es required franchises from the states in which
they were located--and consequently corporations in those states--just
as railroads running through different states are forced to operate
under separate state charters. To perfect the pipe-line system of
transportation required many millions of capital. The entire oil
business is dependent upon the pipe-line. Without it every well would
be less valuable and every market at home and abroad would be more
difficult to serve or retain, because of the additional cost to the
consumer. The expansion of the whole industry would have been retarded
without this method of transportation.

Then the pipe-line system required other improvements, such as
tank-cars upon railroads, and finally the tank-steamer. Capital had to
be furnished for them and corporations created to own and operate
them.

Everyone of the steps taken was necessary if the business was to be
properly developed, and only through such successive steps and by a
great aggregation of capital is America to-day enabled to utilize the
bounty which its land pours forth, and to furnish the world with
light.

THE START OF THE STANDARD OIL COMPANY

In the year 1867 the firms of William Rockefeller & Co., Rockefeller &
Andrews, Rockefeller & Co., and S.V. Harkness and H.M. Flagler united
in forming the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler.

The cause leading to the formation of this firm was the desire to
unite our skill and capital in order to carry on a business of greater
magnitude with economy and efficiency in place of the smaller
business that each had heretofore conducted separately. As time went
on and the possibilities became apparent, we found further capital to
be necessary; then we interested others and organized the Standard Oil
Company, with a capital of $1,000,000. Later we saw that more money
could be utilized, found persons who were willing to invest with us,
and increased our capital to $2,500,000, in 1872, and afterward in
1874 to $3,500,000. As the business grew, and markets were obtained at
home and abroad, more persons and capital were added to the business,
and new corporate agencies were obtained or organized, the object
being always the same--to extend our operations by furnishing the best
and cheapest products.

I ascribe the success of the Standard Oil Company to its consistent
policy of making the volume of its business large through the merit
and cheapness of its products. It has spared n