly thrust into the role theodore roosevelt who would usher in the era of trust busting yet the story of trust busting doesn't begin with him because while roosevelt disliked the monopolies to take on such powerful business interests he would need massive public support for action public support that would not come from washington but from a magazine office the offices of mcclure's magazine new york city 1901 in the 31 years after her father fought standard in titusville ida tarbell has come a long way she's now 44 years old and an editor at the prestigious magazine mcclours one of the few american women with a science degree she became a specialist in writing about technical topics like public works and the military as well as blockbuster serialized biographies of napoleon and abraham lincoln but as tarbell and her research assistants shuffle through contracts corporate documents legislative transcripts and interviews it's quickly becoming clear that this next story will be her biggest yet a history of the standard oil company its rise and its misdeeds a series so dangerous that tarbell's father warns her not to do it in fact the magazine's funding has already been threatened by a rockefeller-owned bank but tarbell practices a new kind of journalism one that relies on public documents legislative and court transcripts and verifiable facts in addition to interviews it's so new that the discipline doesn't even have a name yet though today we call it investigative journalism now the magazine decided to look at standard because unlike the rest of the trusts it had a single owner and will be an easier story to tell the history of standard will provide a window into how these companies control american commerce and tarbell's first task is looking at the earliest days of standard oil and its founder john d rockefeller born in upstate new york in 1839 rockefeller grew up in financial insecurity his father doc rockefeller was a con artist who masqueraded as a doctor selling fake cures on the road so during his absence john was forced to step up raising turkeys to help the family his mother a devout baptist taught him the principles of hard work thrift and charitable giving while his father by contrast taught his children by swindling them as a way to keep them sharp in fact once doc rockefeller held out his arms urging young jon to jump from a high chair into his grasp then when jon took the leap doc just let him fall never trust anyone completely he told his son even me doc ditched the family when rockefeller was 16 disappearing from public record young john became a bookkeeper to support the family and then by age 20 had gone into business for himself branching into refining oil with several partners but by 1870 he'd pushed said partners out and took control of what was now dubbed standard oil america ran on oil specifically kerosene which lit homes in a way that was cleaner and more efficient than whale oil and that was exactly how rockefeller liked things clean and efficient and as tarbell researches his methods she finds herself impressed indeed even admiring rockefeller he was a major innovator because at the time when refining petroleum often only about 60 percent became usable as kerosene while much of the rest were flammable byproducts that they dumped into rivers and lakes making them occasionally catch on fire but rockefeller turned many of these by-products into lubricants chewing gum paint and even figured out that one of the biggest waste products gasoline could fuel his factory machinery and while tarbell applauded these innovations her admiration didn't extend to rockefeller's business practices he expanded aggressively buying out his competitors and if they didn't take his offer he'd undercut their prices and dive rivals into unprofitability before purchasing the ruined corporations and this was a thing he didn't just do to rivals but also friends who'd helped him get started in business he also began to expand vertically buying barrel makers oil producers distributors lumber companies and chemical manufacturers so he could control every part of the supply and distribution chain and eventually he would invest in pipelines so standard could stop paying railroads and move its product more efficiently rockefeller also had let's say a strange feeling about capitalism and money he looked on his mission to expand standard as almost a divine calling in his mind he was making the oil market more efficient and costs lower he treated employees well and rewarded those who took his buyouts but if they resisted he bankrupted them without mercy often via secret deals it was god's will he believed for the strong and well-run to conquer the weak and inefficient in 1872 standard bought 22 of its 26 rival oil producers in ohio within three months an event remembered as the cleveland massacre and it was only the start for within a decade standard would control 90 percent of the u.s oil market and about 85 percent of the global market as she begins to write tarbell reflects that she does not begrudge rockefeller success or even standards growth it's the tactics she considers unfair standard offering products at such a discount that competition was forced to sell and become part of it the backroom deals bribery of public officials tactics like the south improvement company the