1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I have 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,080 Speaker 1: been listening to the latest season of the podcast seen 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: on radio, and if you have not checked that out, 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: I highly recommend it. It's from the Center for Documentary 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: Studies at Duke University and they have spent each of 8 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: the past few seasons of that show taking a deep 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: look at a different issue. They've been sort of exploring 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: the questions about how we got to where we are 11 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: in terms of things like racism and patriarchy and democracy 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: in the United States. The current season is called The Repair, 13 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: and in their words, it's about quote, the evolution of 14 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: the colonizing, extractive Western culture that has driven us into 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: the ecological ditch and potential solutions the Repair. So I 16 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: was catching up on this show one weekend recently and 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: they very briefly mentioned the work of Ida Tarbell, and 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: that is somebody I was already familiar with, but who 19 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: for whatever reason, just had not wound up on my 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: list of must cover topics until now. Like I was 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: literally standing there in my yard doing some yard work, 22 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: and I emailed myself an email that just had the 23 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: words Ida tar Bell as a subject line, so that 24 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: when I got to my desk Monday, I would look 25 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: Ida tar Bell was one of the first investigative journalists. 26 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: She's really viewed as one of the primary founders of 27 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 1: that field before the term investigative journalism had even been coined. 28 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: And then her upbringing in Pennsylvania oil country also led 29 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: her to the biggest work of her life, which involved 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: exposing exploitive and illegal business practices at Standard Oil. So 31 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: we will be telling her story in two parts. In 32 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: part one, which is today, will be covering her background 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: and her family story that went on to influence this work, 34 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: and then in part two we will look at the 35 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: work itself and its outcomes. Idam and Nerva Tarbell was 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,959 Speaker 1: born on November five, eighteen fifty seven, in hatch Hollow, Pennsylvania, 37 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,919 Speaker 1: the oldest daughter of Franklin and Esther and McCullough Tarbell. 38 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: She would eventually have three younger siblings, although her brother, 39 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: Franklin Jr. Died of scarlet fever when he was two. 40 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: Ida's parents had both trained as teachers, and her father 41 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: also worked as a carpenter and a wilder. Ida was 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,839 Speaker 1: born in a log house that belonged to her maternal grandfather. 43 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: Her mother was staying with her family while Franklin went 44 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: to Iowa with the hope of establishing a farm there. 45 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: During the eighteen fifties, the federal government sold off millions 46 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: and millions of acres of purportedly public land. That, of course, 47 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: was land that the US had claimed from indigenous nations 48 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: following warfare forster removals and genocide. Fighting between the United 49 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: States and Indigenous nations was still on going at this point, 50 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: but the idea of cheap, readily available land was still 51 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: attracting lots of newcomers from the eastern US. This was 52 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: especially true as newly built railroads started to make it 53 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: easier to get there. The Tarbell's plans to move to 54 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: Iowa didn't work out, though, thanks to the Panic of 55 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven. A range of factors fed into this 56 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: financial panic, including speculators inflating the prices of that same land. 57 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: By the time the Panic of eighteen fifty seven started, 58 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: Franklin Tarbell had gotten some land and built a house, 59 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: and he was working at a sawmill to make ends meet. 60 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: While he tried to get the farm going, but as 61 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: that crisis spread, banks failed and neither Franklin nor Esther 62 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: had a way to get money. Even though he could 63 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: barter for some of what he needed, it just wasn't 64 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: possible for Franklin to keep the farm going with no 65 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: access to money, so he ultimately abandoned it and he 66 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: returned home to Pennsylvania on foot. He stopped from time 67 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: to time along the way to teach local children so 68 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: that he could earn enough money to buy some food 69 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: and replace his worn out shoes and clothes. He got 70 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: back to Pennsylvania in eighteen fifty nine, when Ida was 71 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: about eighteen months old. At first, the Tarbell's planned to 72 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: try to return to Iowa once the crisis had passed, 73 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: and they were saving their money to make another attempt 74 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: at a farm. But then something else happened in eighteen 75 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: fifty nine that changed life in their part of Pennsylvania 76 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: and the rest of the United States dramatically. Edwin L. 77 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: Drake had come to northwestern Pennsylvania with the goal of 78 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: finding a commercially viable way to extract petroleum from the ground, 79 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: and at that point there really wasn't one people might 80 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: skim the oil off of bodies of water that it 81 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: had seeped into, or they might have extracted from shale 82 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: or coal tar. But all of this was really labor 83 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: intensive and it didn't really produce much oil. It was 84 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: a small enough amount that it wasn't used as a 85 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: few very often and said it was mostly used in 86 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: making medicines, and that was something indigenous peoples of the 87 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: region had been doing for thousands of years. For fuel, 88 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: people were burning things like whale oil and a lamp 89 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: oil made from turpentine which came from pine trees, but 90 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,479 Speaker 1: these were also time and labor intensive and in limited supply. 