The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-08-08
Rockefeller's Address.

| the company that meeting has been
held on Sunday, and it is also the
first time in recent years that the
president, John d. Rockefeller, has
attended one.
The event marks a crisis in the af-
fairs of the great trust and its effect
on the future policy of the company,
as we'll as upon the future policies of
other great aggregations OF capital,
is almost beyond calculation 1t is
believed that inestimable good will
result from the meeting and that a
better understanding will in future
ex> between the government and
| corporations in general.
When the man whose genius, en-
| ergy and craft have created the great
est industrial corporation in history
arose to speak the room became abb
solutely silent
MY friends, you are probably sur
prised to find me back in the harness
again. It's the first time I've been
in this building for-let's see-nearly
six years, isn't it Henry? | thought
had thrown the cares of business off
my shoulders some time ago and was
going to be allowed to- play awhile.
thought you boys could run the
business all right"
Mr.. Rockefeller smiled family and
then resumed speaking.
Recent events, that is, within the
last three or four years, have con-
vinced me that | can do more good
in the world by speaking here this
afternoon than by building colleges.
That's why | called this meeting. ]
intend TO formulate and inaugurate a
new policy that shall govern the
Standard Oil Company so that it will
become a model for bushes concerns
that wish to attain to honorable sue
cess instead of being model for
those who wish to win dishonorable
business success.
I'm getting to be an old man. ]
am still supposed to be the head of
this company, although, as you know,
| have taken no active part in its ar
fairs for some years. At the same
time, am president of it and the
chief beneficiary of its gigantic divi-
dends. These amount between 40
and AS per cent year. They pour
in on me in a volume of useless mil
lions. AS president. am going to
make it my last official act to de-
mand that hereafter every person
connected with the Standard Oil
company shall obey the spirit as well
as the letter of the country's laws.
Also, am going TO demand that the
utmost publicity be given to all the
company's business affairs. If they
are not the sort to stand publicity,
we shall discontinue them. If the
Standard Oil company is not great
enough to be above board in its meth
DDS, no other concern in the world
can
81 am getting TO be an old man.
We are all getting on in years. In
ten years or less we shall not be here.
| want to feel that when leave there
will be people who will be grateful
that I've lived and sorry that I've
gone. 1t is not pleasant to think that
now, after fifty years of business life.
II stand convicted in the courts of
half a dozen states and that the or
ganization that I have built up is the
most distrusted and detested concern
in the world This company stands
convicted of breaking, in nearly every
possible way, the laws of the coun-
| try whose mercy and protection have
made its success possible.
eff | should die tomorrow should
| feel that the crimes of my right hand
would ring louder in the ears of pos
terity than the benefactions of my
left hand.
"I am in the evening of my life,
where a man wants to feel that he
has the affection and good will of his
fellow men. And yet at this time
the papers and the sentiment of the
nation are ringing with threats of
prison. A Judge has inflicted the
greatest possible fine and his action
wins the approval of the country The
only dissenting opinion comes from
those who say that the verdict is ex-
cessive or that it may not stand the
test of the higher courts. No one
thinks we are innocent
I'VE have pleaded technicalities in
stead of innocence, and until last
Saturday we have managed to escape
every penalty except the hatred of
our countrymen.
thereafter, my friends, the Stand
ard Oil company shall evade no laws
nor violate any. II there are meth
OrdS or conditions tndt are lllcSdi Ut
heartless, those must be remedied or
removed. We must not strangle the
little competitors. our weaker broth
ers. for such cases can be appealed
to a higher court than the United
States Supreme court, and technical
tiles will not avail us. The creed of
Standard Oil must hereafter be sub
mission to law and justice"
The effect of Mr.. Rockefeller's
speech and the inauguration of his
new policy in Standard Oil affairs IS
certain to have a tremendous effect on
American business methods. 1t is be-
lieved that the example he has set
will do untold good in cleansing the
business life of this country. for his
connection with nearly all the great
industries and railroads of the nation