Explore "The Humbugs of the World" by P.T. Barnum on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The petroleum humbug -- The New York and Rangoon Petroleum Company.
Every sham, as has often been said, proves some reality. Petroleum exists, no doubt, and is an important addition to our national wealth. But the petroleum humbug or mania or superstition, or whatever you choose to call it, is a humbug, just as truly, and a big one, whether we use the word in its milder or its bitterer sense.