entity formed in order to facilitate the secret deal between standard and the railroad companies that put her father out of business she finds a book about pennsylvania's investigation of the deal in the new york public library the only remaining copy after standard destroyed the rest she gathers details from legislative minutes and lawsuits turning rumor into fact forming a picture of the southern improvement scheme and uncovering evidence that even after the deal fell apart standard continued to collude with the railroads to get anti-competitive rebates on shipping its products but she finds more than that crossing the country she talks to grocers driven out of business by standard standard employees would come threaten them saying that if the grocers refused to switch to standard products the company would open a rival store and they would follow through offering such discounted goods that no grocer could survive she also charted house standards reorganization as a trust in 1885 actually circumvented anti-trust laws many states forbid a single company working across state lines so standard formed a trust company in new york that gave orders to smaller state-based companies with names like standard of ohio in truth rockefeller controlled them all but tarbell had an odd ally in understanding standard henry rogers the trust's vice president believing the articles will be complementary he granted her access answering every charge she made helping her understand standards perspective however when the article is published he would not like what she had to say because she'd learned far more than rogers knew and she learned it from an unusual source 1904 new york city tarbell can see the man is nervous he wants to leave he stammers out a story about a kid he teaches in sunday school an office boy at standard headquarters the one who burns documents except when the boy saw his teacher's name on some of the papers rather than putting them in the furnace he brought them to him instead the man you see is also a small time oil refiner tarbell opens the man's briefcase and sees a stack of paper price lists train tables distribution routes all with dates and amounts but none of these are for standards products they're for standards competitors and this information is all standard needs to undercut its rivals flood markets and manipulate oil prices to stay on top it's hard evidence of something that tarbell has suspected for years standard bribes railroad agents to provide data on its competitor shipments rockefeller isn't pretty naturally good at reading the market he's just running a nationwide espionage network and it's this revelation that will win her the support and attention of a new fan president theodore roosevelt but stop the presses because we've gotten exclusive due to support from our friends at nebula we were able to create a bonus episode of extra history over on their platform specifically about the ever controversial cat lover tipu sultan now we're not kidding around when we say we've wanted to do this episode for a while now but since this famous ruler of mysore is considered either a magnanimous ruler or a brutal tyrant we were a little concerned with what the youtube algorithm would do if it ever got its pause on this one cat puns for days why nebula well they're a streaming service by creators for creators featuring original content from some of our favorite educational entertainers on the internet such as lindsay ellis lessons from the screenplay tier zoo and legal eagle plus now you can see extra credits extra history and extra mythology all over on nebula without ads like the one you're watching now and for a bonus extra how about a two-for-one deal if you sign up for nebula using our link in the description not only will you be helping to support our channel thank you for that by the way but you'll also get access to curiosity stream you know the online learning platform where you can watch thousands of amazing documentaries and award-winning original series you'll get both of these amazing resources for only 14.97 for an entire year which at 26 off the regular price is let me just check my math here carry the four oh yeah here it is a pretty dang sweet deal so whether you want to learn about world war ii code breakers on curiosity stream which i've been loving by the way see thousands of venezuelans making a living playing runescape in digital gold miners on nebula or just want to hear our take on tipu this deals the best way to scratch that edutainment itch this show wouldn't be possible without legendary patrons like ahmed ziad turk alicia bramble casey muscha dominic valenciana gunner clovis kyle murgatroyd and o'reel's one [Music] you

Channel: Extra History

Views: 994,380

Keywords: extra history, extra credits, theodore roosevelt, home learning, extra credits history, history lesson, teddy roosevelt, rob rath, high school history, american history, oil industry, trustbusting, animated, learn history, world history, us history, history channel, Teddy the Trustbuster part 1, history explained, documentry, explained, literary analysis, animated history, history lectures, history documentary, educational videos, us president, history, big oil, america

Id: reWe7POryt0

Length: 11min 46sec (706 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021