John D. Rockefeller

“ John D. Rockefeller's income is one hundred dollars a minute, and that his yearly income exceeds the lifetime earnings of two thousand average American citizens, and is equivalent to the income of fifty average American citizens sustained throughout the entire Christian era. It sounds more bewildering than seductive, and the breathless rush of a hundred dollars a minute is a little like the seven dinners a day which Alice in Wonderland stands ready to forego as a welcome punishment for misbehaviour. But who shall say that a hundred dollars a minute is beyond the "order of reason"? ”

“ William Rockefeller, the brother of John D. Rockefeller, was not only an energetic and intelligent business man, he was a man whom people liked. He was open-hearted, jolly, a good story-teller, a man who knew and liked a good horse-not too pious, as some of John's business associates thought him, not a man to suspect or fear, as many a man did John. Old oil men will tell you on the creek to-day how much they liked him in the days when he used to come to Oil City buying oil for the Cleveland firm. ”

“ But, as the actor of melodrama falls far below the finished tragedian, the heroes of the Street, typified by Mr Lawson, are mere bunglers compared with the greatest millionaire on earth—John D. Rockefeller. We would no more give him the poor title of "Mr" than we would give it to Shakespeare. Even "Rockefeller" seems too formal for his grandeur. Plain "John D." is best suited to express the admiration of his worshippers, the general fame that shines like a halo about his head. He is Plutus in human guise; he is Wealth itself, essential and concrete. ”

“ This being the fact, for how long will the people allow such a monstrous wrong to be done? How long will they suffer a few men to siphon automatically the money of the many into their own pockets?
It is only a matter of simple mathematics to ascertain the day, and that only a few years away, when ten men will be as absolutely and completely the legal owners of the entire United States and all there is of value in it, as John D. Rockefeller is the absolute legal owner of the large section of it of which he is to-day possessed. ”

“ Probably the most envied man in America is John D. Rockefeller, for his income alone is believed to exceed half a million dollars a day. There are many men and women near Owego, N. Y., who attended school with John Rockefeller, in the little schoolhouse on the old river road. They did not regard him as a prospective millionaire: he was merely “one of the Rockefeller boys,” yet they knew him from the first as the leader of boys of his age. ”

“ Certain it is that many and great as are his business qualities, John D. Rockefeller has never been allowed to enjoy the fruits of his victory in that atmosphere of leisure and adulation which the victor naturally craves. Certain it is that the incessant agitation of men with a "private grievance" has ruined some of his fairest schemes, has hauled him again and again before investigating committees, and has contributed greatly to securing a federal law authorising so fundamental and obvious a right as equal rates on common carriers. ”

“ John D. Rockefeller is reputed to have an annual income equal to that of three or four foreign sovereigns; but his inalienable assets are in the universities he has endowed, the churches he has helped to build, the useful societies he has aided, and in the gold mines of public gratitude which he has opened up. ”

“ Having a natural talent for mechanics, he has done much to inaugurate and encourage the manufactures of our city.
John D. Rockefeller.
Although yet quite a young man, John D. Rockefeller occupies in our business circles a position second to but few. He began life with few advantages, save that of honesty of purpose and unflinching morality, and a determination to succeed, if unremitting effort would secure that end. He, in connection with M. B. Clark, commenced the produce and commission business on the dock, with a small capital saved from earnings. ”

“ John D. Rockefeller, Jr., tells a story of his father:
“Father tells many stories. Sometimes he tells a new one. Not long ago he related one to me that concerned a man who had imbibed rather too freely. The man, in this condition, fell into a watering trough. To the officer who came to help him out as he wallowed in the water, he said:
“‘Offzer, I ken save self. You save women an’ shildern.’”
“On Sunday, September 20, the wife of —— of a daughter. ”

“ ROCKEFELLER, JOHN DAVISON (1839–⁠) , American capitalist, was born in Richford, Tioga county, New York, on the 8th of July 1839. In 1853 his family removed to Ohio, living after 1857 in Cleveland, where Rockefeller had begun to work as a bookkeeper in 1855 and where in 1858 he went into the produce commission business. His firm, Clark & Rockefeller, in 1862 invested in an oil refinery, planned by Samuel Andrews, and in 1865 Rockefeller sold out his share to his partner Clark, bought for $72,500 a larger share in another refinery, and formed the partnership of Rockefeller & Andrews. ”

“ Rockefeller ordered a glass of milk and Rogers took ginger-ale.
Rockefeller was only one year older than Rogers, but seemed twenty. John D. Rockefeller was always old and always discreet; he never lost his temper; he was warranted non-explosive from childhood. Henry Rogers at times was spiritual benzine. [Pg 379]
In Eighteen Hundred Seventy-two there were twenty-six separate oil-refineries in Cleveland. ”

“ He and his associates in the Standard Oil Company are naturally a power in the stock market. They are, of course, very large holders of railroad stocks and bonds and at times their influence is as irresistible as the laws of gravitation. John D. Rockefeller’s influence alone could be so, as he is supposed to be the richest man in America and indeed the richest man ever known in human history. His is believed to be the greatest fortune ever accumulated by any man within 715his own lifetime. ”

“ All human interests are mutual. John D. Rockefeller did not amass a fortune by making others poor. On the contrary, in the building up of his hundreds of millions, he increased the wealth of others by billions. ”

“ King is always intensely in love with whatever interests him. His enthusiasms are not so much on the surface for many people, as underneath for causes—and for a few men. Gifted with an uncommon capacity for absorbing impressions and collecting data for research, he has made himself a sort of pathological study to other people. In mastering economics he has himself been enthralled by his own enthusiasm.
At the time of Laurier's speech on democracy King was peculiarly enthusiastic about John D. Rockefeller, Jr., head of the Rockefeller Foundation. ”

