Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-03-16
LiLes to Hold Ills Tongue.

The truth is the new spapers understand
full we'll that Mr.. Rockefeller doesn't like
to express himself for publication; that no
simply won do it, a5 IA matter OF fact,
and that time and cncrgy expended to
persuade him to are time and energy vast
cd Yet the Oil king was not always 50
rcticcnt Time was when he occasionally
seemed anxious for "a chance to get his
personal version Of Standard Oil facts into
print. II wasn't 80 very hard then to get
him to talk, providing you'd allow him to
revise the report of his words which was
certainly fair enough. That was Il long
while ago, though My memory is that
about the last authorized interview with
him appeared i'm 1890 II was termed
"Rocllcfcllor : Own Story or something
like hat, and il was printed in "A nowspa-
per that had been in the forefront of the
opposition to trt!|ts and their managers
and that held up the standard Oil as the
most dangerous trust and Rockefeller a.,
the arch ficnd of trust managers. 1t
should be said To the credit of the ncwspa
per that the article was printed in exactly
the form Mr.. Rockefeller approved, 50 far
as the body of it went. Considerable free
dom of expression was exercised. however,
in the small subhCadingS that We're scat
tered through the matter. some of them
We're decidedly ironical, and the whole
couldn't well fail to impress upon the
reader 5 mind the notion of two individ-
ualitics-that of the petroleum. magnatc
declaring with great earncstncss that he
and hi, company were beyond rcproach
and that of the editor slowly and sgnif
cantly winking his left eye while tho dec
laraton was being poured forth. some Of
the comments passed by other papers on
the interview Were severely sarcastic and
since then Mir R0ckcfellcr has had his
views conveyed to the public in some more
formal way than through the medium Of
an interview.
1t wouldn't he quite fair to assume,
though. that Mr. ROckcfellcr's inacccs,i-
hility exists with reference to reporters
only. 1t is almost rs impossible for any
one, no matter how urgent his business, to
see the Standards actual and Theoretical
leader as it would be to obtain an audi
cncc with the grand lama Of Tibet. Those
who are somewhat familiar with the way
things work at the Standard hcadquar-
tiers in New York, away down near the
foot of Broadway, dcposc that not more
than half n dozen or thcrcabout, even
among his fellow stockholders and tho
officers of the organization, can count on
getting a word with him much oftcner
than once in six months or Il year The
half dozen includes Henry ". Flagler, John
ID. ; brother William and John D., .Jr, as
a matter of course. William c. Whitney as
the representatives of the Payncs, used to
be one of the favored few who could walk
in upon Mr.. Rockefeller any time he chose
to, but it wasn't because he was u public
man or "A social light or II very rich chap;
it was because he represented large inter
estS
The ordinary visitor to the Standard Oil
adquartcro-cithcr on business or curl
osity intcnt-will have no trouble at all
in seeing some one quite competent to
speak for the company, but the only salts
faction demand to see the president him
self produces is the statement that the
matter viii duly be laid before him, and
the visitor will hardly be able oven to
learn whether the oil lnaCnatc is in or not.
He may be sitting AT his desk just beyond
IL door near the main entrance Ot the Office
or he may be thousands Of miles away; in
either case the polite young man, in all
probability one OF the many Rockefeller
secretaries, who takes your message,
will inform you that the matter will be
brought to Nj Rockcfcllcr'S attention,
and when you have got that far it is hest
to 90 away At once, for you can get amy
farther, and To try might hopclcssly prcju-
dice your plans.
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