standard oil

“A Horrible Monster”, published in Daily Graphic, July 19th, 1880, New York. (This has been on Vulgar Army previously; this is a clearer, more detailed from Super I.T.C.H.) Cartoon criticising ‘the pollution of New York’s air by the Standard Oil plant at Hunters Point, New York. The caption reads “A Horrible Monster, whose tentacles spread poverty, disease, […]

“The Standard Oil Octopus”, Daily Graphic, Tues 4th Feb 1879, New York. Vol LXVIII, No.1. Octopus constructed of pipes and barrels, and capitalist harpies in a wasteland. Very early (1879) octopus political cartoon. “$10,000,000 Profits in 4 Months.” “Railroad monopolist & stock market manipulator William Vanderbilt is the top right vulture flying overhead. The other two vultures, are brothers William (left) […]

The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) January 06, 1918, FINAL EDITION Don’t Allow This Octopus To Get a Strangle Hold Upon the Public Domain. Kill the “Relief” Provisions of Senate Bill No. 2812 “A Bill To Encourage and Promote the Mining of Coal and Phosphate, Oil, Gas, Potassium and Sodium on the Public Domain.” The “Relief” […]

“The Great Oil Trust Master In The Act Of Telling Ministers The Virtues Of His Methods, While The Octopus Listens in Glee”; The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) May 22, 1904, p.31 The introduction to the newspaper article: Spurred into action by repeated attacks in the public prints, the Standard Oil Trust at last has […]

The Octopus Speaks

The following is from: Los Angeles herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) October 27, 1910, p. 6 I am afraid there is no cartoon with this one. But, I thought it important for giving more context to who Standard Oil is, or was seen as, and why it was considered an octopus. Can’t you just hear the […]

The Eye of the Octopus. Through a System of “Peeping Toms” the Standard Oil Company Sees the Operations of Its Competitors. By Merwin Worcester. WHAT do you think of the Standard Oil company and its methods? It may be a revelation to you to learn that the Standard Oil company already knows exactly what your […]

One of the earliest references to the Standard Oil as an “octopus” was in an article that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, in March 1881. ‘The Story of A Great Monopoly‘: “So closely had the Standard octopus gripped itself about Mr. Vanderbilt [railroads] that even at the outside rates its competitors could not get transportation […]

1880 which criticising ‘the pollution of New York’s air by the Standard Oil plant in the Bronx. The company is depicted as “A HORRIBLE MONSTER, WHOSE TENTACLES SPREAD POVERTY, DISEASE AND DEATH”.’ and was published July 19th, 1880. Image source: Kovarik, W. ”Industrial Revolution: 1810 – 1890″ Environmental History Timeline

In 1904 Puck published an iconic cartoon “Next!”. It shows an oil tank/octopus hybrid with the name “Standard Oil” on the Tank. The octopus has arms “wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House.” Keppler, Udo J. (1904), […]

In 1910 the Standard Oil Company published a pamphlet with a design that suggested an octopus: Standard Oil Company, Roycroft Cover (1910) The following is from Jackson, P., ‘Dard Hunter Stylized Octopus‘ (Accessed: 1st June 2009). In 1910, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company was battling efforts by the government to break up the huge […]