9th, newspapers were generally attacking the South Improvement Company as an assault on free enterprise. On March 11, 1872, New York refiners sent a delegation to the oil regions to back the suppliers' opposition to the South Improvement Company. On March 23, John D. Rockefeller met with producers, refiners, and railroad leaders. On March 25, 1872, railroad leaders ended their contracts with South and publicly announced that thereafter no rebates would be made or allowed. The state of Pennsylvania suspended its charter on April 2, 1872. On April 10, the suppliers' oil embargo was officially lifted. Two weeks after the railroad contracts with the South Improvement Company were ended, the Pennsylvania Railroad gave rebates to refiners on its lines. Aftermath After the company's dissolution, refiners were once again in a position where they competed with each other on a regional basis - now largely Rockefeller in Cleveland, Charles Lockhart in Pittsburgh, William G. Warden in Philadelphia, Charles Pratt in New York, and John Dustin Archbold in the oil regions. In April 1872, these leaders tried to coordinate with each other to obtain better rates from the railroads by creating the National Refiners' Association. This group would be administered by a central board of their own choosing, would operate in the open, would buy and allot crude oil to members via quota, and would negotiate with railroads on behalf of members. The oil producers did not object to the organization because the organizers made clear they were not seeking to reduce the price of crude oil. Rockefeller was chosen to head the organization because refiners did not fear his takeover of this organization. The association collapsed at the beginning of the Panic of 1873. Standard Oil would buy up the interests of these four oil leaders by 1875 and they would in turn administer these regions for the company. See also Jay Gould Ida M. Tarbell Cornelius Vanderbilt References Bibliography External links Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) American Experience series, webpage on the Rockefellers, South Improvement Company Defunct oil companies of the United States Standard Oil American companies established in 1871 Energy companies established in 1871 1871 establishments in Pennsylvania