The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-12-08

/ I
IL NM is identified have been
az M .overshadoWed. in meas
| ure, by the great wealth of
his brother. Standard Oil and John y.
| Rockefeller are popularity regarded as
| nearly Synonymous, although William
| Rockefeller is one Of the most i'm
| Dortant factors in that corporation. In
his everyday life he differs radically
from the Oil King in that lie possesses
greater physical ana moral courage, is
| less misanthropic, n1ingles more freely
with his fellows, md never has sought
to conceal himself nor place his person
under the protection of all armed
guard, except when he was in danger
Of assassination in the Adirondacks,
following his requirement of vast
tracts of land which drove scores of
trappers and guides to desperation.
He is thoroughly selfish, and generosity
Or sympathy has no place in his mental
equipment. He has caused the eviction
Of the poor and helpless, and has
fought the payment of taxes on what
lie calls 'principle" No man is more
F.; heartily hated in the Adirondack region
Than he.
William Rockefeller is intimately as
| located both by marriage and bust
hess relations with the most powerful
moneyed interests in the world. He
married the sister of James Stillman,
President of the National City Bank,
and this relationship brought him into
Etill closer contact with the great
liduciary Institution, and it's head. He
was born siXty-one years ago in Tioga
County, New York, and was educated
in the Owego Academy and the public
/ schools of Cleveland. The faculties
of perception and acquisitiveness We're
the most conspicuous traits i'll his char
acter when at the age of seventeen
he dropped his schoolbools and became
h bookkeeper for a miller.
Before he was tWenty-one he had
formed connection with a rival flour
mill, and had just turned twenty one
i when he became partner in the con-
rem. In 1864 lie went into the oil
business in Il modest way with his
brother, John D., in Cleveland. The
brothers had associated with them
Samuel Andrews, veteran in the oil
business, and the three built little
refinery, which they called the Stand
ard Oil Works. The name meant moth
| ing then.
Just after the close of the Civil War
the business of the Standard had ex-
banded to such all extent that an East
ern manager was needed to market it's
products. William came to New York
and founded the firm of Rockefeller
Bros. to handle the output OF the Cleve-
land refineries, for by that time these
were two controlled by the men who
started the Standard. In 1870 the part
| nership was dissolved and it's place
| was taken by the Standard Oil Com
pany Of Ohio, with a capital of 81 ,OO0,-
| 900.
The Standard Oil Trust came into ex-
istence in 1882, and the Standard Oil
Company Of New York was organized
| with William Rockefeller as President.
He was made Vice-President of tho
trust. From that day to this he has
been intimately associated with all the
ranlifications of the gigantic monopoly.
and, while his name is not as conspic-
| nous as that Of his brother. he pos
sesses a wider knowledge in detail Of
lie corporation whose power spreads to
all the countries Of the world.
The death of Cornelius Vanderbilt in
1890 made William Rockefeller the cen
trail figure in the most powerful ANAL
CANA ton of industrial and railroad in
| terests the world had known to that
| time. Rockefeller took MI. Wander
bilt's place in the Board of Directors
| of the New York Central railroad and
| his election was the tie that welded the
Rocket eller-Vanderbilt alliance. The
! capital pooled in this combination was
billion dollars. The Vanderbilt roads
proper then had $4,000 miles Of track,
but including the Southern Pacific sys-
tenn the total trackage was about &c.
900 miles. The Rockefellers were in
! terested in about 1900 miles of rail-
road, so that the merging of the two
great interests meant the control of
| about one-fourth of the entire mileage
| of the United States. This community
OF interests was successful from the
beginning. In 1900 the alliance was
made still stronger by the election of
| William Rockefeller to the Presidency
Of the Lincoln National Bank, one of
the strongest of the, Vanderbilt fiduci-
ary institutions. >;
| At the time this election took place
Mr.. Rockefeller was the active man in
Standard Oil, and was associated in
the Board Of Directors with his brother,
John D.; II. NJ. Fla gler, John D. Arch
bold, H. H. Rogers, w. A. Tilford, "A.
VI. McGregor, Paul Babcock and CT NJ.
Pratt. The company was at the very
zenith of it's poWer'and had contempt
for the Legislators it owned and the
judicial officers it had corrupted. +
Notwithstanding the tremendous de.
nand on his time by reason of his new
Informed connection with the Wander.
bits, William Rockefeller found, the
opportunity to continue campaign lie
had begun. i'll 1896 for the purchase
i Nf I1,,