St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-03

duct Thar Vast In.ares is
Quiet in Their Tastes and Sim
pie in The Dress-DEdiouIt OF
Approach How They spend
Their Money.
Especial Correspondence of the Globe
Copyrighted. All Rights Reserved
New YORK, Dec. 1.-0t all the mill
ionaIres in New York city, and there is
no lack of them there are none who are
such moving forces in great buSin ass
channels, AMI yet so little known to the
general public. as John D. and William
Rockefeller.
These Two between them are worth
not far from $3.50, 100000 of their own
In addition they are at the head of the
great Standlrl Oil company, corpora
ton that eXtenIS its tentacles not alone
all over the United States. bat all over
the world. from New York to Hong
Kong, and from Hong Kong to Liver
pool. Its pipe lines and railroad con-
nectienS stretch over thou sd nds Of miles
Of territory. 1t owns thousands upon
thousands of acres of coal and oil
lands; it employs an army OF men, and
Its steamships may be seen in every
civilized port.
Once Oh the witness stand John D.
Rockefeller told committee that was
investigating the Standard Oil Trust
that he had no idea as to his own
wealth, and still less as to that of the
company of which he was the head
hot |, oIp
The two r )c&efetIerS dominate this
vast property. To be sure there are
partners. II. NJ Flagler. ex-Secretary
of the Navy Wan. G. Whitney. repre- :
Senting the interest of the Ohio Paynes,
and Others are largely interested in the
Standard Oil properties. Bat the
RockefelIerS are the strong men OF the
great combination.
There may be men somewhere who
are more plain and more unassuming
than these oil kings, but have never
met them.
l met the pair on lower Broadway yes
terday. They were walking together.
1t was just at the luncheon hour, and
Broadway was thronged with clerks and
pretty typeWriterS on lunch intent.
These latter pushed and hustled the
two pedestrians is though they were
interloperS, instead of being representa-
tiVes of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The brothers are alike tn stature, both
just tri1e aoJye the mid lie height.
John d. wears rather closely cropped
grayish mastache, and his brother af-
fects side whi5kers that run down a
couple of inches below his ears. Both
men were dressed in loose-itting dark
clothes that were plainly not made by
any fashionable tailor. Indeed, they
looked more as though they might have
been bOught at a bargain sale in soma
ready-made clothing house.
No one recognized the two men as
they passed along, and they paid no
attention to any one they met, being
absorbed in whatever affairs they were
discussing together. Not even the most
acute observers on New York city's
most busy thOr0ughfare would for a
moment suspect that these plain
dressed, quiet hammered, farm-like men
were the much discussed, often abused
Standard OIL kings.
Il was quite early in the day when l
saw the Rnckefellers on Broadway,
and yet the two men had walked from
Fifty-fourth street and Fifth avenue to
Bowling Green, good five miles, and
accomplished the distance in a little
over an hour. This is the almost daily
CUSTOM of John d. Rockefeller, who is
famous pedestrian.
The Standard Oil headquarters in
New York is at the foot Of Broad
massive pile of granite raising
ten stories above the street, yet
with nearly all its offices occupied by
Off-ShOutS of the Standard Oil company.
There are refining companies; COM
panieS that deal in varieties of illumi-
mating oils; III short, companies of all
sorts having for their object the turning
of oil in some way into money.
As the two men enter the building
they are greeted 10y the big guard at the
door. They pass quickly to their offices
on tine second floor. and each goes to his
desk and to work.
One might think that the heads of so
great a corporation would be over
whelmej 'riLh work and would need to
have about them a horde of clerks, re-
eeivlng instructions. rushing to and fro.
making fuss generally. Nothing of
the kind is to be seen III the Office of the
ROckefelieTS. A host of letters are re-
celved every hour, addressed to one or
the other OF the two brothers. A trusted
assistant handles this mail and shows
his chiefs only such as it Is really
necessary for them to see. The system
maintained is perfect even TO the small,
est detail. and the discipline of the
great establishment is remarkable.
In the rooms of the brokers are teIe
graph tickerS, and near their respective