The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-04-10
"H0W | GOT RICH
John D. Rockefeller Publishes
a Pamphlet
FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS
Tells of Hardships of H i
EARLY Manhood.

The following was written by John D.
Rockefeller, the richest man in the world.
and was distributed by him last Sunday
to members OF his sons Bible class at the
Fifth Avenue Baptist church. in the
shape of small pamphlet with a cover,
ike a leader:
/ was trained in business affairs, and
/ was taught how to keep a ledger. The
practice of keeping a little personal
ledger by young men just starting in
| business. and earning money and requir-
ing TO learn its value, 1t. 1 think. a good
one. In the first struggle 10 get a foot
ing-and il you feel as I did ! am sorry
| for you, although 1 would not be without
the memory of that struggle kept my
accounts in this book. and also some
memoranda of little incidents that
seemed to me important. In after years
l found that book apd brought it to
| New York. 1t is more than forty-two
years since 1 wrote what 1t contains. l
call it ledger A. and now i place the
greatest value upon it. / have thought il
| would be a little help 10 some of you
young men if l gave one or two extracts
| from this ledger
When 1 found this book recently j
| thought il had no cover. because ! saw
| that it had writing upon its back. But
| had utilized the cover to write upon.
| In those days 1 was economical. even
| with paper. When / read il through IL
brought 10 my mind membranes OF
| the care with which I used to record my
little items of receipts and disburse-
| ments-matters. 1 think, which many of
! you young men are rather careless about.
| believe it is a religious duty to get
all the money you can, fairly and honest
| ly; TO keep all You can, and give away
all you can. i think that is a problem
that you are all familiar with. l have
| told you before what pleasure this little
| book gives me. / dare not let you read
! it through, because my children. who
have read it, say that I did not spell
toothbrush correctly. But then. you
know, we have made great progress in
our spelling. and 1 suppose some changes
| have taken place since those days. /
have not seen this book for twenty-five
years. 1t does not look like a modern
ledger. does It? But you could not get
| that book from me for all the modern
! Iedgers in New York, nor for all that
they would bring.
1t almost brings tears to my eyes when
l read over this little book. and 1t fills
me with sense of gratitude that can
not express 1t shows largely what 1
received and what l paid out during my
| first years of business. / shows that
from September 26. 1855. until January l.,
| 1856. / received $50. Out Of that 1 paid
| nv washerwoman and the lady 1 boarded
with, and I saved a little money to put
away. I am not ashamed to read 1t over
to you.
Among other things. find that I gave
a cent to the Sunday school every Sun
day. That is not very large sum. is II?
| But that was all the money l had TO
| give for that particular object. l was
! also giving 10 several other religious OBJ
| jects. and what / could afford TO give
regularly, as l was taught to do. and IL
| has been a pleasure TO me all my life TO
| 90 So.
| had a large increase in my revenue
| the next year. II went up 10 IS month.
/ / began to be. a capitalist. and had l re-
garded myself then the same way as
we regard capitalists now. | ought TO
have felt like a criminal because | had
| So much money. But we had no trusts
or monopolies then. paid my own bills.
and always had a little something TO
give away. and the happiness of saving
some. In fact. / am not so independent
now as / was then. II is true l could not
secure the most fashionable cut Of cloth
ing. l remember 1 bought mine then Of
a cheap clothier He sold me clothing
/ cheap. clothing such as | could pay for.
hen hx-x-
ing clothing that / could not pay for.
| did not make any obligations | could
not meet lived within my means, and
my advice TO you. young men, is to do
just the same
To nv mina there is something unfor-
/ tunate in being born in the city You
have not had the struggles in the city
that we have had who were reared in the
country Don't you notice how the men
from the country keep crowcing you oG'
here-you who have wealthy fathers
These young men from the country are
turning things around and are taking
your city We men from the country
are willing to do more work We were
| prepared by our experience 10 do hard
work
I remember little time ago / was u
the country and / saw a carpenter plsc
ing mineral wool under the roof Of
CITY servants bedroom so that the maj
| should not feel the heat Of summer Of
hear the patter Of the raIndroPs on IN
! roof / could not al that time help re
! calling the experience Of my ooyhooE
when ! slept under roof could So
the shingles and / remember j coui'
/ peep through The cracks 81 them But
think / was better for ali that sort o
experience. for having been reared Il
the country in that sturdy. practice
yav. and ny heart Is sometimes fun o
sadness as 1 contemplate the condition.
Of a number Of young fellows n thu
. city whom happen II know well
They are in the embarrassing posiiio'
.. that their fathers have great sums o
u,onev. and those boys have mt q shos
=. a chance 20 compete with you VII
come from the country. and VINO want =
! "a something in the world You are Il
training now 70 shortly take tn plses
OF those young men. I suppose y5u esn
not realize how many eyes are upon yos
and how great Is the increasing iatsfes
hat is taken IL you- Yo1 MAJ not tainl
that. when you are lonely and ind J
: si~ic,5l. 70 get footi1E. But Il r. trv
that in a place ike this true interest
taken II YOU When I lea the schoo
! house I came into 3 place similar 20 thAs
! where associated with people Vhc-n
. was good 70 know Nothing better ooEA
have happened TO ne-
THE MAN WHO Is REALLY POOR
I spoke tust now of The struggle q
success. What is success Il i money
some OF yog have ali ths uaen~T 20
L naed 20 rrnvlSs Tor ynur vants VIZ