The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-23

!. Character Study, in the July 81
s McClure's.
deep impression on Mr.. Rockefeller,
Again and again in his later years he
has, referred to the experience in the
little, talks he has given at Sunday
school n ~ and 7; church 5 gatherings Again
gratitude that finally he did find po-
sition. 1t was a modest enough one,
that of a clerk in warehouse on the
Cleveland docks.
Rockefeller's Good Mother.
emo doubt his mother had much to
DC in shaping the boys mind to serious
fine, keen face of John D. Roclefeller's
mother which recalls the face of Lee
titia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon b.
naparte, and convinces one that she
could not but, have been a power with
her boys, tho there is little enough to
go on in trustworthy tradition and rec
ords. That she kept. her children in
friends of hers at Strongsville and Par
ma, Ohio, speak Of her with profound
respect.
How Rockefeller Keeps Mum.
"From the first concea1ment was the
very key to the game. Mr.. Rockefel-
ler's skill in concealing the truth was
mastery. His is not a frank nature.
ma was with s Years fe habt en Of s HGnns
became the habit Of concealment. 1t
was not long after the Standard Oil
company was founded before it was
said in Cleveland that it's offices were
the most difficult in the town to enter,
MI. Rockefeller the most difficult man
SEE be- was s anHg got Il to ANY
man?' he asked an associate nervously
| one day, calling him away when the
latter was chatting Withf a stranger
! An old friend, Mr.. Rockefeller, What
does he want here9 Be careful. Don t
my friend, Mr.. Rockefeller. He does
not want to know. anything. He has
come to see me- You never can tell.
| Be very careful. very careful This
caution gradually developed into a
Chinese wall of seclusion. This sus-
| picion extended, not only to all out
siders, but most insiders. Nobody in
| to know any more than was necessary
| for him to know to do his business.
Men who, have been. officers in the
! Standard Oil company say that they
have been told, when asking for ,infor-
nation about the condition of the
business, You'd better not know: Ii
you know nothing you can tell nothing. }
"Along with conceaAnent of his own
affairs went watchfulness Of other peo-
pie IS affairs. From the beginning he
saw how useful it is to know what your
neighbors are doing. It was not diff
fcult to learn. Business men in Cleve-
land in those days were openly loqua-
cious. It was frank, expansive pc
Rod. What was the fun if you could
4o1
listener. He helped his friend to full
confession by his gentle and respectful
attention and his occasional friendly
questions. AS time went on he did
more than listen to those who were
willing to talk. He set his employees
to finding out things. He began to
tabulate what they learned. But this
was not enough. He began to employ
men in the concerns whose business in
terested him to give him information
and this information was tabulated
In time he developed a system SO per
feet that it's results are today actually
matter of elaborate and expensive
bookkeeping. It is something Ma
: poleon never achieved in the palmiest
days of his cabinet noir.
Rockefeller Lost Chance.
stIt is supposable that Mr.. Rookie
teller when he went into the rebate
scheme had never considered the mora
and public questions involved in it. But
if he went into it without thought, i'm
: mediately consideration of it's ethica
meaning was forced upon him by hun
dred throats. The newspapers lashet
Ohio and Pennsylvania both hurried t,
introduce clauses into their constitu
> ton forbidding such practices as thos
contemplated. Congress stripped tn
: company for the public to see it's mean
ing, and called it a conspiracy. At tn
same time the railroads, frightened b,
the uproar made, signed written con
!, tracts with the oil producers to abolis
: forever the rebate system from the OF
$ industry. Mr.. Rockefeller receive
7 enough instruction, in the Fundamental
8 principle Of fair play and in the dutie
of the common carrier, in the spring O
1872, to have convinced his moral sens
$ of wrong-doing and his reason of the il
justice of the rebate system if he ha
been open to conviction. Now what di
Mr.. Rockefeller dos Did he say: Her,
k I went into that without realizing it
n injustice. I had never thought Of tn
4 railroad as anything but private bus
J. ness. / supposed / had the same RICH
s to bargain for transportation that ha
g for barrels. I see now that the railroa
Y is public servant, bound to tres
il everybody alike. I see that there
It an ethical question, and, of course,
IS want to be on the right side. I will
Y draw, and I will join the men Of the o
It country in these contracts they hay
e made with the railroads stopping 70
d ever this whole vicious business?'
+ No, Mr.. Rockefeller said nothin
of the kind. He went to Mr.. Vande
e bilt and, by series of arguments an
r threats easy enough to divine, he Of
t. tanned secret rebate on his shipment
It not SO sweeping as he had planned, bl
e sufficient to give an advantage owe
7. other men; and he did not cease b
Q efforts until he had not only a rebat
g on his shipments over all the oil-carr,
his ieae co pe shpped over ON at toa
Is roads. While the whole body of me
a in his trade were allied openly to put a