The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-12-03
DALY'S SUCCESSOR
WAS ONCE A NEWSBOY.

tNeW York Correspondence of PITTS
burg Dispatch.)
The man who is slated to succeed the
late Marcus DAILY as president and gen
erai manager or the Anaconda Copper
Mining company is Henry II. Rogers
of the Standard Oil directorate.
Marvellous as was Marcus Days rise
from poverty to aftiuence even more
marvefous has been the rise Of this
man Rogers. DAILY grew up among
mines and miners and all his childhood
was an apprenticeship in the business
that eventually made him rich and IA
nous. lie never did any other work
for living than mining. Rogers, like
Daily, was early thrown upon his own
resources. Like DAILY also he comes
from poor and humble stock Unlike
Daily he has striven in many fields of
commercial enterprise, and from each
of them he has eXacted the toll that
only success awards He is mighty in
many ways. Daily was mighty only IN
one.
Half a century ago Henry II. Rog-
erS was neWsbOy. He sold papers
for a living on the streets OF New Bed
ford, Mass, then the home port of a
great fleet of American Whalers- That
was before the days Of oil wells, and
ia the heyday OF the sperm OIL trade
Knocking around among the Whalers
and oil re6nerS IT is not unlikely that
young Rogers early acquired d pro-
found respect for oil as an article of
commerce; perhaps }te may even then
have engaged ia mental speculation as
to what would be the standing and
wealth of the man who could success
fully corner the oil supply al the word.
for he openly and frankly says he has
always been in favor of the cOmbina-
tons which we now cali trusts.
There wasn't the demand for news
in rH-.-l. low rhnTa *
and the profits did not meet the re-
quirements of young Rogers. IN the
town of FairhaVen. Conn, where he
was born, there we're mem bers of his
family who depended upon him for as
sistance. He needed d steady income,
and he found it IN a grocery store. He
took a place as a delivery boy at So a
week and board He made the most Of
the board, and sent the So home. For
five years he remained in the employ of
the grocer, advancing to the position Of
head clerk.
Then came the discovery of oil in
Pennsylvania, and in q little time New
Bedford was as dead as a mining town
that has been abandoned in q rush for
new diggings. Young Rogers drifted to
the oil fields He had learned d thing
or two about the oil trade in New Bed
ford. and his knowledge was practical
knowledge. He found profitable en-
D4Og lllEl4l 1Cdtlig El1uEt ~ aftti Il ~ otS
not long before he had a familiar per-
sonal acquaintance with the oil barOns.
He was prolific in ideas for saving and
marketing the product of the wells,
and some of the ideas were so good
that he was employed by one of the
big operators to carry them out. This
employment gave him confidence IL
himself and stimulated him to new
endeavOrs. He is said to have suggest
ed a scheme so stupendous that it al
most stunned his empIOyer-it was that
the owners of all producing oil wells
should pool their product and market
it through one concern. the idea being
to control the output, reduce the cost
of handling, fix d uniform price for GER
tain grades and stop competition
The project was discussed by certain
of the larger operators, and that pracu-
cally was the inception of the Standard
Oil company. But before that mighty
concern became mighty Rogers had i'm
proved upon his original plan. If cap
/ ital could be found it would be better
! to buy out all the small producers and
/ organize the larger ones into a com
pany that should control the trade
! The capital was found: many of the
smaller operators sold outright, but
| some Of the larger ones refused either
to come in or TO sell at the price Of
fered by the company.
But all that is Standard Oil history
/ only Rogers is not generally given tht
credit for the brainwoTk that made this
! immense combination possible and sue
CeSsful. There are even those who de-
| clare that the idea did not originate
with him at all. Still, he has long beer
/ q director in that corporation, is now
! one of its vice presidents, and has
/ grown immensely rich through his con.
I nection with it. The gTOcer's boy al
! 50 per week of fifty years ago is now
! reputed to be worth S65 900. GOO; so, yol
( see. his services in the oil fields mus
have been worth a little something.