USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -One result largely attributable to Tarbell’s work was a Supreme Court decision in 1911 that found Standard Oil in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Court found that Standard was an illegal monopoly and ordered it broken into 34 separate companies. Bloodied, Rockefeller and Standard were hardly defeated.

Detailed explanation-2: -Ida Tarbell (1857-1944), the sole woman who matriculated in 1876 and graduated in Allegheny College’s class of 1880 [see additional note below], was America’s first great woman journalist. She set an example that today’s practitioners would do well to emulate.

Detailed explanation-3: -Tarbell, pictured here in 1904, made it the focus of her journalistic career to expose Standard Oil and Rockefeller’s brutal business practices. Tarbell later claimed she was opposed to Standard Oil not simply because it was dominant but because of what she perceived to be unfair business practices.

Detailed explanation-4: -Although Tarbell herself held a nuanced view of Standard Oil’s legitimacy, she incited a hatred of the corporation’s practices in the general American public that eventually tested new legislation’s ability to determine whether a trust had violated the law.

Detailed explanation-5: -Instantly popular with readers, “The History of the Standard Oil Company” grew to be a 19-part series, published between November 1902 and October 1904. Tarbell wrote a detailed exposé of Rockefeller’s unethical tactics, sympathetically portraying the plight of Pennsylvania’s independent oil workers.