The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-09-13
THE RICH MANS SON.
Opportunities Offered to Follow IN
His Fathers Steps.

DAYS of great corporations and great
er financial interests dominating them,
not singly, or in twos or threes, nut
by the scores and hundreds, whence
are coming the men who in the next
generation shall man and officer the
mighty ship of finance.
Within the domains of STANDARD
Oil'' may be found perhaps the most
notable illustration of many sons be-
ing trained up to fill the places Of their
fathers, and the fact is particularly
interesting because the elders are mon
drawn together by the varied circum
stances of business competition, ana
for the most part quite unrelated. In
deed, STANDARD Oil' is primarily an
institution of families. Beginning with
the ROckefellers, one goes down ire
list of Flaglers and Pratts and Bed
fords in the oil business proper, and
the Stillmans in the larger circle OF
financial influence. Henry II. Rogers,
recognized as the virtual head Of the
SYSTEM has been always something
of a solitary figure, and John D. Arch
bold, another. So, to certain extent,
has been James Stillman, president OF
| the National City Bank, the principal
institution Of it's kind within the
Standards bailiwick.
1t is interesting to see how this
family institution is being maintained
| In the first place there is John d.
Rockefeller, Jr., who has already as
sumed many of his fathers inter-
ests outside of the inner circle OF
Standard Oil affairs. In fact, it has
| always been a hobby of the elder
Rockefeller not to be in many direc-
torates and at the present time the
corporation directory gives. his name
only in the board Of the Standard OIL
Company of New Jersey, of which
he is president.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., started a
! daily grind as soon as he was grad
| uated from Brown University in 1898.
He succeeded to his fathers place
in the directorate of the United States
Steel Corporation, the Delaware Lack
awanna and Western and Missouri
Pacific Railroads, and as a trustee OF
| the University of Chicago. He is, Of
/ course a director of the Standard Oil
Company, and also represents mis-
fathers personal interests in the Col
orado Fuel and Iron Company.
1t has always been supposed until
recently that Young John d." as
he has become known, would event.
ually become the commanding gen.
eral of the Standard Oil forces, and
men who have come into contact with
him in a business way have believed
that he had the stuff in him for the
task. But the younger Rockefellers
health is such that it is taken tor
| granted now that the successor to Will
liam Rockefeller and Henry III. ROg
ers will be William G. Rockefeller, a
son of the former and nephew of the
present titular head of Standard Oil.
Like the name Of H. H. Rogers,
that of James Stillman has stood out
by itself, even among the many able
men in the upper ranks Of the Stand
ard Oil party. AS president of the
National City Bank and a representa-
i've of the vast Rockefeller inter-
! ests in fifty-eight other corporations.
Mr.. Stillman has held place Of pow
er hardly second to that Of H. H. Rog-
| orc TNi1Ijioyo ilz.,
them, he has sons coming up in the
business. James A. Stillman, the old
Yale foot ball tackle, went into the
National City Bank as soon as he was
graduated from college, in the later
nineties, and has now become assist
ant cashier of the institution as we'll
as one Of its directors Charles G.
! Stillman, the other son, is learning
the railroad business in the West, ana
works daily in the shops Of one Of
the great transcontinental systems like
a common laborer.
In the railroad world the Wander
! bilt family has long stood by itself
in this respect. William K and
L I6uGIlCk FduUGI UlIl nave Uoou la
miliar figures in American railroad
affairs for quarter of a century, as
their father and grandfather were be-
fore them. Within the last few years
William X. Vanderbilt, Jr., who is
! best known to the American public
perhaps as a patron of automobiling
and many other forms of sport, has
been in harness at the Grand Central
Station most business days during the
year. He is now the financial head
! Of the extensive electric road systems,
position that is bound to grow IN
| importance as the identification OF
| suburban lines throughout the State
progresses.