Early on, Standard Oil had benefited from both the booms (through high profits) and the busts (by deploying the money it had conservatively saved to acquire less stable competitors). But as the industry grew, it was in Standard Oil’s interest to minimize volatility so consumers would feel confident their affordable kerosene lamps wouldn’t become wildly expensive. 263 Standard Oil gradually reduced its reliance on market prices for its oil purchases. In 1895 it issued a memo to oil producers announcing that henceforth it would ignore the market price entirely and transact directly with them at
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