91 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: This made the idea of a rich, untapped fuel source 92 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: under the ground, one that people could get to only 93 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: if they could find the right drilling method really appealing. 94 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: At the same time, it seemed far fetched enough that 95 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: Drake's drilling project was named Drake's Folly on August eighteen 96 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: fifty nine. Though Drake's Well and Titusville, Pennsylvania, struck oil, 97 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: we have talked about various gold rushes on the show, 98 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: and the effect here was really similar. People flocked to 99 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: northwestern Pennsylvania to try to replicate Drake's success. In addition 100 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: to the people who were trying to drill new wells, 101 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: newcomers and people already living there found various ways to 102 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: make a living from this new industry. This included Ida's father, 103 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: who's experiencing carpentry and welding made him well suited to 104 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: make barrels and tanks to hold this oil. Drake's well 105 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 1: was a lot more productive than anyone had expected, and 106 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: at first he was storing the oil in just whatever 107 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: barrels could be scrounged up, which made the barrels hard 108 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: to stack efficiently for shipping. Franklin Tarbell focused on standardizing 109 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: shapes and sizes, and he prototyped a reinforced wooden storage 110 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: tank that could hold hundreds of barrels worth of oil. 111 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: Soon he had a whole business devoted to making them, 112 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: and the family never returned to that idea of moving 113 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,040 Speaker 1: to a farm in Iowa. Yeah, when when people first 114 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: figured out how to drill an oil well, they hadn't 115 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: figured out how to regulate how fast the oil was 116 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: coming out, so if they didn't have enough barrels to 117 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,280 Speaker 1: put it in it, which is basically soak into the ground. 118 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: At first, when he started this business. Franklin traveled back 119 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: and forth from the Tarbell home to the oil fields, 120 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: and then in October of eighteen sixty, when Ida was 121 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: almost three, the family moved to Rouseville, where they lived 122 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: in a house that was adjacent to Franklin's shop. Their 123 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: home and hatch hollow had been surrounded by woods on 124 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: a farm that was full of animals that Ida considered 125 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: to be her friends, and so the disparity between that 126 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: and a house next to a tank workshop in a 127 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: boomtown was huge, and three year old Ida tried to 128 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: run away to get back to her grandmother's loghouse. She 129 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: quickly realized that she did not know the way to 130 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: get there, and she went back home. Throughout this time, 131 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: Ida was being raised in a deeply religious family, initially Presbyterian, 132 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: but joining a Methodist church after they moved since that 133 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: was the only church that had been built by the 134 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: time they got there. Both of Ida's parents also valued 135 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,679 Speaker 1: education deeply, so even when there wasn't a local school 136 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: for Ida or her siblings to attend, her mother taught 137 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: them at home, and the house was always full of 138 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: books and other reading material. Ida loved to read and 139 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: to learn, and as she got older, she developed a 140 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: love of earth science thanks to what she saw in 141 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: the oil fields and what she learned from her father. 142 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: This love of science would eventually lead her to question 143 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: her religious faith as she tried to reconcile what she 144 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: learned about the earth with what she had been taught 145 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: about the biblical story of creation. As a child, Ida 146 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: and her family also saw the dangers of the oil 147 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: industry firsthand. On April seventeenth, eighteen sixty one, when Ida 148 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 1: was four, an explosion at a nearby oil well killed 149 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: nineteen people, including the wells owner and Tarbell family friend, 150 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: Henry R. Rouse. The fire that resulted also seriously injured 151 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: at least thirteen other people. This well had struck a 152 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: deposit of natural gas along with the oil, causing it 153 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: to gush with an enormous force, and as people had 154 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: rushed to the area to see this spectacle, astray spark 155 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: caused the well to ignite. That night, A man who 156 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: had been very badly burned in the explosion arrived on 157 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: a tarbelled doorstep, and I'da's mother took care of him 158 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: until he recovered. As an adult. Ida wrote in her 159 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 1: autobiography quote no industry of man in its early days, 160 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,559 Speaker 1: has ever been more destructive of beauty, order, decency than 161 00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:31,239 Speaker 1: the production of petroleum. All about us rose Derrick's squatted 162 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: engine houses and