1901 Pughe / Keppler Chromolithograph Satirizing John D. Rockefeller, Standard Oil

A 1901 satirical J. S. Pughe / Puck chromolithograph from the later days of the Gilded Age, lampooning the expansive business interests of magnate John D. Rockefeller, who in the last decades of the 19th century dominated the American oil industry.

A Closer Look

This cartoon depicts a stern-faced John D. Rockefeller wearing a massive crown containing some of his many acquisitions, especially railroads, on which Standard Oil transported oil to markets throughout the United States and beyond. He wears a cape embroidered with dollar signs and stands atop a pedestal labelled 'Standard Oil.' In the background, oil wells, refineries, and related facilities dot the landscape.

The King of Combinations

Rockefeller's ascent was rapid and definitive. Although he only entered the oil business in the late 1860s, by January 1870 he had founded Standard Oil and began a commanding march through the industry. A combination of vision, relentlessness, and opportunity allowed Rockefeller to capitalize on the emerging industry, which was mostly based on deposits in Pennsylvania. By the 1890s, Standard Oil controlled 90% of oil refining in the U.S., and at one point controlled a similar share of global oil refining. Rockefeller eventually expanded into other industries, especially railroads and iron ore, which brought him into competition with other business magnates. Due to Standard Oil's rapid rise and aggressive acquisition of competitors, Rockefeller somewhat unjustly acquired a reputation for being an especially ruthless and unscrupulous 'robber baron,' making him a frequent foil for politicians and muckraking journalists.

Pushback against monopolistic trusts (also known as 'combinations') caused Standard Oil of Ohio to be broken off from the main company in 1892. After becoming president, Theodore Roosevelt aggressively employed the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up trusts, with Standard Oil being one of the main targets. After years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1911 in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act required the company to be broken up, resulting in 43 distinct entities. The descendants of Standard Oil continued to dominate the oil industry into the automobile age, and to an extent still do; nearly all major oil producers today are either directly descended from Standard Oil or have acquired one or more of its descendants.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Oftentimes, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired product. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography produced made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This cartoon was drawn by John Samuel Pughe, printed by Jacob Ottman, and published by Udo Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann in the February 27, 1901, edition of Puck. Although widely published, specific issues of Puck are scarce and hard to find on the private market. They are also poorly cataloged in institutional collections, so it is difficult to know how many of each issue survive. The present cartoon is not independently cataloged in the OCLC.