The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-03-03

In preparing data 10 be submitted 10
Commissioner Garfield.
Lawson, eager to get into the fight
has sent word that to help the investi-
gators he will go TO Washington bare
foot in the snow. IL necessary.
At New York. District Attorney
Jerome is preparing To bring proceed
ings against the directors of the
Standard in an effort to indict them
for conspiracy as defined in section
16S of the penal code.
Secretary Hitchcock, head of the in
terror department, and ex-Secretary
Hoke Smith are being drawn into the
fight too, through the blanket lease of
100000 acres OF oil lands in Indian
territory granted to the Standard for
ten years by Smith in 1896 Mr.
Hitchcock says this deal is a public
scandal and Mr.. Smith replies that
the field had not been tested and that
there was little hope of finding oil.
But the upshot of it all may be that
the Standard may lose part or all of
its valuable Usage leases.
Even Paul Morton may not escape
the investigation of Standard Oil
methods in Kansas. Charges have
been filed against the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa Fe Railroad company
alleging that this company, by raising
rates until they were prohibitive, as
sisted the Standard in driving an in
dependent refner out of the business,
in no 10
make the producers completely depen-
dent upon the Standards pipe line.
These acts are alleged to have taken
place while Secretary Paul Morton
was in charge of the Atchisons traffic.
When the lower house of congress
ordered unanimously the investigation
of the Standard, it had a marked eff
feet upon the stock of the company, a
decline of 20 points being noted in a
few days. The stock has been held at
$50 and it dropped to $50, with an
uneasy feeling prevailing.
1t certainly looks as though the
Standard Oil ship had drifted upon
troublous waters, and that all the oil
Of its thousands of storage tanks
throughout the world would not be
sufficient TO quiet the rising waves
which may yet wash over its decks
and bring disaster.
We speak of the Standard Oil COM
pany and we think of the man who is
the brains and sinew, yes and money
too, of the gigantic corporation-John
ID. Rockefeller, who began 30 years
ago with nothing and to-day counts
his wealth in the hundreds of millions.
He is by all odds the richest man in
the world How did he get within
his grasp all this wealth? What of
the man and what of his methods?
In discussing Rockefeller and his
millions in a recent issue Of the New
York World. Earl Mayo declares that
nothing in the career of this man has
been accidental except the place of his
birth. which occurred at Richland. n. Y,
in 1899 and about which presumably he
had nothing to say. The means by
which he rose TO wealth was the COM
bination of an idea with an opportunity.
Oil happened to be the opportunity. but
if the marvellous richness of the oil fields
never had been discovered the idea
would have been applied to some other
business and Rockefeller still would
have been one of the country's richest
men.
We think of trusts as a development
Of the last ten or twenty years, but
Rockefeller long before this. yea. %
years prior, grasped the idea and blazed
the way for the other trusts that have
followed in the train of the Standard.
The control of industry, elimination of
competition. community of interest. reg
ulation of output. consolidation under
a single control. all were a part of his
plan. He led the Standard Oil TO it's
present eminence over a rocky road
which has since become smooth by much
travelling. What was exceptional and
unheard of then has become ordinary
and matter of fact.
Mr. Rockefeller does believe in the
industrial system which he represents
and which he has done so much TO fur
Their. His commercial creed is founded
upon the theory of the survival of the
fttest.
I'VE are better able to run your bust
ness than you are. We will pay you
fair price for it and will conduct it our
selves, but we will provide for you
by paying you a salary to manage it Cor
to do whatever work you are best fit
ted for) and you will thus have a GER
tainty to depend upon instead of the
uncertainty and the possibility of losing
your entire business which exists under
the competitive system. Therefore, You
will be better off than before. We will
be better off because we can mike more
money on a smaller margin of profit
If we handle all the business. The
public will be better off because. through
the economies of management on large
scale, it can secure its necessities at a
lower or at least at a more regular price
than before.
THE fact that we make big fortunes
for ourselves by this process is not un-
just for we have demonstrated that we
are more capable than the rest of you
by getting control of the business.
Therefore we are entitled to a greater