tanks. The earth about them was streaked 163 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: and damp with the dumpings of the pumps, which brought 164 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: up regularly the sand and clay and rock through which 165 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,959 Speaker 1: the drill had made its way. If oil was found, 166 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: if the well flowed, every tree, every shrub, every bit 167 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: of grass in the vicinity was coated with black grease 168 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: and left to die. Tar and oil stained everything. If 169 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,439 Speaker 1: the well was dry, a rickety Derrick piles of debris, 170 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: oily holes were left for nobody ever cleaned up in 171 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: those days. We'll get into more about Ida Tarbell's life 172 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: after a quick sponsor break. The discovery of a way 173 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: to get the underground oil in northwestern Pennsylvania kicked off 174 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,679 Speaker 1: a cycle. More available oil meant people found more uses 175 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: for oil, and that meant more demand for oil, and 176 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: that fed into the rush to drill new wells in 177 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania and to look for other sources of oil elsewhere. 178 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: The cycle was spurred on by the construction of railroads 179 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: and by the U. S Civil War. Although the Tarbells 180 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: lived through the Civil War. To Ida, it seemed like 181 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 1: something pretty far off. Petroleum was really what was dominating 182 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: their lives. In the late eighteen sixties, the oil industry 183 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: in the US went through several shifts. Oil producers started 184 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: moving from wooden tanks to metal, making Franklin Tarbell's once 185 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 1: successful business obsolete, so he moved into extracting and refining 186 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: oil himself, and to that end, the family moved again, 187 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: this time to Titusville. This transition was a little tricky 188 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: for ITAs, since for the first time she started attending 189 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: a formal school. This involved just a lot more structure 190 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,199 Speaker 1: and discipline than she was used to, and she tended 191 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: to skip class and slack off. That is, until her 192 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: teacher sat her down and basically told her that she 193 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: was too smart for that kind of nonsense. Ida took 194 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: this admonition to heart, and for the rest of her 195 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: education she became a dedicated and exceptional student. Another shift 196 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: in the oil industry was a move toward consolidation, and 197 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: its earliest years, independent drillers had started new wells and 198 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: refining facilities, some of which succeeded and some of which failed. 199 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: Various newly established railroads had provided one of the methods 200 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 1: to move the crude oil from the oil fields to 201 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: the refineries, and from the refineries to the rest of 202 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 1: the continent. One of the people who played a big 203 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: part in the consolidation of these independent ventures was John D. Rockefeller, 204 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: who started an oil refining business in Cleveland, Ohio, in 205 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,079 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three. His initial partners were Mari SP Clark 206 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: and Samuel Andrews, but in eighteen sixty five Rockefeller bought 207 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: Clark's portion of the business and brought in a new partner, 208 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,079 Speaker 1: Henry M. Flayler. In eighteen seventy, they incorporated their business 209 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 1: as Standard Oil. On February seventy two, the Pennsylvania oil 210 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: industry learned that the Pennsylvania, Erie, and New York Central 211 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: Railroads would be doubling their shipping rates for oil. These 212 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: were the three primary railroads that served the area where 213 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: the tarbills lived and worked. The oil producers also learned 214 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: that the railroads were offering huge rebates to a coalition 215 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: that they were not a part of. That is, the 216 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,320 Speaker 1: South Improvement Company, which was based in Cleveland. As Ida 217 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 1: Tarba later reported, in addition to South Improvement companies, rebates. 218 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: It was also being paid for each barrel of oil 219 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: that producers who were not part of the coalition shipped 220 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: from the fields. If you are a little fuzzy on 221 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: your geography here, Pennsylvania and Ohio are neighbors, with Cleveland, Ohio, 222 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: and northwestern Pennsylvania both lying along Lake Erie. Cleveland's proximity 223 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania oil country and its position on the lake 224 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: put it in a good position to become a hub 225 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: for refining the oil that was being extracted in Pennsylvania, 226 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: but the crude oil fields were far enough from the 227 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: lake that oil producers needed some other form of transport. 228 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: Crude oil could be hauled over land to the Allegheny River, 229 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: but that was far more treacherous than transporting it by rail. 230 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: Like if you have ever seen pictures of the height 231 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: of oil transport along the Alleghany River, the river is 232 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: just absolutely jammed with boats full of of barrels of oil, 233 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: and you just kind of look at it and go, 234 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: how is anybody even getting anywhere on this? It also 235 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: regularly froze. It was just there was a lot The 236 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania oil industry was outraged, to the point that sometimes 237 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: this moment is referred to as the Oil War of 238 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two. Protests broke out in Titusville, with people 239 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: vandalizing and destroying train cars that belonged to the South 240 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: Improvement Company and forming Petroleum Producers Union to try to 241 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: pool their resources. They pledged to boycott the train lines 242 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: that were part of the coalition, and they sent committees 243 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: to the Pennsylvania Legislature and to Congress. But the independent 244 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: producers just didn't have enough power to offset the South 245 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: Improvement Company. And it turned out that the South Improvement 246 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: Company was a coalition of railroads and Cleveland area refiners 247 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: that was spearheaded by John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. 