Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-12-14
PLANTZ DEFENDS
THE OIL MAGNATE.
Lawrence President Willing to Take
Chance of Tainting Univer-
Sity.

APPLETON, Wis, Dec. S.-[Spe-
ciai. II do not consider that John D.
Rockefeller's money is tainted, and be-
sides, the money in question is not his
any more, as it passed into the hands of
the general education board"
Doubly protected against faint in
the opinion of President Samuel Plantz
OF Lawrence university, the $4,000 Of
fered from the oil magnates educational
fund will be accepted with great pleas
ure by the Appleton institution. Presi-
dent Plants says that he does not think
Mr.. Rockefeller's money was obtained
man who was once Mr.. Rockefeller's
attorney" that the Croesus had not
taken any rebates since the anti-rebate
law was passed.
An Essay on faint.
He discusses faint at some length
and declares that the money received
by city government for saloon licenses
is tainted. but when man accumu-
lates a vast fortune by a legitimate bus
mess and by the methods which other
men practice as far as they can, | doubt
if the motive back of the money is such
as would taIlt it."
President Plantz says that to accept
part of the 100000 given the gener-
al education board by Mr.. Rockefeller
in no way compromises any institution
Of learning. He declares that no one
who knows Chancellor Day of Syracuse
university would hint that his utterances
received from the Standard Oil mag
mates.
Willing to Take the Risk.
'If the $4,000 necessary to get the
$4,000 can be raised, | shall be inclined
to run the risk of communicating the in
Btitution by accepting the money" he
says.
President Plantz, in his answer 10
newspaper critics, devotes considerable
Mr.. Rockefeller.
The fact is" he says, chat Mr..
Rockefeller gives to all forms of Chris
tan activity and has done so for many
years. Why has he expended such great
sums in Cuba and Porto Rico and in
mission fields for the development Of
religious work, if he is only seeking to
save his neck? Probably there is no man
In America who gives away SO much
money without sounding it abroad as Mr..
Rockefeller. | am told by those who
know that two-thirds of his contribu-
tons are not announced to the public.
What he gives to educational institutions
Is a small part of his benevolence.
p High Minded Gentleman.
Of we are to let his acquaintance
speak for him, he is high minded,
philanthrOpic Christian gentleman, thai
whom no man in our generation has been
more misrepresented and maligned by
the press"
President Plantz makes strong point
Of the fact that Mr.. Rockefeller has
nothing to do with the money and there
fore his influence is removed. He do
mated the money to the board without
restrictions as far as substituting institu
tons of learning is concerned. He de-
clares that Harvard, Yale and Chicago
universities have all accepted large gifts,
and their professors speak freely on
economic questions. In defending the
history of Mr.. Rockefeller's past, Presi-
dent Plantz says:
Just Like Other Men
''There is probably no mandatory in
the state which has not taken reba tes.
Most individuals who give a large bust
mes sto a firm expect better rates than
those receive who do q small business
This classes them as far as motives are
concerned with Mr. Rockefeller That he
has accepted rebates since the law passed
forbidding them is asserted by his enc
mics and denied by his friends. One Of
the most eminent lawyers in New York
who for a time was Mr.. Rockcfelier's
attorney told me within two months,
that no company in which Mr.. RocL-e-
Teller has a controlling interest has taken
a dollar in rebates since the passage Of
the law"