Page:The Rise And Progress Of The Standard Oil Company.djvu/14

 some other group of refiners, should persistently have obtained the best rates, has been, to these investigators, a bailing mystery.

The secret of this strange success with the railways is not, however, completely insoluble. If the episodes in the progress of the Standard Oil Company from 1865 till 1877 be carefully studied, the motives of every act, both of the company and of the railways, will certainly be revealed. The materials for this study are not lacking. A vast amount of evidence showing the ability of the Standard Oil Company to turn these possibilities to advantage has been gathered by various commissions and investigating committees. With such sources of information as these available, an intelligible narrative may readily be put together. Not only may each act of the company and of the railways be authenticated, but also, at each step in the progress, the increasing efficiency and importance of the