has been a
time of great contraction, but the Standard has gone on with its plans
unchecked, and the new works and buildings have not been delayed on
account of lack of capital or fear of bad times. It pays its workmen
well, it cares for them when sick, and pensions them when old. It has
never had any important strikes, and if there is any better function
of business management than giving profitable work to employees year
after year, in good times and bad, I don't know what it is.

Another thing to be remembered about this so-called "octopus" is that
there has been no "water" introduced into its capital (perhaps we felt
that oil and water would not have mixed); nor in all these years has
any one had to wait for money which the Standard owed. It has suffered
from great fires and losses, but it has taken care of its affairs in
such a way that it has not found it necessary to appeal to the general
public to place blocks of bonds or stock; it has used no underwriting
syndicates or stock-selling schemes in any form, and it has always
managed to finance new oil field operations when called upon.

It is a common thing to hear people say that this company has crushed
out its competitors. Only the uninformed could make such an assertion.
It has and always has had, and always will have, hundreds of active
competitors; it has lived only because it has managed its affairs well
and economically and with great vigour. To speak of competition for a
minute: Consider not only the able people who compete in refining
oil, but all the competition in the various trades which make and sell
by-products--a great variety of different businesses. And perhaps of
even more importance is the competition in foreign lands. The Standard
is always fighting to sell the American product against the oil
produced from the great fields of Russia, which struggles for the
trade of Europe, and the Burma oil, which largely affects the market
in India. In all these various countries we are met with tariffs which
are raised against us, local prejudices, and strange customs. In many
countries we had to teach the people--the Chinese, for example--to
burn oil by making lamps for them; we packed the oil to be carried by
camels or on the backs of runners in the most remote portions of the
world; we adapted the trade to the needs of strange folk. Every time
we succeeded in a foreign land, it meant dollars brought to this
country, and every time we failed, it was a l