The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1903-05-02

| 81 " vi SoiID.thy ltClil lHc SiHSIc CCll-
corn to a oonglomerate of about GO
corporations, each engaged in a sepa-
rate department Of the industry They
| utilized the crude oil in Thousand d
ways. turning to account the discover.
| iCs Of science which the scientists
gave freely to the world. Soon, so
many and SD valuable were the by
| products of oil production that the
! oil itself cost the Rockefellers practi-
cally nothing at all-for the by-prod-
ing, refining, transportation and sale.
For Is years, Mr.. Rockefeller and his
group have been selling about thou
sand million gallons of oil a year at
prices ranging from 5 to 20 cents a
gallon, and averaging about 7 cents;
and, as tho byproducts have increased
in number and in value, they have
put into their pockets as clear profit
mere ard moro of tho entire selling
price of the oil. Today that selling
price is estimated to be all clear pro-
fit, and it is said that there is in addi-
tion profit Of from 100000 to $780,
100000 upon the by-products. This
explains why the profits of the Rookie
fellers from their trust are greater by
many millions annually than the val
NC of the petroleum production.
About 10 years ago Rockefeller's in
come was given as s3O,O00.OOO by an
excellent authority. He had reached
the limit of profitable reinvestment
of profits in the oil industry. Here
then werc these enormous sums in
cash pouring in-more than S2,000,00G
a month for John Dawson Rockefeller
alone. The problem of reinvestmert
became more than serious. 1t became
a nightmare. The oil income was
swelling, and the number Of sound in
vestments is limited, was then even
more limited than it now is. 1t was
through no especial eagerness for more
gains that the Rockefellers began to
branch out from oil into other things.
The first conspicuous excursion and
iDcursion of the Rockefellers was into
the railway field. BY 1895 they con-
trolled one-fifih of the railway mile
age of the country. What do they
own or, through dominant ownership,
control today? They are powerful in
all the great railways of New York,
north. east and west, except one
where their share is only few mil
lions. They are in most Of the great
railways radiating from Chicago. They
dominate in several of the systems
that extend to the Pacific. 1t is their
votes that make Mr.. Morgan so potent
though, it may be added, they need
mis- brains more than he needs their
votes-at present, and the combination
of the two constitutes in large meas
ure the community of interest"
But railways could not alone absorb
rapidly enough those mighty floods Ut
gold; presently John D. Rockefeller's
s2,50O,000 monthly had increased to
four, to five, to six millions month,
to s75,C00,0c0 a year. Illuminating oil
was becoming all profit; the reinvest-
ments 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.
The latest industry into which tho
Rockefellers have gone is banking.
There they already dominate, and
there they think they have found the
solution of their investment problem
FOR few years, at least. And it is
within the possibilities that the Rookie
feller banking adventure may cause
convulsion-a greater convulsion,
perhaps, than that which shook the
country when John d. Rockefeller first
introduced the industrial monopoly to
the American people and began to
force its acquaintance and society
upon them.
The Rockefeller bank-the National
City bank--is by herself far and away
the biggest bank in the United States.
1t is exceeded in the world only by
the Bank of England and the Bank of
France The deposits average more
than $100,000,000 a day; and it domi-
mates the call loan market on Wall
street and the stock market. But 1t is
not alone: it is the head of the Rookie
feller chain of banks, which includes
IA banks and trust companies in New
York City, and banks of great strength
and influence in every large money
centre in the country.
The chief business Of these banks is
to receive the Rockefeller income and
lean it to spectators. manufacturers,
merchants and farmers throughout
The country And the Rockefellers not
only are relieved from much of their
former anxiety over investments, but
also receive double profit. There is
the profit of the interest which the
banks pay them for their huge cash
balances SO and Is and even of 100
millions steadily maintained from day
10 day these largest private handlers
Of cash the world has ever seen; then
there arc all profits of dividends which