Ida Tarbell quote about the Standard Oil Company

Quote:

“Very often people who admit the facts, who are willing to see that Mr. Rockefeller has employed force and fraud to secure his ends, justify him by declaring, ‘It’s business.’ That is, ‘it’s business’ has to come to be a legitimate excuse for hard dealing, sly tricks, special privileges. It is a common enough thing to hear men arguing that the ordinary laws of morality do not apply in business.”

– Ida Tarbell, journalist and pioneer of investigative journalism. This quote comes from her work, The History of the Standard Oil Company, which helped lead to the break up of the company.

—

“Ida Tarbell quote about the Standard Oil Company” sources:

• Tarbell, Ida M. The History of the Standard Oil Company. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co.

• Portrait of Ida Tarbell taken circa 1905 / Ida M. Tarbell. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2004670771/>

Notes:

• Ida Tarbell was a pioneer of investigative journalism who fought for integrity and morality in the face of corporate corruption. Please click here to read our Snapshot Biography of her.

• Please consider supporting Historical Snapshots with a donation if you enjoyed this quote from Ida Tarbell. Visit our Patreon page to donate. Thank you for supporting us.