6. Ida, Marian, and Sylvia – Kay – Esther
Ida Tarbell
Franklin Tarbell married Esther Ann McCullough on April 17, 1856, in northwestern Pennsylvania. He was a river pilot and she was a teacher who was paid one fourth that of men in the profession. Soon Esther was pregnant with their first child and the couple agreed that moving west would be beneficial to the family. He was to head to Iowa and get settled and then have his wife join him there. With the discovery of oil in Hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania, Franklin decided to go back home and the Iowa plan put on hold. On November 5, 1857, Ida Minerva Tarbell was born to the couple even before her father returned home.
With black gold gushing out of the ground and the river pilot back in Pennsylvania, he saw the need for oil containers and began constructing them. Cash flowed into the area right along with the slimy black stuff and Ida grew up with it, but she wasn’t very happy. The family moved a few times and her new surroundings were restrictive because of the mud and oil storage pits everywhere. At the age of eight, Ida was very young, but was learning about oil and science. She would later write: No industry of man in its early days has ever been more destructive of beauty, order, decency, than the production of petroleum. Tar and oil stained everything. If the well was dry, a rickety derrick, piles of debris, oily holes were left, for nobody ever cleaned up in those days.
Matters improved somewhat when the family moved to nearby Titusville. There they had a large house with fine architecture and it lacked the smell of oil from where they had been. At this age, Ida didn’t care for a conventional life, one characterized by taking care of offspring with ironing, cooking and cleaning. Esther kept up with women’s rights and current events and Ida did the same. The daughter also felt a need to move into a world beyond northwestern Pennsylvania. In the primary school in Titusville, she was lazy and not concerned about schoolwork until a teacher admonished her. This changed her and by the time she left the Drake School, she was at the top of her class. Attending a public high school, she was drawn to chemistry, botany, zoology, philosophy and Charles Darwin. Though a churchgoer, Ida came to see that evolution and religion could exist together. By the time she graduated from high school in June 1875, she accumulated an average of 99. I don’t think either parent said, you could do better.
At the time, few colleges accepted women, but Ida knew that it was necessary for her advancement. Realizing that Franklin couldn’t provide the funds for tuition, Cornell seemed out of reach. She heard about Allegheny College nearby, which began admitting women in 1870. There was still concern about school costs, but her dad soon went along with the idea. Tarbell was the sole female in her freshman class of thirty-two. No woman had entered the year before and there were two each in the other two classes when Ida began. All the teachers were male. Despite these limitations, Ida enjoyed her days at the college and established bonds with some teachers and their wives, especially Jeremiah Tingley and George Haskins. Tarbell joined the Ossoli debating society and wrote for its publication, The Mosaic, as well as for the newspaper on campus. Her studies included economics, chemistry, physics, geology, botany, astronomy, mineralogy, logic, law, history, meteorology and calculus. In June 1880, she graduated from Allegheny. Over the next sixty years, she was loyal to the school, serving as a trustee, speaking to classes, making donations and acting as a mediator.
Ida thought about other professions besides education, but took a job as a teacher in Poland, Ohio, not far from Pennsylvania. She became the lead teacher, giving lessons in French, German, Greek, Latin, geology, botany, grammar and mathematics. She was soon overwhelmed and decided to quit. I can’t say I blame her. Clara Walker, the daughter of one of the trustees convinced here to stay. Ida benefited from her being in Poland, an agricultural town only ten miles from Youngstown, which was characterized by slums. Sadly, her temporary home would soon experience greed, industry, moral irresponsibility, lust and poverty. After a couple years, she left Poland. Returning to the home of her parents, she helped out there and did some reading in the Titusville Shakespeare Club.
Upon meeting with Methodist minister Theodore L. Flood at her home, she soon had work at The Chautauquan, the magazine of the Chautauqua movement. She didn’t plan to stay there long, but was there for seven years, in various capacities. She wasn’t hired to write articles, but eventually that was one of her tasks. She contributed progressive essays and didn’t stay away from controversial ones, of which Flood approved. Ida supported the workers and soon she was contemplating trusts, which came to mind because of the oil experiences of her father and brother. This assignment ended in 1890 for a few reasons. Flood put his son Ned’s name on the magazine masthead ahead of Tarbell’s. There was another issue that Ida kept secret, but it probably was an indiscretion on the part of Theodore. This departure may have been a good thing because it gave the young woman a chance to move on. She wanted to write a book about the French revolutionist Madame Manon Marie-Jeanne Philipon Roland, but she was off to Paris first, a good way of escaping her recent experience.