248 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: This had been done in an effort to protect their 249 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: refining interests from the newly established refineries in Pennsylvania. When 250 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: his part in this became known, Rockefeller started receiving death threats. 251 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: Ida Tarbell was fifteen when this happened, so she saw 252 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: oil producers and refiners, many of whom her family had 253 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: known and worked with for years, either forced to sell 254 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: or driven out of business. Seeing this, in her words quote, 255 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: there was born in me a hatred of privilege, privilege 256 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: of any sort. It was all pretty hazy, to be sure, 257 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 1: but it still was well at fifteen to have one 258 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: definite plan based on things seen and heard, ready for 259 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: a future platform of social and economic justice if I 260 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: should ever awake to my need of one. So there 261 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: was a degree of irony here At this point. John D. 262 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: Rockefeller was thirty two, and although he had already become 263 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: rich and powerful through his shrewd and sometimes questionably ethical 264 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: business decisions, his early life had held far fewer privileges. 265 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: Ida didn't know this yet, but Rockefeller's father, William Rockefeller Senior, 266 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: had for a time made his living as a con man, 267 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: pretending to be deaf and mute so that he could 268 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: sell bogus medical cures. John D's upbringing had been pretty unstable, 269 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: not very affluent. His father had kept another woman in 270 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: the family home and had fathered children with her. William Sr. 271 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: Was also at one point accused of rape by a 272 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: household employee, although that had not ever gone to trial. 273 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: Like Ida Tarbell, John D. Rockefeller had a deeply religious upbringing. 274 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: Like Ida's father, he had tried to make a better 275 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: and more stable life for himself, getting a job as 276 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: a bookkeeper, working his way up, investing his money and 277 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: starting a produce business. Both John D. Rockefeller and Franklin 278 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 1: Tarbell had paid for substitutes to fight on their behalf 279 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: in the US Civil War rather than enlisting themselves. Like Franklin, 280 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: John D had seen an opportunity to make money in 281 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: the oil industry. For Franklin it was originally making storage tanks, 282 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: and for John D. It was starting a refinery. But 283 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 1: they diverged in that Franklin's Tarbell seemed content at finding 284 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:18,680 Speaker 1: a way to earn a good living for his family, 285 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: whether it was trying to start a farm or making 286 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: oil tanks or becoming an oil producer himself. But from 287 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 1: very very early on, John D. Rockefeller was interested in 288 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: controlling multiple aspects of the same industry to make it 289 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: as profitable as possible and as efficient as possible. This 290 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: included things like cutting deals with railroads that had actually 291 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: started with Henry M. Flagler promising the Lake shore Line 292 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: that they would fill sixty carloads with oil products a 293 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 1: day if in exchange, the Lake shore Line lowered their 294 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: price from two dollars and forty cents to a dollar 295 00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 1: and sixty five cents a barrel. From this very first agreement, Rockefeller, Flagler, 296 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: and the rest of Standard Oil faced criticisms about whether 297 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: this was a fair business practice, especially because most people 298 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: thought of the railroads as common carriers obligated to charge 299 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: all of their customers the same rates, although that was 300 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: not required by law. Rockefeller maintained that it was fair, saying, quote, 301 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: who can buy beef the cheaper the housewife for her family, 302 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: the steward for a clubber hotel, or the quartermaster or 303 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: commissary for an army. Who is entitled to better rebates 304 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,200 Speaker 1: from a railroad those who give it for transportation five 305 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: thousand barrels a day, or those who give five hundred 306 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: barrels or fifty barrels. Then there was the fact that 307 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: these negotiations and the contract terms involved had been carried 308 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: out in secrets. The only reason Pennsylvania's oil producers learned 309 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: what was going on in February of eighteen seventy two 310 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,199 Speaker 1: was that a junior railroad employee had been filling in 311 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: for his boss, who was away on an emergency, and 312 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: he did not know that these newly created rates were 313 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: supposed to be confidential. In the end, Pennsylvania revoked the 314 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: South Improvement Company's charter so for a time, shipping rates 315 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,719 Speaker 1: for Pennsylvania's oil producers went back to what they had 316 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: been before, but Rockefeller and his partners at Standard Oil 317 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: kept looking for other ways to consolidate their position. Over 318 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: the course of a few months, in eighteen seventy two, 319 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: Standard Oil started buying out Cleveland's independent refineries, often paying 320 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: for them and Standard Oil stock. The refiners who accepted 321 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: stock rather than cash generally wound up becoming wealthy through 322 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: this sale, but this also meant that Standard Oil wound 323 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,719 Speaker 1: up controlling more than of the refinery industry in Cleveland, 324 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: with the few remaining refineries just struggling to stay in business. 