22. Rockefeller’s enemies grew louder in the 1880s
The end of the 19th century was the heyday of yellow journalism in the United States, and Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company was common target for politicians and the reporters and columnists who supported them. Never a true monopoly in the sense that it had no competition (there were hundreds of smaller oil companies across the nation) Standard Oil and Rockefeller were condemned in the press for monopolistic practices. The New York World wrote in 1880 that Standard Oil, and by extension Rockefeller, was “…cruel, impudent, and pitiless” and that the company was the most “…grasping monopoly” that any country had ever been forced to endure. Rockefeller argued against the accusations, claiming the size of the company sometimes led to unfortunate oversights which as soon as detected were corrected.