Ida Tarbell Page #11

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INT. DARK ROOM - DAY

CLOSE ON A PHOTOGRAPH DEVELOPING in a chemical bath. PULL

BACK TO REVEAL:
McClure and JACCACI (Art Director) gazing at

it, waiting for an image to appear.

SAM MCCLURE:

I don’t see anything. It’s not working.

JACCACI:

Just wait. Give it a minute.

They both stare at it. Waiting. And then slowly, a ghostly

image of Rockefeller begins to appear.

JACCACI:

See? There he is.

CLOSE ON:
Rockefeller’s frozen expression. The dark scowl

making him look even more crabby and miserly.

McClure stares at his face, fascinated.

SAM MCCLURE:

There you are you old goat. Good to finally

see you.

Jaccaci pulls it dripping from the tray, hangs it on a line.

JACCACI:

What do you want me to do with it?

55.

SAM MCCLURE:

Bring it down to the printers when you’re

ready. We’re going to pin and mount him.

Like a butterfly.

As we CUT TO a series of unhappy RAILROAD EXECUTIVES -

INT. “ERIE LINE” CORPORATE HEAD OFFICE - DAY

CLOSE ON:
the stony face of JIM TEAGLE, CEO of the ERIE

Railway line. Ida sitting opposite him, notebook in hand.

IDA:

Mr. Teagle, your company paid out over $3

million in “service fees” to Standard Oil

over the last five years you’ve been in

business with them.

Ida hands him a document. He looks at it, impassive.

JIM TEAGLE:

Yes?

IDA:

Would that be a part of the special

“rebates” that you were forced to give them

in exchange for their business?

JIM TEAGLE:

(a tight smile)

All I’ll say is this: we are happy to have

Standard Oil as our client, Miss Tarbell.

Anything else, I’m afraid you will have to

discuss with them.

EXT. “NEW YORK RAILWAYS” CORPORATE OFFICE - DAY

Ida approaches another man, THOMAS FOWLER, as he tries to

exit the building without being seen.

IDA:

Mr. Fowler? Good Afternoon, sir.

THOMAS FOWLER:

(caught)

Afternoon, Miss Tarbell.

IDA:

Is now a good time?

THOMAS FOWLER:

I’m afraid not.

He tries to get around her. Ida follows.

56.

IDA:

I was just wondering if you’d like to make

any comment about the rebates paid to

Standard Oil by your company?

THOMAS FOWLER:

(stops; turns on her)

There were no rebates paid to Standard Oil,

or anyone else. And I resent the

implication. Good day, Miss Tarbell.

INT. OFFICE OF OREN WESTGATE - DAY

OREN WESTGATE:

John Rockefeller is a great American, and

we are proud to do business with Standard

Oil. But there were no rebates paid to them

or anyone else. No way, no how.

INT. OFFICE OF LYNDON BUTTS - DAY

LYNDON BUTTS:

No. No rebates.

(beat)

Word of advice, Miss Tarbell. Stick to

writing about dead presidents. You’re good

at that.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK WEST - DAY

Ida approaches another man as he exits a building. Retired

Judge WILLIE HARKNESS (76), out for a walk with his dog.

IDA:

Judge Harkness? I’m Ida Tarbell, I work for

McClure’s Magazine. I’m sorry to bother

you, but I wonder if I could have a quick

word with you.

WILLIE HARKNESS:

What about?

IDA:

You wrote a report on shipping rates for

the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1898.

WILLIE HARKNESS:

(surprised)

You read that?

IDA:

I read everything.

57.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK - LATER - DAY

Ida walks through the park with the retired judge.

WILLIE HARKNESS:

That report was commissioned by Martin

Knapp, then Chairman of the ICC. Done to

appease certain new political appointees.

IDA:

Was anything done with it?

WILLIE HARKNESS:

No, of course not. Martin Knapp and John

Rockefeller are old friends.

They come to a bench by the great lawn. Sit.

IDA:

The railway’s a public servant. Aren’t the

shipping rates the same for everyone?

WILLIE HARKNESS:

That’s what you would think. But Standard

Oil demands lower shipping rates than the

competition, or that railway loses their

business. The independents can’t compete.

They either join up or get squeezed out.

IDA:

Isn’t that illegal?

WILLIE HARKNESS:

Of course it’s illegal. But you’ll never be

able to prove it.

IDA:

But if there are different rates for

different suppliers, surely there must be

records of that somewhere?

WILLIE HARKNESS:

Standard Oil destroys all of their shipping

records, very carefully. You don’t think

that Johnny D would be associated with

anything so unsavory, now do you?

(beat)

The rebates are an open secret in the oil

business. The railways don’t want to lose

his business, and he knows that. So he cuts

the rates so low it kills the competition.

And you know why he gets away with it?

IDA:

Because he can?

58.

WILLIE HARKNESS:

You’re not allowed to quote me.

INT. 26 BROADWAY - ROGERS’ OFFICE - DAY

A sour-looking Henry Rogers tosses Ida’s manuscript across

the desk at her. The mood is tense, confrontational.

ROGERS:

You can’t print this because it’s not true.

There were no “rebates” paid to the

railroads or anyone else.

Ida hands him another document.

IDA:

This is a report published by the ICC five

years ago. It noted several payments by The

New York Railways back to Standard Oil.

What would you call those?

ROGERS:

(reflexively)

That was an accounting mistake, those

payments were refunded once the mistake was

discovered.

IDA:

Yes, but when I checked the court records,

I discovered that it was you who had

authorized those payments only two days

before the state supreme court was to look

into the case. I just thought the timing of

it was rather curious, that’s all.

A beat. Rogers is growing tense, hot under the collar.

ROGERS:

And what are you suggesting?

IDA:

Nothing. Except that bribery of a public

official and obstruction of justice are

criminal offences in the eyes of the law.

ROGERS:

(a dark smile)

The way that Mr. Rockefeller and I do

business is very different, I can assure

you of that.

IDA:

But you’ve been his partner for 45 years.

59.

ROGERS:

And he would do me out of a dollar any day

of the week!

(hot, defensive)

Look, our company was built the way it was

built because that’s what the times and the

industry demanded. We didn’t do anything

that others weren’t doing at the same time.

IDA:

(fishing)

Like blowing up the Buffalo Oil refinery?

A long beat. Rogers is caught momentarily off guard.

ROGERS:

Where did you get that?

IDA:

Oh, I don’t know. Just a rumor I heard.

ROGERS:

And that’s all it is: a rumor. We never

owned the Buffalo plant, and even if we

did, why would we blow up our own plant?

IDA:

I don’t know. But suppose you were only

interested in the patent on their cooling

technology. And that once you had acquired

it, the plant had no further strategic use

for you in the northeast. Boom! Insurance

pays out, not your problem anymore.

(showing him a document)

This is your testimony before the

Industrial Commerce Commission, denying any

involvement in the Buffalo plant explosion.

ROGERS:

That’s right. Because we never owned it.

Ida then calmly presents him with another document.

IDA:

And yet, here you are listed on a “Bill of

Sale” - along with John Archbold and

Ambrose MacGregor - acting as “agents of

the Standard Oil Company” in purchasing the

Buffalo Oil Refinery. That is your

signature on there, isn’t it?

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