The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1903-05-02
HISTORY OF A FORTUNE.
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER TO BE A
BILL!ONki7E.
Million on million Being Piled Up In
Profits From Oil, Railroad and Bank
When the Standard Gil King Al
most Went Broke-His Destiny.

most Went Broke-Eiis Destiny.
David Graham Phillips writes as fol-
lows in the Philadelphia Saturday
Evening Post:
Among the great fortunes Of the
world today there are two that tower
colossal-the Rothscshild and the
Rockefeller. No one-not even the
heads of the two hOuses-knowS just
how large these fortunes are. few
years ago John d. Rockefeller said up
ON the witness stand that he was IN
able to tell how much he was worth
within several millions. Indeed, there
Is no way Of estimating accurately
these modern fortunes, invested in
many ways and subject to daily, hourly
fluctuations. Probably billion and
a half of dollars is as near to accur-
acy as it is possible to come in state
ing the wealth of the house of Roths-
child. AS for the house OF Rockefeller,
a business associate of the elder and
many times the richer of the two broth
ers said within year: John d. Rookie
feller is worth not far from three
quarters Of billion, and he will pres
emily be the first Millionaire the world
has ever had. IF the estimate were
based upon income-certainly as fair
a way as to attempt to value capital
John D. Rockefeller would today be
classed as a Millionaire half on the
way toward his second billion. And
there are in addition the several hund-
red millions of his brothers fortune.
and the many millions of the three or
four allied members of the family.
The Rockefeller fortune was founded
upon credit capital. In 1875 John d.
Rockefeller was a considerable oil
merchant. But his schemes for mon
opolizing the oil business Of half the
world were trembling between success
and failure. In that year there were
three weeks when he walked the floor
night after night, sleepless, fighting
the ruin that seemed to be closing in
around him. 1t is said that his wife
exclaimed: II wish John would 60
bankrupt, for then he would get some
Sleep" It is said that the nervous in
digestion which now compels him to
the quietest Of lives and to diet of
crackers and milk at SO 2-5 degrees
Fahrenheit dates from that terrible
three weeks. He owed the banks .of
Cleveland 81, ZOO, 900. He could not pay;
they were pressing him. but Gid not
dare to close in upon him. They knew
that if he failed 1t would swamp them
and would precipitate a panic in
Cleveland-Cleveland was not so large
and rich in those days, and $1,000
was big sum Of money, even in Wall
street.
The Rockefeller fortune may there
fore be dated from 1875, the year when
the founding crisis was passed, though
the big returns did not begin to come
until about 1885, the enormous returns
until less than ten years ago.
From 1860 to 1875 Rockefeller was
reaching out and out to take posses
sion of his promised land His brother,
and their intimate friends lddghed at
him, tried to dissuade him, warned
him. They, too, would buy oil wells,
but they would make what they could
and sell out before the we'll caught fire
or ran dry. He bought to keep, bought
burning wells and extinguished the
fires, bought dry wells in the hope that
they would some day yield to the
pump. And when his brother and their
intimates saw that there was method
in his madness, he invited them in,
practically gave them as present
the shares that were to make them
multi-millionaires. And, slow and te-
nacious and saturated with his "mys-
tic" of manifest destiny, he marched
on to the Montenotte of 1875 The
reaching out on small capital, the ris-
ing clamor and fury against his merci-
less methods Of monopoly, brought on
that crisis.
Until the secret history of the Stand
ard OIL company is written, and it
probably never will be-no one ey-
cept John D. Rockefeller will know
how that crisis was passed and how
and power were obtained
through those contracts with the rail-
ways which made competition with
hopeless and forced al
most all the oil men, producers, re-
(lners and sellers, to choose between
submission and ruin.
Another point in tho development
Of the great American fortune is co1-
troll of railways-the arteries of the
whole people. 1t is next in Importance
to monopoly Of some natural prod
lct. Rockefeller scored both points.
1t was about 1884 that some of the
counsel discovered a way
Of freeing him from the bondage of
anti-monopoly law, method of re-
him into legality and safe
ty. Soon the period of insecurity
the general public did
not know it and the press and the
politicians were still bowling Rookie.
teller was able to shake off his pur-
suers and dismiss his horde of law
yers. He had at lasr large, secure
income.
And now baran the rapiC increase.