Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/75

LEFT STANCHFIELD, JOHN BARRY 49 the best known lawyers who practiced in New York City, and took part in many important cases. STANDARD, a flag or ensign round which men rally, or under which they unite for a common purpose; a flag or carved symbolical figure, etc., erected on a long pole or staff, serving as a rallying point or the like. The ancient military standard consisted of a symbol carried on a pole like the Roman eagle, which may be considered as their national standard. Each cohort had its own standard surmounted with a figure of Victory, an open hand, etc., the pole being decorated with circular medallions, crescents, etc. The labarum was the peculiar standard adopted by Constan- tine. In mediaeval times the standard was not square, like the banner, but elongated, like the guidon and pennon, but much larger, becoming narrow and rounded at the end, which was slit, un- less the standard belonged to a prince of the blood-royal. The size of the standard was regulated by the rank of the person whose arms it bore. It was generally divided into three portions — one containing the arms of the knight, then came his cognizance or badge, and then his crest; these being divided by bands, on which was inscribed his war ci-y or motto, the whole being fringed with his livery or family colors. Cavalry standards are properly banners of a small size. The corresponding flags used by infantry regiments are called colors. In the United States Army the standards are the national and regimental silk flags, which are carried by cavalry and field artillery regiments. STANDARD OIL COMPANY, a union of business interests that have held since 1880 a predominant position in the petroleum industry. Its rise goes back to 1867, when the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews and Flagler was formed. The next important step in its progress oc- curred three years later, when the firm was reorganized under the name of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, then controlling something like 10 per cent, of the industry. During the years that followed, the interests of the company developed to such an extent that in 1880 it, in company with other firms in which the same men were interested, attained to the control of something like 90 per cent, of the industry. The business genius of the founders played no small part in the phenomenal growth of the company, but methods that were not wholly legitimate were charged against it, recourse having been had to the se- curing of discriminating rates of trans- portation that gave the company an STANDARDS unfair advantage over its competitors. In 1882 the company was reorganized as the Standard Oil Trust, and all the stock holdings of 14 companies, together with the majority holdings in 26 other companies, were put in the hands of 9 trustees having irrevocable powers of attorney. By this arrangement the stockholders of the several companies so brought together received trust certifi- cates on which dividends were declared, amounting to $70,000,000, the 9 trustees being the owners of $46,000,000 of the total amount. Litigation then marked the progress of the group and a decision in the courts of Ohio in 1892 pro- nouncing the trust form of organization illegal, led to its dissolution, the stocks of the companies being distributed to the holders of trust certificates on a pro rata plan which ruse altered the form and not the substance of the trust. Seven years later the plan of a holding com- pany was evolved and the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was organized. The company issued securities in ex- change for the stocks in the hands of the trustees and other individuals, having an authorized capital of $110,000,000. This was made the basis of extensive developments, particularly in the foreign field. By 1904 the refineries of the com- pany despite independent developments of petroleum fields that had taken place, consumed 84.2 per cent, of the crude oil of the entire country, and produced 86.5 per cent, of the refined oil. As a result of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law the dis- solution of the company was ordered in 1909, the decision of the United States District Court of St. Louis being con- firmed by the Supreme Court in 1911. The stock was redistributed, but the combination of interests still worked in a manner that continued to keep control of the industry in the same hands. The earnings of the group between 1899 and 1905 grew from $34,420,314 to $57,- 459,356. STANDARDS, UNITED STATES NATIONAL BUREAU OF, a bureau of the Department of Commerce of the United States Government, charged by law with the custody of the national standards of weights and measures; the comparison with them of the standards used in scientific investigations, engineer- ing, commerce, and educational institu- tions; the construction or reproduction of such standards, their multiples and subdivision; the testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus; the solution of problems arising in connec- tion with standards; and the determina- tion of physical constants and the prop- erties of materials, when such data are