325 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:53,399 Speaker 1: The few remaining holdouts and Standard Oil's critics nicknamed this 326 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: the Cleveland Massacre. When the US faced another financial panic 327 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,960 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy three, Rockefeller took advantage of that as well. 328 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: He bought up struggling businesses and continued to consolidate. As 329 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: railroads failed in the wake of the panic, he focused 330 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: on solidifying his contracts with the ones that survived, locking 331 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,959 Speaker 1: in increased rebates in the process. He was quickly becoming 332 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,880 Speaker 1: known as a robber baron, an industrialist who used exploitive 333 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: practices to get ahead. Ida Tarbell was acutely aware of 334 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,439 Speaker 1: all of this when she graduated from high school on 335 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: June seventy five. From there, she wanted to continue her education, 336 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: and we'll get into that after we pause for a 337 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: sponsor break. In eighteen seventy six, Ida Tarbell enrolled at 338 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. This was not her first 339 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: choice of school. She had initially hoped to go to Cornell, 340 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,360 Speaker 1: which had started allowing women to enroll in eighteen seven two, 341 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: But then she met Lucius Bugbee, who was the president 342 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: of Alleghany College while he was visiting her parents. Alleghany 343 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: was really hoping to increase the number of women in 344 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: the student body, and it was also much closer to 345 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: her family than Cornell was. Cornell, of course, is in Ithaca, 346 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: New York. Although Alleghany was trying to bring more women 347 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 1: to the school, Ida was the only woman in the 348 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: freshman class that year. There were four other women studying 349 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 1: in Alleghany at the time, to juniors and two seniors. 350 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,880 Speaker 1: There was not a residence hall for women, so Tarbell 351 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: stayed with various faculty until a boarding house was opened 352 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: up for female students. There are various speculations about Tarbell's 353 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,160 Speaker 1: possible romantic relationships while she was in college and really 354 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: for the rest of her adult life, but she was very, 355 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: very discreet about this and her own writing about herself 356 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: and in letters to other people. She was always really 357 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: careful to explain her connection to any man she meant, 358 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: and almost as though she wanted to make it clear 359 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 1: that he was definitely not her boyfriend. She said of herself, quote, 360 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: I would never marry. It would interfere with my plan, 361 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,959 Speaker 1: it would fetter my freedom. She did, however, tell an 362 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,400 Speaker 1: amusing story about her time at Allegheny. Quote there were 363 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 1: several men's fraternities in the college. Most of the boys 364 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: belonged to one or another. It was an ambition of 365 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: the fraternity's to put their pins on acceptable town and 366 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,440 Speaker 1: college girls. You were a Delta girl, or a Gamma girl, 367 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,199 Speaker 1: or a five side girl. I resented this effort to 368 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 1: tag me. Why should I not have friends in all 369 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: the fraternity's and I had. I had accumulated four pins, 370 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: and then one disastrous morning went into the chapel with 371 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 1: the four pins on my coat. There were a few 372 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: months after that when if it had not been for 373 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 1: two or three non frat friends, I should have been 374 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: a social outcast. Tarbolt graduated in eight along with a 375 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: couple of other women who hadn't been part of her 376 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: freshman class. She had made it clear that the path 377 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: she saw for herself did not involve marriage and children, 378 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: so at first she pursued the path that was most 379 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,399 Speaker 1: common for educated young women. She became a teacher at 380 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,720 Speaker 1: a school in Ohio that was about a day's travel 381 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,919 Speaker 1: away from her family, but Tarbell quickly decided this job 382 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: was not for her. The pay was low enough that 383 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: she had to borrow money from her parents from time 384 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,119 Speaker 1: to time to make ends meet. She really wanted to 385 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: be independent, so she hated doing this. But a bigger 386 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: issue was the enormous course load she was expected to teach. 387 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,880 Speaker 1: She was supposed to teach various sciences and branches of mathematics, 388 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 1: along with English, Greek, Latin, French, and German. She tried 389 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,160 Speaker 1: to resign after a couple of months, but was convinced 390 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: to stay, and she taught at that school for two years. 