The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-12-02
AMERICAN CARS ARE
GETTING MORE POWER
Something of the Immense
Wealth of Rockefeller and
What He Does,
0ne-twelfth of America $
Wealth Controlled by
Twenty four Men.

>. Wealth Controlled by
Twenty four Men.
Today, while the great American
voter Is keeping an eye on the strug-
gle of the workers against the priv
ileged class in Russia he should not
overlook the fact that we have czars
to deal with in this country who are
as oppressive and tyrannical as the
Russian product.
The declaration made by NJ. Witte,
the victor at the Portsmouth peace
conference, that despite universal suf-
frage in the United States capital has
obtained the upper hand and Is in full
control cannot be disputed by close
observers of the manipulations Of
frenzied f1nanciers.
The recent statement of the Chica-
go Record-Herald that Mr.. John D.
Rockefeller has arquired possession of
FL OF the leading railroads Of this
country, and in connection with the
Gould interests controls II other
who recently observed the manner in
which he secured control of the Unit
ed States Steel Corporation and is
gradually drawing the copper indus
try into his net.
"He has to buy railroad every
week." one man said to- New York
newspaper man in explaining, t1gura-
lively, the volume of the Rockefeller
income.
The New York Press, one of the
leading dailies of the metropolis,
prints the following interesting ac-
count of the colossal income of Rock
efeller:
: John D. Rockefeller's income is
now computed at $2.06 per second.
$123.66 40 per minute, $7,42O.O8 an
hour, $17S,0S2.08 day, $1,246,574.-
Sc week, and $65, 100000 per year.
with every tick of the clock there
drops into the Rockefeller strong
box more than 81. Day after night,
night after day, week in and week
out, month after month, as the
months grow into years, the ceaseless
rattle of the coin goes on. Musical
at first, then monotonous, then mad
dening. But the seconds never halt,
the clock never wearies, nor is the
golden flow ever damned except in
speech. Resistless, it pours like a
Niagara toward John D. Rockefeller,
Did he not provide outlets for it, it
would overwhelm him. This now is-
his ~problen-how to find channels
into which to turn the money flood.
Like handful of snow started down
a mountain side, gathering particles
as it rolls, growing and rolling, gain
ing 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 it's own mass and
threatening to engulf the hamlets be-
low-such is the momentum gained
by the Rockefeller fortune.
IF the daily income we're paid to
Rockefeller in $50 gold pieces they
would number little more than g.
900. These piled one on top of the
other, each one-tenth of. an inch in
thickness, would reach ~ feet 2
inches into the air, the heighth of a
six story building, and more than
IL times the height of Rockefeller
himself. Placed on a scale the daily
pile of gold would show a weight of
TAI 2-3 pounds, or more than five
times the weight of the richest man
in the world. Working at the wage
he made on the Cleveland water front
$40 per month-it would have
taken him more than 927 years
the lifetime of a Methuslah-to earn
the amount of money that now flows
to him in a single day.
"Standard oil, which forms the
base of the Rockefeller fortunes, is
yielding the greatest dividends since
it was organized, but great as is the
money yield from this source, the
Rockefeller income from other sourc-
es is larger. The millions upon mil
lions which have been invested by
Rockefeller in railroad stocks, bank
stocks, copper mines, lead mines, iron
mines, sugar stock, electric transport
tation systems, steamship lines, gas
stocks, natural gas, coal mines and
real estate are pouring in volume
of money that adds to the Rockefeller
task of keeping 1t employed.
1T is said John D. Rockefeller
never has lost money in an invest
ment. He has had to make some
queer deals in order to carry out his
plans at times and seemingly has
made bad investments, but they have
been for a purpose. Almost as uni
versal has been his winning in ac-
tions at law, and they have been
many. No one ever 1s more sure of
his position than Rockefeller when it
comes to a fight in the courts.
1.-The Rockefeller income today
represents one-ffth of 1 per cent of
all the wealth created in the United
States. This means that 500 men
with similar incomes would absorb
everything in the country, taken from
the mines with pick and powder,
drawn from the farms with plow and
pruning hook, turned out by the fac
tories with loom or lathe, or made in
any way whatsoever.
"Of actual money in the United
States there is less than $3o00O,O0O,-
non today. FiRurinR on the present