Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-03-05
OVERDOSE OF HOSPITALITY
It is Asserted That "Strick' Has
Never Forgotten Oil Kings
Good Entertainment.

The Indianapolis News in its edi-
torial column Saturday night took oc-
casion to crap S. w. Gillian. The
former Richmond man with other
"jokesmiths" paid visit to John D.
Rockefeller last summer at the Old
Kings request. While there the fun
ny men were elaborately entertained
and according to the News, "Strick"
has never fully recovered from Rock
efeller's hospitality.
Several hundred words are given
to Gillian by the News editor, all Of
which cannot be printed for lack Of
space. Parts of it, however, follow:
Now Mr.. Gillian gives us, in
"Spare Moments,' his impressions
of his host. We agree that if he is
to say anything about Mr. Rockefel-
Ter it should be something pleasant.
For guest may not abuse his host.
And yet it will hardly do for those
who were not so favored as Mr.. Gill
lilan to take his estimate Of Mr..
Rockefeller as exactly true. He found
him cordial, friendly, benevolent,
merry and pleasant. Altogether a
very lovable personality-though Mr..
Gillian admits that it would have
been impossible to work Off any gold
bricks on him. We are told that he
is a human dynamo, a great man, and
one who owes his success to his own
genius and capacity for hard work.
He has, we are assured, done only
what other business men have done,
the only difference being that he is
greater than they. ="
The trouble with Mr.. Gillian is
that he identifies his man with ma
ture. He has simply, we are told,
co-operated with natural forces, and
if he has crushed out other lives it
is no more than we all do when we
walk to our daily work. Now we
quote from Mr.. Gillian the follow
ing most remarkable paragraph:
So, in my opinion, without deifying
the man we saw, for he is but human,
this intellectual combination that
can not be beaten, this man who
stands head, shoulders and hips
above other men who have aimed SIM
ilarly in business, has simply gone
along the way his abilities led him,
along the natural trend Of his gifts
and abilities; and he and his enter
prises which were part and parcel
of inevitable commercial evolution,
have sometimes knowingly and
sometimes unknowingly trampled
the life out of the infnitesimally
smaller enterprises that were so un-
fortunate-they and the human be-
ings dependent upon them-as to be
in the way Of the juggernaut Of pro-
gress. That John D. Rockefeller was
the jehu Of that vehicles it his
fault, his good fortune, or was it a
part of the plan Of creation, old as
the world and sometimes the very
embodiment Of all we regard as ruth
less and merciless
Mr. Rockefeller must be judged
now-as he will be judged hereafter
-as the poorest and humblest man
will be judged, according to the
deeds done in the body, and not as a
volcano which crushes out thous-
ands of lives. He is not a natural
force, but only man Of great abili-
ty who has perverted the very laws
and institutions that protect him to
his own selfish ends. There has not
been day in his life when he could
not have shown mercy and done jus
tice. Mr.. Rockefeller Mr.. Gillian
assures us, "has been an example to
the youth of America Verify he
has-but an example to be summed.
Another visit to the rich mans home
would convert Gillian into Jacob
A. Riis with Rockefeller as the OBJ
ject of his adulation