391 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: As this was happening, Standard Oil was continuing to expand 392 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: its business into other facets of the oil industry. Including 393 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: taking control of pipelines. The first pipeline lines through the 394 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: area where Ida Tarbell grew up had been controversial since 395 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: they took work away from the people who had been 396 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,440 Speaker 1: hauling oil over land or by water, but soon they 397 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,640 Speaker 1: became a primary method for transporting oil. The Tide Water 398 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: Pipeline was an above ground pipeline that had been built 399 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: by Pennsylvania's independent oil producers. Rockefeller and Standard Oil had 400 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: tried to put a stop to this project, as the 401 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: oil producers had secretly gotten access to rights of way 402 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:33,359 Speaker 1: to build the pipeline. Presumably to stay ahead of John D. Rockefeller, 403 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 1: he had tried to buy the land out from under 404 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: them and to buy out the pipeline's directors and to 405 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,639 Speaker 1: file suit against it. In the end, Rockefeller and his 406 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: associates secretly bought up Tidewater stock until they took control 407 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: of the pipeline in eighteen eighty two. When Ida Tarbell 408 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,360 Speaker 1: moved on from teaching in Ohio, it was to work 409 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: for the Chautauqua Assembly Herald in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Chattagua was 410 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,120 Speaker 1: an educational movement that had been organized in New York 411 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: and Ohio in the eighteen seventies. Its founders were Methodists, 412 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: and the movement's initial focus had been on religious education, 413 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: but it expanded to include a broader education for adults 414 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: along with entertainment and recreation. At first, much of this 415 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,959 Speaker 1: took place around Chataka Lake, New York, but other Chatakas 416 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: were established all around the United States. Some of them 417 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,640 Speaker 1: met in lecture halls and others intents, but they were 418 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: all focused on things like classes, lectures, concerts, and plays. 419 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: Tarbell once again made this connection through her parents when 420 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: she met Methodist minister Theodore L. Flood at her parents house. 421 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: Flood was the Chautauqua Assembly Herald's editor and publisher. I 422 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: had to initially thought this was going to be a 423 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: part time and temporary job. She would spend a couple 424 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: of weeks a month in Meadville working for the paper, 425 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: and then a couple of weeks back home studying and 426 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: doing research with her microscope. This was something she had 427 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: really loved doing since her teens, when she had saved 428 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: up her money to buy her own microscope, so she 429 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: thought this job was gonna let her earn a little 430 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: money and give her some time to figure out what 431 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,120 Speaker 1: she wanted to do next. But that's not how things 432 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: worked out. Flood essentially gave Tarbell free reign to learn 433 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,120 Speaker 1: and make changes at the Herald. She learned the ropes 434 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,879 Speaker 1: of journalism, working her way up from a researcher to 435 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: a reporter to essentially acting as managing editor. This included 436 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: refining the papers layout and handling reader correspondents signed with 437 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: Flood's name, although she quit doing this when a reader 438 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,360 Speaker 1: came to the office to thank Flood for his thoughtful 439 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: reply to a letter and found out that that reply 440 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: had actually come from a woman. Remember our episode on 441 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,560 Speaker 1: Eunice Newton Foot when we talked about Elizabeth Katie Stanton's 442 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: account of her trip to the patent office and how 443 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,199 Speaker 1: many women held patents. This was still a topic of 444 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: discussion twenty years later. In eight six, The Harold printed 445 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: an article by Mary A. Low Dickinson that applied that 446 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: women would never be successful as inventors, citing as evidence 447 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,160 Speaker 1: the fact that there were only three hundred thirty four 448 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:13,920 Speaker 1: patents held by women. Tarbell was deeply frustrated by this, 449 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 1: and in eight seven she went to the U. S. 450 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,719 Speaker 1: Patent Office herself. Later on, she wrote in her autobiography quote, 451 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: I had been disturbed for some time by what seemed 452 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,199 Speaker 1: to me the calculated belittling of the past achievements of 453 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,360 Speaker 1: women by many active in the campaign for suffrage. They 454 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: agreed with their opponents that women had shown little or 455 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: no creative power. That they argued was because man had 456 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,440 Speaker 1: purposely and jealously excluded her from his field of action. 457 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: The argument was intended, of course, to arouse women's indignation 458 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: stir them into action. It seemed to me rather to 459 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,159 Speaker 1: throw doubt on her creative capacity. She went on to say, quote, 460 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: I had seen so much of women's ingenuity on the 461 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 1: far and in the kitchen that I questioned the figures. 