During the first year of operations, Rockefeller managed to pay dividends of 105 percent on Standard Oil stock despite one of the worst financial bloodbaths in the industry's early history. For Rockefeller the years 1869 and 1870 were the start of his campaign to replace competition with “cooperation” in the industry. He described the culprit as "the over-development of the refining industry" which had created ruinous competition. He envisioned a giant cartel that would reduce overcapacity, stabilize prices and rationalize the industry.
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