Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 1.djvu/307

 THE COMPROMISE OF 1880

The writer has examined all the private correspondence which passed at this time between the litigants, but finds no proof of Governor Hoyt's statement that the Union at one time ceased its demands for Mr. Rockefeller's extradition.

The conspiracy suit had been set for the August session of the Clarion County court. When August came the Standard sought a continuance, and it was granted. The delay did not in any way discourage the producers, and when Mr. Rockefeller became convinced of this he tried conciliation. "Come, let us reason together," has always been a favourite proposition of Mr. Rockefeller. He would rather persuade than coerce, rather silence than fight. He had been making peace overtures ever since the suits began. The first had been in the fall of 1878, soon after they were instituted, when he sent the following letter to Captain Vandergrift:

":

My dear Sir—We are now prepared to enter into a contract to refine all the petroleum that can be sold in the markets of the world at a low price for refining. Prices of refined oil to be made by a joint committee of producers and refiners, and the profits to be determined by these; profits to be divided equitably between both parties. This joint interest to have the lowest net rates obtainable from railroads. If your judgment approves, you may consult some of the producers upon this question. This would probably require the United Pipe Lines to make contracts and act as a clearing-house for both parties.

Captain Vandergrift handed the letter to the executive committee of the Producers' Union. It was returned to him without a reply. The producers had tried an arrangement of this kind with Mr. Rockefeller's National Refiners' Association in the winter of 1872 and 1873, and it had failed. The refiners had thrown up their contract when they found they could get all the oil they wanted at a lower price than they had contracted to pay the Producers' Union, from men who