462 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: And so I went to see, feeling very important. If 463 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: scared at my rashness, and daring to penetrate a government 464 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: department and interview its head, I was able to put 465 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 1: my finger at once on over two thousand patents, enough 466 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: to convince me that man made or not. If a 467 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: woman had a good idea and the gumption to seek 468 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: a patent, she had the same chance as a man 469 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,879 Speaker 1: to get one. It's the end of the quote. And 470 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: although this was a much smaller project and a much 471 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: tighter focus than her later work, This was an early 472 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: example of the kind of investigation and research work that 473 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 1: she would go on to do. Even though Tarbell was 474 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: honing new skills at the Chautauqua Assembly Herald, including participating 475 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: in the Assembly's lectures and education courses, she still wanted 476 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: to do more. At one point, she was at church 477 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: and a Presbyterian minister admonished the congregation quote, you're dying 478 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: of respectability. That statement really shook her, and she felt 479 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: like she was becoming complacent. In eight ninety, she also 480 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: had some kind of massive falling out with Theodore L. Flood, 481 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: which she never disclosed the details of, but which seemed 482 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: somehow scandalous. So she decided to make a big change, 483 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: and in eight nine, Ida Tarbell moved to France with 484 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: three friends who she had convinced to go with her. 485 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: I love the fact that she just talked three other 486 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: people and subove into the best best. She got there 487 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: with a hundred and fifty dollars and the hope of 488 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: living near the Clooney Museum and a plan to support 489 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,719 Speaker 1: herself by freelancing for American publications. She and her friends 490 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: did eventually find a very small but clean apartment in 491 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: the neighborhood where they wanted to live, and Tarbell started 492 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: studying at the slurbun, teaching Sunday school at the American Chapel, 493 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: and writing articles for American publications about French life. She 494 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: and her friends also improved to their French by inviting 495 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: French girls who wanted to learn English to visit them 496 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: and essentially trading their practice. Time in France, Tarbell started 497 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: researching Jean Marie Rolande de la Platier, known as Madame 498 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: Rolande or Madame Manon Philippon, and her activities during the 499 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: French Revolution. She also kept up with the news from home, 500 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 1: including Standard oils ongoing expansion, and Carnegie Steele's efforts to 501 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: break the homestead strike, which led to violence in the 502 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: summer of eighteen ninety two. Tarbell's friends eventually went back 503 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: to the United States. She knew this was going to happen, 504 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: but it meant that she had to move to a 505 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: smaller apartment, and she was still determined to make her 506 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: way as a writer. While researching her book on Madame 507 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 1: Manon Flipon, she submitted articles to magazines and newspapers in 508 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: the US, including to a syndicate owned by Irish American 509 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: publisher Samuel Sidney McClure. In eighteen ninety two, McClure sought 510 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,719 Speaker 1: out Tarbell while he was in pairs to offer her 511 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 1: a job. He wanted her to move to New York 512 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: and work for him at his magazine, and at first 513 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: Tarbell refused, leaving Paris would mean leaving the primary resources 514 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: that she was using to research her book. She stayed 515 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: where she was, sending McClure articles from time to time, 516 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: including a lengthy profile of Louis pasteur In, but eventually 517 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 1: it became clear to her that she just wasn't going 518 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: to be able to make ends meet as a writer 519 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: in Paris. She had also realized, much to her disappointment, 520 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 1: that her biography of Madame Roland was not going to 521 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: have the themes that she had wanted to illustrate with it. 522 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 1: Even though Tarbell had said from a pretty young age 523 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: that she herself was going to be independent and free 524 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: and never marry, she thought that women were at their 525 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: core mothers and nurturers, so she had hoped that her 526 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: biography would give an example of a woman whose nurturing, 527 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: compassionate insight had been a guiding force in the French 528 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: Revolution before she was declared its enemy and taken to 529 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. Instead, she'd found 530 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: a woman who was complicated and whose attitudes and actions 531 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: hadn't really been different from those of the men around her. 532 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,240 Speaker 1: Tarbell still finished and published this book, but it became 533 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: less of a reason to stay in France. She went 534 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: back to the US, So that seems like a good 535 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: place to take a break here. We will pick up 536 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: next time with what happened after Ida Tarbell got to 537 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,479 Speaker 1: New York started working for McClure's full time. Do you 538 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: have listener mail in the meantime? I do? Um. This 539 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: email is from Daria, and it really cracked me up. 540 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: So Daria says, hello, ladies, I listened to your latest 541 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 1: Unearthed episode, and I totally see what Tracy means when 542 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: she says all coin hordes start to sound the same. 543 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:51,960 Speaker 1: I didn't used to enjoy Unearthed, but I would have 544 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 1: no idea what any of these items were, why they're 545 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: relevant or important. Now that I've listened to the majority 546 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: of the episodes in the archive, I really enjoy them, 547 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: especially the updates to past episodes. It's awesome to see 