A Horrible Monster, July 19, 1880: The Standard Oil Company
As I write this, the blown out deep ocean BP Oil well in the Gulf has currently been capped. But, the apocalyptic destruction caused by the oil already sent into the ocean, hasn’t even begun to show its full face. With the majority of the released oil floating beneath the ocean surface, it won’t be until next year, when we find how many species have disappeared or are decimated, for the full effect to be appreciated. The destruction will last for decades.
I’ve held back the below (New York) Daily Graphic front page until today, its 130th anniversary. By cartoonist Hooper, its full title is: A Horrible Monster, whose tentacles spread poverty, disease and death, and which is the primary cause of the nuisances at Hunter’s Point. It depicts the sickness and death, brought to the residents of Hunter’s Point, Brooklyn, by their proximity to an oil refinery built and operated by the Standard Oil Company. Published July 19, 1880, it appeared nearly a year-and-a-half after another Daily Graphic cartoon on the Hunter’s Point Refinery — The Standard Oil Octopus - showing that its effects upon the environment and nearby residents, was continuing and pervasive.
Click on picture to enlarge it.
To view prior Oil Industry-related SuperI.T.C.H postings, click here.
NYDailyGraphic BigOil
— Doug
Excellent post. It’s amazing how long this has been going on. The tentacles of Standard Oil reach into the Gulf of Mexico today (although it seems unfair to use this imagery considering the octopi suffering from the disaster). In 1911 the Supreme Court broke Standard Oil into seven companies. Three of them were eventually acquired by BP.