“ Rockefeller is a strict Baptist, a regular attendant at church and prayer-meeting, a teacher in the Sunday-school and a staunch advocate of aggressive Christianity. His advancement to commanding wealth has not changed his ideas of duty and personal obligation. ”

“ Rockefeller wishes to enjoy a breathing-spell at his country-seat up the Hudson or on his Ohio farm, he leaves the business with perfect confidence, because his lieutenants are competent and trustworthy and the machine will run along smoothly under their watchful care. He has not accumulated his money by wrecking property, but by building up, by persistent improvement and by rigidly adhering to the policy of furnishing the best articles at the lowest price. ”

“ The Senate has passed the corrupt subsidy bill granting $20,000,000 a year to the steel trust infant industry so that our merchant marine can compete with that of other nations. Isn’t that satisfactory evidence that U. S. senators should be elected by direct vote of the people? Remove the tariff and our ship builders can “compete” without a subsidy.—Alva (Okla.) Renfrew’s Record.
There’s one consolation to the poor man when he thinks of John D. Rockefeller being the richest man in the world; he knows that the devil won’t let him bring a cent of it to hell with him.—St Louis (Mo.) ”

“ When there was anything to be done for general trade betterment, almost every man had some good reason for believing that his case was a special one different from all the rest. For every foolish thing he did, or wanted to do, for every unbusiness-like plan he had, he always pleaded that it was necessary in his case. He was the one man who had to sell at less than cost, to disrupt all the business plans of others in his trade, because his individual position was so absolutely different from all the rest. ”

“ Helping colleges is old, and so are libraries old. I don't place myself any station back of Rockefeller himself. The Rockefeller Foundation was a great idea. Just wait! I'll raise him out of the game! When I get all my plans made, they'll speak of John Rawn when they mention philanthropy!
"And just to think, Jennie," he went on excitedly, "that all such big plans as that, plans for the good of humanity, should come to nothing! To be held up and handicapped by the folly of a man who has never been able to do anything for himself or any one else! ”

“ William Rockefeller, who resembles his brother in business skill, is a leader in Standard affairs and has his office in the Broadway building. He was a member of the first Board of Trustees and bore a prominent part in organizing and developing the Oil-Trust. He is largely interested in railroads, belongs to the best clubs, likes good horses and contributes liberally to worthy objects. ”

“ Pew is probably the first newspaper man to whom John D Rockefeller gave an extended interview on general topics.
Fred L. Goddard, circulation manager of Scribner's Magazine, says that he has had only smooth sailing to procure business since the publication of the Roosevelt stories.
I overheard Henry George, the writer and lecturer, son of the author of “Progress and Poverty,” and Charles Henry George, the New York correspondent of the Baltimore .American, pass a bit of repartee the other day. “The Georges.” said the Single Taxer, “are at last coming into their own. ”

“ That the Rockefeller plan did not give the miners a treasury, so that should they have to strike for justice, they could be starved out in a week. That it gave the workers no voice in the management of the job to which they gave their very life.
John Rockefeller is a nice young man but we went away from the office where resides the silent government of thousands upon thousands [Pg 202] of people, we went away feeling that he could not possibly understand the aspirations of the working class. He was as alien as is one species from another; as alien as is stone from wheat. ”

“ Illuminating oil was becoming all profit. The reinvestments of income were adding their mite of many annual millions. “The Rockefellers went into gas and electricity when those industries had developed to the safe investment stage. And now a large part of the American people must begin to enrich the Rockefellers as soon as the sun goes down, no matter what form of illuminant they use. They went into farm mortgages. It is said that when prosperity a few years ago enabled the farmers to rid themselves of their mortgages, John D. Rockefeller was moved almost to tears ”

“ If you will pardon a personal reference, may I say that when I visited Colorado some eighteen months ago, I had the opportunity of talking personally with hundreds, if not thousands, of the employees of that company. These men and many of the people of Colorado had formed their opinion of anyone bearing the name of Rockefeller from what they had read and heard. Because of certain industrial disturbances which had developed in the State, bitterness and hatred had existed to a high degree. ”

“ I do not often see him now, for he has great affairs on his hands, while I live like a farmer away from active happenings in business, playing golf, planting trees; and yet I am so busy that no day is long enough.
Speaking of Mr. Archbold leads me to say again that I have received much more credit than I deserve in connection with the Standard Oil Company. It was my good fortune to help to bring together the efficient men who are the controlling forces of the organization and to work hand in hand with them for many years, but it is they who have done the hard tasks. ”

“ It has suffered from great fires and losses, but it has taken care of its affairs in such a way that it has not found it necessary to appeal to the general public to place blocks of bonds or stock; it has used no underwriting syndicates or stock-selling schemes in any form, and it has always managed to finance new oil field operations when called upon.
It is a common thing to hear people say that this company has crushed out its competitors. Only the uninformed could make such an assertion. It has and always has had, and always will have, hundreds of active competitors ”

“ The owner of what is believed to be the largest individual income in the world began his business life as a poorly paid clerk in a small provincial firm. John Davison Rockefeller was born at Richford, New York, on July 8th, 1839. He was educated in the local public schools. In 1853 his parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where, while still a boy, he obtained a position as clerk in a general commission house. When nineteen he went into business for himself by becoming a partner in the firm of Clark & Rockefeller, general commission merchants. ”

“ As I needed this money for the partnership, I gladly accepted my father's offer, and so began business as the junior partner of the new firm, which was called Clark & Rockefeller.
It was a great thing to be my own employer. Mentally I swelled with pride—a partner in a firm with $4,000 capital! Mr. Clark attended to the buying and selling, and I took charge of the finance and the books. We at once began to do a large business, dealing in carload lots and cargoes of produce. Naturally we soon needed more money to take care of the increasing trade. ”