548 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 1: in real time. That history isn't changing, but our understanding 549 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 1: of it is. I thought you might enjoy hearing about 550 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: the coin horde I discovered when I worked as a waitress, 551 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:13,920 Speaker 1: our tips would be added up at the end of 552 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: the night and we would be paid in cash from 553 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: the register. I would put the cash in a pocket 554 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: in my purse to take to the bank later. Other 555 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: than that pocket, my purse was total mayhem, because I 556 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: think most women are. Whenever my mom would carry it 557 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: for a short while, she would exclaim about how heavy 558 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: it was. Are you carrying a brick? She would say. 559 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: I didn't know most of what was in there, but 560 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: I was surprised because I didn't think crumpled receipts could 561 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 1: be so heavy. When I bought a new purse, I 562 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: cleaned everything out of my old one and was surprised 563 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: when it was still heavy. I shook it and heard 564 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: a clink. I searched inside and out and discovered there 565 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: were coins between the lining and the shell of the purse. 566 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: After doing some purse surgery, I had retrieved over forty 567 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: dollars in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. None of these 568 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: was likely to be older than fifty years but a 569 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: fun discovery. Nonetheless, I've included pictures as well as a 570 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: picture of my new purse named Roberta that I think 571 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: hollywould appreciate. Thank you for all the research and source 572 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: checking you do. I'm sure it's a lot of work. 573 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this email. It delights me 574 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,399 Speaker 1: so because many years ago, before I started working on 575 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,719 Speaker 1: this podcast, UH, and before I started on the job 576 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: that was the precursor to this podcast, which was writing 577 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,759 Speaker 1: for a website, I was a massage therapist and I 578 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,760 Speaker 1: also worked for tips, and I also UH some places 579 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: I worked with like cash out our tips at the 580 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 1: end of the night, and other places we were just 581 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: given any cash that people left us as tips. And 582 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: I had a very very similar experience where having like 583 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: the money that I was being paid as tips that 584 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 1: I would then just use to buy whatever I needed, 585 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: I would just wind up with this huge amount of 586 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: change at the bottom of my purse. And I had 587 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: the exact same thing happened where the purse lining tour. 588 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,680 Speaker 1: So I had this like mystery collection of coins and 589 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: a place that I couldn't immediately detect if I had 590 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:19,280 Speaker 1: my hand down in there. UM, I do love that purse. 591 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: By the way, it's shaped like a coffin and it 592 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,440 Speaker 1: has roses embroidered on it. I will tell you how 593 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 1: I saved myself from this problem. How did you do it? 594 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: I don't carry just one purse, okay, Like I have 595 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,880 Speaker 1: a kajillion purses, and so anytime I'm going somewhere, I 596 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: just moved my stuff into whatever purse matches my outfit 597 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: that I love that day. And as a consequence, I 598 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: have avoided doing the Holy Moses. There's a kid living 599 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: in here like which I used to have a problem with, 600 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: just I would cart around so many crazy things and 601 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: it was always a fun discovery to unpack a long 602 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 1: carried purse. But um, yeah, now I have avoided those problems. Yeah. 603 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,840 Speaker 1: I encourage everyone to develop a purse hoard instead of 604 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: a coin hord. In the in the covid era, I 605 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: have been carrying a purse less, especially if I'm going 606 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: somewhere like the doctor or the dentist, where I'm going 607 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 1: to need to put my stuff down. I've just tried 608 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 1: to like minimize the amount of stuff I'm gonna have 609 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: to take with me and put somewhere to varying success 610 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,840 Speaker 1: sometimes that has worked out and sometimes not. I also 611 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 1: really like the progression of UM coming to enjoy the 612 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,360 Speaker 1: unearthed episodes because I know they are some people's absolute 613 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: favorite episodes that we ever do, and other people are like, 614 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,239 Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I don't know about these episodes. 615 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:45,040 Speaker 1: They're not my favorites, which is fine, But one of 616 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: the reasons we do do them is to just show 617 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,800 Speaker 1: how our understanding of the world is in its history 618 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: is just continually changing all the time. So thank you 619 00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 1: again for this email. If you would like to send 620 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,200 Speaker 1: us a note about this or any other podcasts, where 621 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,360 Speaker 1: at History podcast at i heeart radio dot com. And 622 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:04,760 Speaker 1: then we're all over social media at missed in History. 623 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,359 Speaker 1: That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 624 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on the I 625 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:13,840 Speaker 1: heart Radio app and wherever you like to listen to 626 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 627 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 628 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 629 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.