Page:The History of the Standard Oil Company Vol 2.djvu/151

 teen. "The most unfortunate fact in the history of the Senate," said Senator Hoar.

For the time the matter rested, but only for the time. The failure to investigate rather intensified the convictions that Payne's seat was bought by the Standard Oil Company. In 1887 Mr. Payne voted against the Interstate Commerce Bill. "That is why he was put in the Senate," people said bitterly. The feeling became still more intense in 1888. The question of trusts was before Congress. The Republicans had come out with an anti-trust plank in their platform; the Democrats, in response to Mr. Cleveland's message, were declaring the tariff the greatest trust-builder in existence, and calling on their opponents for reform there if they were sincere in their anti-trust attitude. In this agitation the Standard Oil Company undoubtedly exerted its influence against all trust investigation and legislation. The charge became general that they were helping the Democrats. This is why they wanted a Democratic Senate. In September, 1888, when a phase of the question was before the Senate, Mr. Hoar, with his genius for asking far-reaching questions, said one day: "Is there a Standard Oil Trust in this country or not? … If there be such a trust, is it represented in the Cabinet at this moment? Is it represented in the Senate? Is it represented in the councils of any important political party in the country?"

It was the first time that Mr. Payne had been sufficiently aroused to reply. "There is nothing whatever to sustain the insinuation which the honourable Senator conveys. I make the declaration now for the first time, and it will be the last time I shall ever take notice of it. The Standard Oil Company is a very remarkable and wonderful institution. It has accomplished within the last twenty years of commercial enterprise what no other company or association of modern times