The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-29

time, when / am a man, / want to be worth
hundred thousand dollars. And I m going
to be, too-some day"
1t was boys talk of course, but II showed
what visions were passing before the eyes
OF the country lad, who probably mad not
cent in his pocket.
that he intended to become grocer Ihat
ambition apparently remained with him
through his youthful years, for when he was
ready to set out in life for himself he en-
barked In the warehousing and produce
commission business
ENTERING BUSINESS.
AS soon as John and William had finished
with the district school they began to attend
the Owego Academy. 1t was three miles
from their house to the town, but they
walked back and forth every day through
all kinds of weather They had little to do
with the other boys and had no intimate
friends. They lived too far away to mix
much with the town boys, even if they had
been so disposed.
After the boys had been two years in the
village school their father suddenly decided
to remove TO Cleveland Q. The boys said
goodbye to their few country friends anC
that was the last Owego saw or heard OF
them until John D. RockefelIer's name came
TO be on every tongue as the petroleum
king.
After their removal to Cleveland the Rock
efeller boys spent one year in business
Tied out his cherished design to enter bus
mess. The firm of Rockefeller a. Hewitt
was formed and began warehouse ana
produce business Here in a dingy old build
ing John D. Rockefeller began a business
career which is without parallel. From
the beginning he acted on the principle
which he had enunciated of making every
thing count To an old acquaintance who
called on him and admired the neat eondi-
ton of his stock he pointed out number OF
Every one of those BEANS he said, II
picked over by hand myself. We got them
cheap because there were a good many
black ones among them l have put in my
spare time, day and night for the past lew
weeks, sorting them over. NOW they are
extra quality and we shall sell them at an
Picture the future millionaire seated in the
dark garnet of his warehouse sorting over
beans by the hour. Everything counter az
those DAYS Presently the money began 10
count up. In the four or five years while
he was engaged in the warehouslng BUSINESS lnSoS
Rockefeller made between 5000 ana SlUVVV
clear. More important than that, ne Ina9e
a reputation for business sagacity and hard-
Readiness among the business men OF the
CITY which gave him excellent credlt.
Many stories have been told as to how
Rockefeller came to go into the oil bust
ness The truth of the matter IS that ne
became interested in oil just when thou.'
sands of others did, at the outbreak OF tne
Pennsylvania oil excitement. but, unlike
many of the others RocksfeiIer ara an not e l0ss
his head. That is something he mas never
done in all his life.
THE STANDARDS BEGINNING
One day at the beginning of the rush to
the Pennsylvania oil field man who had
known Rockefeller in Owego ard who had
been further west was passing through
Cleveland on his way to the new region.
Rockefeller got on to the train and the two
fell to talking.
I'm going down into Pennsylvania to
trv nv luck in OIL said the man from the
West. 90, %
piled Rockefeller. m gong Ito, 20 i es veil
when / see them as they do on paper L am
going to put $4,000 into them.
At that time John Rockefeller did not own
a small fraction of $75 900, but he knew that
he could borrow it, In fact, the business ~ is
men of Cleveland had told him that II ne
account they would furnish the balance or
the 800 900 necessary to buy the lot. me
young warehouseman had already mace q
reputation for keen judgment ana business
Other men rushed into the oil country and
bought the first wells they could secure at
Teller looked at the wells offered him. Ihey
were promising wells, but he was not
satisfied. He did not feel perfectly certain
how they would pan out, SO ne went back
to Cleveland without investing. He wasn't
taking any chances.
Petroleum with all the gases IN II was
very inhammable and that fact proved
bar to its general adoption. one or ROOKIE
feller's acquaintance among the Cleveland
commission men was Samuel Andrews. An
drews was familiar with the general pro-
cesses of distilling and believed that there
was money in the refining of oil so that the
imflammable gases should be separated from
it. He explained his plan to Rockefeller
The cautious young man was satlsned
with this He could see big money In II,
and he got out of the warehouse. Rockefei-
Ter and Andrews started a small refinery.
1t was soon running full blast and they
built another In few years they were
turning cut 2 900 barrels per day. Then Hen
nv NJ FHagler put his money into the bust
ness and the firm became Rockefeller
FIagler & Andrews They added more re-
fneries bought up their smaller competi-
tors or drove them out of business. Rookie
Teller was the schemer of the firm. he laid
the plans for extending their business and
destroying competition and Flagler carried
out these plans, following Rockefellers dl-
rections implicitly and relentlessly. An
dreWs looked after the refnerieS.
In 1870 the business of Rockefeller, Flagler
&, Andrews was merged in the Standard OH
Company, which started out with capllaI
of $1,000 600. At the age of thirty-one John
d. Rockefeller had more than realized ms
youthful dream of becoming worth SiOy0.
But meantime his ambition had multiplied
thousand-fold. Where he had before
dreamed of thousands his dreams were now
of millions and he set out in pursuit of this
new vision as carefully and tirelessly as he
had followed up the former one.