The History of the Standard Oil Company or influence. These reactions are immortalized in political cartoons utilizing imagery of Rockefeller's hidden agendas being demolished by investigative journalism and muckraking. Several journal and newspaper reviewers addressed "The History of Standard Oil Company" by praising its calmness in the face of hatred, focus on facts, and genuine exposure of the effects that greed can have on businessmen seeking success. A 1904 editorial review from the New York Times relayed the highlights of the volumes to the public, noting the diplomatic tendencies of Tarbell within her work - still widely respectful of the achievements of John D. Rockefeller but critical
Standard Oil Oil insist that the company did not restrain trade; they were simply superior competitors. The federal courts ruled otherwise. Some economic historians have observed that Standard Oil was in the process of losing its monopoly at the time of its breakup in 1911. Although Standard had 90 percent of American refining capacity in 1880, by 1911 that had shrunk to between 60 and 65 percent, due to the expansion in capacity by competitors. Numerous regional competitors (such as Pure Oil in the East, Texaco and Gulf Oil in the Gulf Coast, Cities Service and Sun in the Midcontinent, Union in