 Payne began his career shortly after the war, investing in iron and then oil refining.His oil interests were the first acquired by Standard Oil, and he became a trustee of that firm.He was charged with bribing members of the Ohio Legislature to attain a Senate seat for his father (before the U.S. Senate was directly elected), and with bribing the Democratic Party to name his brother-in-law United States Secretary of the Navy, though the charges were dropped.