To keep expenses down, she shared a place with some of her friends. The group learned a great deal about Europe, but didn’t remain as long as Ida did, who submitted articles for publications to newspapers and magazines. Tarbell was used to writing non-fiction, but McClure’s Magazine accepted one of her short stories. It was a tale of the real-life Monsieur Claude, a resident of Titusville who taught her some French before her journey abroad. One of his desires was to visit France, so Ida, after residing in Paris for some months, knew exactly how he felt. The submission needed some revisions, which the writer agreed to and she was soon paid for it. This venture made a huge difference in her life.
Dickens could have written about Samuel Sidney McClure, whose life was fraught with poverty and challenges. Neither held McClure back. In June 1893, with John Sanborn Phillips, he founded the magazine of his name. He did so with the help and contributions of many friends. He also knew of writers who could contribute to the publication. Reading Ida’s short story, he realized she could write. In January 1894, she was hired as a full-time employee for McClure’s. Tarbell’s life had given her experience in school, at home, at work and in Europe. All along she had always sought the truth, even in the short stories she composed. Getting the facts right in novels is just as important as in non-fiction. This should be the goal of any writer. Yet I’ve read books, wondering where the author got his sources of information – maybe from a fox or a flea market? Ida’s quest for knowledge brought her to think this way.
It wasn’t long before McClure’s came into print, with articles of fiction, pieces on travel, reports, essays, some verse and illustrations. Tarbell produced essays on Napoleon and Lincoln, both spanning a few months and greatly increasing circulation of the magazine. McClure’s eventually published many of her books. In January 1903, the magazine had three carefully documented articles: “The Shame of Minneapolis” by Lincoln Steffens; “The Oil War of 1872” by Tarbell; “The Right to Work” by Ray Stannard Baker. It wasn’t intentional, but the three pieces were all on one subject: The American Contempt of Law. Workingmen, capitalists, citizens and politicians were breaking the law or allowing it to be broken. What I’ve written about Ida so far gives a clue to her article, but a bit more information is needed.
John Davison Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, on July 8, 1839 to William Rockefeller and Eliza Davison. In his childhood, the family relocated to Moravia and Owego, both in New York, followed in 1953 by a move to Strongsville, Ohio. John attended Central High in nearby Cleveland and then took a ten-week course in business at Folsom Community College. At sixteen, he worked for Hewitt & Tuttle as a bookkeeper, learning office systems and methods. He excelled in math and in transportation cost calculations. John went into a partnership with Maurice Clark in 1859, where they were in the produce business. With the discovery of oil in western Pennsylvania in the late 1850s, the pair built a refinery four years later along with chemist Samuel Andrews.
William Rockefeller Jr. built a refinery in Cleveland in 1866, with his brother John entering into the company along with Henry M. Flagler. The name of the firm was Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, and it borrowed money, reinvested gains, controlled costs and utilized the waste of the refineries. Before long, the company had two refineries in Cleveland as well as a branch in New York. It became the biggest refinery in the world, the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company. It wasn’t long before Rockefeller set out to eliminate some competition in the oil business. This would be accomplished by getting rid of middlemen and buying refineries.
Since oil was shipped by rail, controlling the rates of shipment played a huge part. For each barrel of oil he moved on the railroad, he finagled a secretly worked out rebate with the railroad. Those companies were at his mercy, but they in turn saw profits because John put many barrels on the line. The South Improvement Company was a joint venture of Standard Oil and three railroads that was created for the purpose of eliminating oil competitors through anti-competitive rates of shipping. All these actions stressed out the other refineries and now Rockefeller had a great deal of control in the oil business. Those companies in trouble were given the option of selling out to him, with either a cash buyout or a gift of stock. Those who accepted the money didn’t make out anywhere near as well as the stock recipients. In the early 1870s, this monopoly came to be known as the Cleveland massacre, with output of the refineries of Rockefeller – he now had control of 21 of 26 in the area – soaring from 1,500 barrels a day to 11,000 within five years.
