Sherman Anti-Trust

During the 1860’s to the 1900’s big innovations where discovered. This period of time increased America’s economy and made life easier. Mr. John D. Rockefeller was one of the many men who contributed to this incredible change. This man’s vision and ambition toward success/greatness “revolutionized the petroleum industry and provided a model for other consumer-goods industries” (pg 388). Other men followed his steps and made big businesses just like Rockefeller’s.

1. William Jennings Bryan - William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American orator and politician of Democratic Party from Nebraska. He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives and was a United State Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915. He starred at the 1896 Democratic convention with his Cross of Gold speech that favored free silver, but was defeated in his bid to become U.S. president by William McKinley. Bryan also lost his subsequent bids for the presidency in 1900 and 1908.

John Davison Rockefeller was the biggest businessman in the oil industry during his time, but he also created a monopoly that many people saw as detrimental, constricting, and dictatorial in a way. Rockefeller was seen as a dictator, and some would call him a robber baron, however it is hard to blame someone for doing what is good for their business. Regardless of what others said Rockefeller did his job and also contributed to society in a positive way. Though many people during Rockefeller’s time criticized Rockefeller and the way he practiced business he still gave back to the people, therefore it is my opinion that Rockefeller is a captain of industry rather than a robber baron.

In a 2004 interview, Senator Paul Sarbanes stated: “The Senate Banking Committee undertook a series of hearings on the problems in the markets that had led to a loss of hundreds and hundreds of billions, indeed trillions of dollars in market value. The hearings set out to lay the foundation for legislation. We scheduled 10 hearings over a six-week period, during which we brought in some of the best people in the country to testify... The hearings produced remarkable consensus on the nature of the problems: inadequate oversight of accountants, lack of auditor independence, weak corporate governance procedures, stock analysts ' conflict of interests, inadequate disclosure provisions, and grossly inadequate funding of the Securities and Exchange

Rockefeller obtained a monopoly over the oil industry by purchasing competitor refineries and expanding companies for distributing and mass-producing his products all across the globe. Also, Andrew Carnegie made his fortune in his early 30’s by entering and dominating the steel business. He created the Carnegie Steel company, which

Burden of Proof: Interstate Commerce Commission versus Railroads Railways were a unique business organization in 1800’s America, as they spanned across states. When state courts would file suits against them, reasonable claims would often be overturned due to lack of control over interstate commerce. In response to a case known as Wabash et al vs. Illinois, the federal government stepped in, as it possessed the power to regulate interstate commerce on a collective level; and thus, the Interstate Commerce Commission was created in 1887. The ICC was designated to prevent railroad companies from creating discriminatory rates, rebating, and colluding.

Born in Richford, New York in 1839, John Davison Rockefeller was the second child of his parents and had five siblings. He did not have an easy and wealthy childhood as his father was a part-time salesman and a full-time philanderer. Therefore, his mother always struggled hard for their livelihood and her first son had to stay away from his family to make more money for lengthy periods. Young Rockefeller helped with the general household chores and also earned extra income by raising turkeys and selling potatoes and candy. People described the young Rockefeller as a well-mannered, earnest and studious boy.

Most people in the state of Alabama are aware of the HealthSouth scandal due to former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman being convicted of crimes of bribery, and honest services fraud along with former CEO Richard Scrushy. The HealthSouth fraud case was also one of the first fraud cases tried under the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. HealthSouth officers were cooking-books and shell games trying to mask the fraud that was occurring by acquiring companies, overstating cash balances, falsifying financial statements earnings releases as well as annual reports. The fraud also involved booking the accounts receivable amounts as income instead of collectable income, fictitious fixed assets such as office equipment, recording the sale of shares in another

However, the NCAA by laws allow member institutions at which the student-athletes are enrolled, institution’s conference, and institutionally controlled non-profit organization to sell commercial items with name, likenesses, or pictures. Congress passed the Sherman Act in 1890, with the purpose of protecting competition within the nation’s marketplace. The Sherman Act relates to “activity that involves or affects interstate commerce.” 15 United States Code Section 1 states, “Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.”

What were some of the occupations of the first settlers of Georgia? Some of the occupations of the first settlers of Georgia, the Trustee’s, was to ban Catholics and Jews because they were not apart of their religion so they did not want them to be in their presence. James Oglethorpe was wanting to build colonies and so at the time he was in Britain and he and twenty other men were suppose to go over to Georgia and make the Colonies, but the other people decided that they were to royal and to good to be working with poor people, so they decided to sit in England and run the colony there. But on the other hand James Oglethorpe was the only one, out of twenty who even bothered to come over here.

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons? Mr. George Pullman was considered one of the worst robber barons of the 19th century. He manipulated his workers to do everything for him and strived for success. George Pullman was the third of ten children born to James and Emily Pullman. His family had relocated to Albion, New York, in 1845 so his father could work on the Erie Canal.

Andrew Carnegie was a major capitalist of the 19th century. He became a major capitalist in the steel industry. He attained much of his wealth because he practically created the steel industry. Starting from the bottom and working is way to the top Andrew Carnegie became one of the richest men during his time. Starting at earning a dollar and twenty cents a week.

John Rockefeller may be known as the most hated businessmen of all time, however, his success was well known due to his skills as a business administrator helped him eliminate inefficiencies within the industry. He thought that the key to beat competition was through efficiency and attention to detail. His tactics were to secure the lowest shipping rates from railroads, lowered prices to cut out competitors which then he bought them out, increase efficiency, and utilized all waste. The goal with standard oil was to control and calm a very chaotic oil business. He then ended up buying the majority of the refineries around Cleveland and then take apart the bad ones and upgrades the better ones to his standards.

This investigation will scrutinize the question: To what extent did antitrust laws affect John D. Rockefeller’s company- Standard Oil? To analyze the effectiveness of the antitrust laws, the investigation will focus on the government policies and execution of said policies during the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era (1870-1920). The first source is a cartoon drawn by Horace Taylor for the September 25, 1899 issue of The Verdict named “What a Funny Little Government”. By 1890, Standard Oil dominated 90 percent of the oil industry, thus the publication date strengthens the value of the cartoon itself, since the close proximity enables for the cartoon to capture the perception of the cartoonist as well as the general public.