The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-31


A treasured by John .. Rockefeller
is an old account book, folio
faded and yellow from time and dog
cared from handling. Occasionally ne
takes il from its shelf and reads the
lines now growing dina IN 81 are en-
tries that show the Euclid Avenue Bap~
fist church Of Cleveland owes is cents
To him. OF this amount 4 cents was
advanced in cash for postage IN 1850
cents Tor paper ia 1853 and, ia the
same year. y cents for postage and
paper. The debt never had been liq-
Undated. and although he has said pub
icly and privately that the church may
have the money, still the indebtedness
shows on the books. In the same led
ger the first Mr.. Rockefeller ever kept,
are records of two contributions to a
missionary society each Tor 10 cents,
one made IN 1855 and the other early
n 1883
Reading these memoranda Of nearly
half q century ago. Mr.. Rockefeller re-
calls the days when he walked the
streets OF Cleveland. poor, almost
frieHdfees and out of work. He remeu-
bers his search for employment, where
by he might make money to keep him
self fed. clad and sheltered. de thinks
of the rebuffs he got and Of has keen
satisfaction when he found a place
on the water front at SIG month
out of this SIC a month he had TO feed,
clothe and lodge himself and contrib
ute 10 the church, for then as now MT
Rockefeller was q strict churchman.
he did IT and saved money.
He saved to such good purpose thai
the Rockefeller income today IS the
NEST. colossal in the world. IL is more
than twice as large as that OF az the
crowned heads OF Europe combined
II is thiTty-five times as great as that
of King Edward VII of England and
I've times as great as that of the car
OF Russia, the richest ruler of any ma
ton.
The Rockefeller income may be called
John DIS, but part of it goes TO his
brother William and some goes 10 his
neutenants. H. II. Rogers and James
Stillmau. How it is divided only the
four concerned know. They never Will
tell. Their policy is addition, division
and silence.
Today thu Rockefeller income is s2.O6
a second. S123. St 4-5 q minute, ST.4200S
an hour, S17S, 0S2.0S a day, S1.246,514.56 a
week and S65.000, 900 a year.
With every tick of the clock there
drops into the Rockefeller strong box
more than s.. Day after day, night
after night, week in and week out,
month after month as the months grow
into years the ceaseless "tick-toek,
Uck-tock" continues and the rattle of
the coin goes on. Musical at first, then
mOnotOnous. then maddening- But the
seconds never halt, the clock never
wearies nor is the golden flow ever
damned except in speech. Resistless,
IL pours like Niagara toward John ID,
Rockefeller. Did he not provide out
lets fer il, it would Overwhelm him.
This now Is his problem-tO find chan
nels into which TO turn the money
Eel - e-arsar erafa TOD
down mountain side. gathering par
ticles as it rolls, growing and rolling,
gaining speed with size and size with
speed until It becomes an avalanche
that thunders toward the valley, tear
ing out rocks and uprooting trees,
Welding them into its own mass and
threatening to engulf the hamlets be-
IGW-such is the momentum gained by
the R0ckefeller fortune
s4f the dailg income were paid TO Mr.
Rockefeller in $50 goid pieces they
would number a little more than $500.
These piled one on top Of the other
each one tenth of an inch in thickness,
would reach seventy-fOur feet two
inches into the air, the height of a six
story building, and more than twelve
times the height of Mr.. Rockefeller
himself. Placed on a scale, the daily
pile of gold would show a weight Of
al % pounds, OF mote than five times
the weight Of the richest man in the
world. Working al the wage he made
on the Cleveland water front, il would
have taken him more than 9Z1 years
the lifetime OF Methuselah-to earn the
amount Of money that now flows to him
in a single day.
And that is why it is the burden of
Mr.. Rockefeller's life TO find channels
into which he can defect the great
stream Of gold that flows upon him.
He has 10 buy a railroad every
week" one man said IN explaining, fiS-
uratively, the volume of the R0ckefei-
Ter income, and he didn't exaggerase
much In saying this.
Standard OIL which forms the base
Of the Rockefeller fortunes, is yie3ding
the greatest dividends since il was or
ganized. but great as is the money
yield from this source the Rockefeller
income from other sources is larger.
The millions upon millions which have
been invested by Rockefeller in railroad
stocks. bank stocks, copper mines, lead
mines. iron mines, sugar stocks. electric
transportation systems, steamship lines.
gas stocks, natural gas, coal mines and
real estate are pouring in a volume of
money that adds 10 the Rockefeller task
of keeping II employed.
10 is said John ID. Rockefeller never
has lost money in an investment he
has had TO make some queer deals in
order to carry out his plans at times
and seemingly has made bad invest-
mepts, but they have been for a puT-
pose. Almost az Unfs ersai has been MS
winning in actions at law, and they
have been many. No one ever is more
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