The Washington times., 1904-06-05

zone OF these-a little article which
entitled The King OF Paris and which
described the work Of NJ Alphand. the
supervisor Of public worKs-attracted
Mr.. McClure's attention. He wrote me
an encouraging letter. and asked me
to submit articles, which. OF course.
gladly did.
"A little later wrote another ar
ticle. which Scribner's accepted. Mr..
Mcclure then wrote me that he was
coming to Paris a little later. and that
when he did ne wished 70 see me When
ne did he told me about his starting
his new magazine. and wanted me 70
contribute TO that which I agreed to
DO. Then I wrote him various things,
all of which were published IN that
ma gazine.
''The completion Of my life Of Nine.
Roland was really the end OF my career
over there 1 had been away from
home three years and was homesick- I
was anxious TO come back. and having
the material in hand and other ideas to
work UP. I decided to return.
When I reached here I submitted
my biography OF Nine. Roland 10
'Scribner's Magazine and II was ac-
cePted. 1 also formed an editorial con-
nection with 'AIcCIure's,' which has
never been broken
Napoleonic Data in Washington.
when came back from Paris. Mr..
Mcclure was thinking Of publishing
some material about Napoleon. and
wished me 10 get it up He knew
had been in Paris during the big revival
OF Napoleonic literature over there. and
thought I would be the one to do it.
/ told him I world undertake IL, and
thought once Of going back to Paris to
work it up. but when I went 10 Wash
| iugton and cav the large amount OF
/ NapOleonic data 70 be found there. I.
! decided that I could do it just as well
/ from this side Of the water. So I FIN
/ ished it here
The Lincoln history was simply a
case Of looking up some people who had
! known Lincoln and getting them to
/ write their Impressions OF him 1 went
TO various parts OF the country on this
| mission, and when 1 found them 1 al
/ most invariably encountered some one
who could not write What they knew
| was interesting but seldom important
| enough to base an entire sketch on.
I did get hold Of a large amount OF
| original material. however. which
seemed 10 warrant me in attempting
an original life. and so did
Standard Oil History.
'aThe Standard on series came 10 be
/ written in this wise:
I'VE had been discussing for some time
how we could handle the trust ques-
ton in the magazine, and I suggested
that one way Of doing it would be 70
deal with the history Of a typical trust
Ike the Standard OIL Company.
The suggestion grew upon me. After
three or four months it was decided
that since the matter was so largely in
| the public eye 1 should Undertake it.
] I had been raised in the oil regions and
was familiar with most OK lie investiga-
/ tons that had been made As Consc-
quence 1 started out and began 20 pre-
pare T.
knowing that Rockefeller had been
raised ana been a business man in Clevc-
land, and that the Standard OIL Com
pany had its first beginning there,
| went to that city and began 10 search
! Tor records Naturally I &C nre across
many cd documents, newspaper &C
| counts. business agreements. court rec
| ords. and the like which threw a very
/ clear light on the early life OF Rookie
Teller.
Search for Rockefeller Records
From there I went to my own home
country. OIL City. and TrtusviIle. where
the great oil wells had been discovered
and where the Rockefeller interests first
attempted combination Of all oil pro-
l ducticu-
Then I went to Pittsburg, Philadel-
phia. New York, ana Boston where the
great railroad and financial schemes
| were prepared. and finally L interviewer
the trust ma gnates themselves, learning
little. however, that I had not known
before.
zone Of these magnates-a man well
known 70 the country, but whose name
do not care 10 mentiOn-sent for ne
and after processing the greatest inter-
est In the work asked what l was going
to say about certain deals with which
he had been connected 1 told him that
| I proDoeed TO tell the facts as 1 found
them. and that these faces could all bc
7 had without any aid from the ROckefel-
? Ter interests, II necessary
II realize that he replied Well
there IS no use 1enying anything now.
Then he We md up by giving me only
so much information as already had.