A railroad clerk made an error that resulted in the exposure of the South Improvement Conspiracy. The small oil companies weren’t happy when they found out. Franklin Tarbell and 3,000 others met at the Titusville Opera House and organized the group, Petroleum Producers Union, which refused to deal with anyone connected to Standard Oil. Vandalism could be witnessed at the large rail lines. People in Congress took note and in a committee session in Washington, DC, evidence was shown of restraint of trade, antitrust, unfair competition and monopoly on the part of the oil company. No action was taken against Rockefeller.
Shortly after the hearing, a depression swept the nation. It didn’t affect Rockefeller and his refineries in the least. It actually gave him more control of the industry as the smaller guys were squeezed out. The robber baron could only be described as shrewd as he used philanthropy to overwhelm the criticism. He had always been extremely generous to others and this practice didn’t stop. His quest for control continued when he resorted to shipping oil by pipelines. The small oil companies could only create their own system with great expense. They simply surrendered to Rockefeller. Farmers who granted permission for a pipeline through their land for the independents, embodied by the Tidewater Pipe Line plan, were warned of the possibility of leaks, which would hurt the planet. Perhaps the boss didn’t consider what the drilling and refining of oil was doing to the environment.
The connectivity between Rockefeller and Tarbell was oil. Because of the experience of her dad, brother William and the people of western Pennsylvania, Ida investigated Standard Oil and Rockefeller. She contacted victims of the Trust – perhaps a better name may have been, don’t trust. She searched out documentation that the company itself had produced and made sure what she had found was the truth. Then the articles appeared in McClure’s. The news was out and the company wasn’t happy. Even with the passage of anti-trust laws, Standard Oil escaped because there wasn’t sufficient enforcement to stop Rockefeller. The facts could be placed before a jury but then the court or the judge could acquit the guilty. Rockefeller avoided publicity and the courtroom as much as possible, but when he showed up before the judge, he rarely answered questions or if he did, used the I don’t recall response.
Many citizens were upset about the company’s monopoly, while others gave a great deal of credit to the boss. Some even rationalized, that’s business. You certainly are entitled to establish a company to make a living, but not to crush your competitors by unethical practices, including fixing rail rates and conspiracy. Standard’s attorneys may have provided legality, but ethics never entered the picture. They certainly didn’t miss any loopholes. Maybe the most unusual detail was that away from the office, Rockefeller was a family man. He cherished his wife, relatives and friends and was a giving person, contributing many dollars to numerous charities. One biographer of the man said, of course, no amount of charities in spending such fortunes can compensate for the misconduct in acquiring them.
Before the first piece on Standard Oil was published, friends and family warned Ida about the power of the company and the danger she could face, but she never hesitated. Ida continued her investigative work, but left McClure’s in the early 1900s and went to The American Magazine, when the former was faltering. As might be expected, Tarbell had detractors as well as admirers for her efforts. Ida never married – she just didn’t have the time for a husband and family. Parkinson’s disease affected the last two decades of her life. She died in January 1944 at the age of 86 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A commemorative U. S. stamp honors her as does her membership in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, a well-deserved honor. The Ida Tarbell House is a National Historic Landmark.
Allan Nevins wrote a friendly biography of the robber baron from Cleveland, which I haven’t read. The 1988 book, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., by Ron Chernow isn’t quite as accommodating. Chernow mentioned John’s visionary leadership, his courageous persistence, his capacity to think in strategic terms, but also his lust for domination, his messianic self-righteousness, and his contempt for those shortsighted mortals who made the mistake of standing in his way. Chernow added, when Standard Oil subdued Tidewater, it again demoralized the independents and suggested that all opposition to the behemoth was a foolish, chimerical dream. Tarbell’s book, The History Of The Standard Oil Company was published in 1904. I recommend the 2009 book by Steve Weinberg, Taking On The Trust: The Epic Battle Of Ida Tarbell And John S. Rockefeller.