[WavingThe44]

From Frenzied Finance (1905):

First, there is a fundamental law, from which no one—neither the great nor the small—is exempt. In substance it is: "Every 'Standard Oil' man must wear the 'Standard Oil' collar."

This collar is riveted on to each one as he is taken into "the band," and can only be removed with the head of the wearer.

Here is the code. The penalty for infringing the following rules is instant "removal."

1. Keep your mouth closed, as silence is gold, and gold is what we exist for.

2. Collect our debts to-day. Pay the other fellow's debts to-morrow. To-day is always here, to-morrow may never come.

3. Conduct all our business so that the buyer and the seller must come to us. Keep the seller waiting; the longer he waits the less he'll take. Hurry the buyer, as his money brings us interest.

4. Make all profitable bargains in the name of "Standard Oil," chancy ones in the names of dummies. "Standard Oil" never goes back on a bargain.[9]

5. Never put "Standard Oil" trades in writing, as your memory and the other fellow's forgetfulness will always be re-enforced with our organization. Never forget our Legal Department is paid by the year, and our land is full of courts and judges.

6. As competition is the life of trade—our trade, and monopoly the death of trade—our competitor's trade, employ both judiciously.

7. Never enter into a "butting" contest with the Government. Our Government is by the people and for the people, and we are the people, and those people who are not us can be hired by us.

8. Always do "right." Right makes might, might makes dollars, dollars make right, and we have the dollars.

[77pt77]

> 5. Never put "Standard Oil" trades in writing

This is good advice?

[arethuza]

If you are Standard Oil and are vastly larger than whoever it you are trading with, have a huge legal team and no doubt some friendly judges handy.

Mind you - I have worked with very senior people who would avoid putting things in writing and then a few months later always have a notably different account of conversations than I did. At first I thought I was actually forgetting things until I realised it's a trick used by overly political types.

[meric]

The one time I forgot to tell my boss to put that bonus he said he will offer me, in writing, I never got it. Ugh.

[WavingThe44]

The list (and book) was written by a guy who suffered from his financial dealings with Standard Oil and he is essentially explaining how they were able to get him over the barrel. It is a very cynical list.

[77pt77]

That makes a lot of sense.

Thank you.

[angersock]

Pretty good advice, honestly.

I'd like to think that the old robber-barons could still teach the current generation a thing or two about how to run a ruthless business.

[cubano]

I personally think robber barons exist all around us.

They just have smarter PR and image protection from their big media brethren.