Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-14
WHY Ed TALK
IF He WOULD
MISS TARBELL TELLS WHAT
WOULD HAPPEN
N Rockefeller and She Were to Meet
World Would Know Of II, Writer
onfesses--White Of
Kansas Talks
BY Ethel Dodson

ny EhlCl SOuSOU
What would Ida M. Tarbell do IL
she were brought face to face with
John u. Rockefeller?
Would you like to know?
Curiosity on that point Is only nat
ural.
The woman who for the past year has
had the distinction of roasting that
benevolent old multi-milllonaire In
monthly installments for the enjoy
ment of the readers of McClures mag
azine thought 1t funny question,
when 1 asked her last night.
She did not say so, but | knew 1t
from the light of mischief that sparkled
for moment in her eyes and the
humorous twitching of her mobile lips.
"If / were to meet John d. Rockefel-
Ter face to face" she replied quickly,
II should first take a good look and
then try to get him to talk"
In other words she would walk right
up and put her head in the lions
mouth.
Miss Tarbell has not always been
engaged in throwing literary pitch
forks at the head of John D. Rockefel
Ter. In the. early days of her career
her pen was more humbly employed.
Her Start
about my first magazine work was
lOI TIE sic cdlhs
wrote about most everything"
"You never, never wrote about-er-
fashions?" 1 asked, hesitatingly. "It
couldn't be possible and yet"
YES" she replied, unblushingly, II
wrote about fashions. 1 even wrote
series of articles on etiquette" With
that the Ida Tarbell smile flashed out.
1t was delicious to her, whose mordant
satire has brought the ridicule of a
nation on a powerful family, to think
back to those days of writing fashions.
"Then l went to Paris" she con-
tinued, land studied three years, all
the time paying my way with journal
istic work. 1 wished to be maya
zinist"-did she coin that word, I WON
der?-"and so devoted myself to the
study Of Frech historical methods. The
history Of Madame Roland was pre-
pared while there. The history of Ma
poleon naturally followed this, after
my return to the United States. Then
was asked by McClures to undertake
the Standard oil series-and that is
how it came about" she finished, smil-
ing again.
Miss Tarbell is seeing California with
Mr.. and Mrs. John 8. Phillips, under
the guidance of William Allen White
of Kansas fame. Mr.. Phillips is the
editor Of McClure's.
White Writes
"When it came Mr.. Whites turn
he was ready with an answer before
asked him question. Let me say
right here that Mr.. White is the most
accommodating person that ever was.
He wrote his own interview. Kansas
chivalry for you! He began by telling
me why he preferred being country
editor to anything else, and 1 asked
him If he thought the country the best
Tl1o for n OF WI
reer."
LET me write that for you," he re-
piled briskly, and wheeling about in
his chair began to scratch off page
after page on THE Young Man and
the Country" 1t took him just fifteen
minutes with two stops when the right
word did not come quickly enough. He
handed it to me without alteration and
here it Is:
"Should young man start his career
in the country?"
"That depends on what you wish
your young man to do and to be. If
you wish him to make money, by all
means send him to the city. There is
no money in a country town. But if
you desire the young man to succeed
in life let him stay where he is
Success, Of course, is not spelled by
money.
1.-THE richest man in the world is the
most miserable failure-a fugitive from
Justice daring not to meet an officer of
the law.
Success means service to your fell
low man. A man may succeed in
country town, may serve his fellows,
may make them happier, wiser and
better just as we'll in country town
as in a city. And it does not matter
much whether he is rich or poor in
doing it.
INV
who has hundred dollars month to
spend and the man who has thousand
dollars month or a week or day is
not worth calculating.
I'm a country town for a hundred
dollars a month a man may live in a
furnace-heated, electric-llghted house.
have a telephone, a horse and buggy,
| a hired girl for his wife and keep his
children in a good school until they
| are of age. He can wear decent
| clothes, can move in the best circle,
he can be a power in local politics for
good, he can impress himself on his
town and his state.
what more can the richest man in
the world do? The definition Of success
is the whole thing.
Success no longer means wealth in
| America.
"More and more we are envying the
man who moves the world without
money-men like Roosevelt. Edison,
Folk Jerome, Tesla, La Toilette and
men of that kind; and less and less
are we envying the men like Gould,
Morgan, Rockefeller, Hartman,
Yerkes John T. Gates and men of that
type.
1.-THE boy Of tomorrow who follows IN
the path Of the rich men will wake up
in his old age disappointed, broken.
hearted man. For the world will only
| sigh at his failure"