The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-10
OIL KING TELLS
 WHAT MONEY DOES Rockefeller Explains His Posi-
 ton in Finance INTERESTS FAR REACHING
He Says That No Business Gan Suffer Without Affecting Him and That His Interest In the Country
 and People Is Great.
Copyright 1907 by The Cleveland Plain


 Copyright 1907 by The Cleveland Plain-
 Dealer)
 Cleveland, O., August 9.-John D. Roclxe-
 feller, discussing the recent speech of
 Judge Grosscup in which the latter de- clared that the wealth of the country is so widely distributed that it is really in the hands of the moderately well-to-do, today said:
 "They can hardly accuse Judge Cross cup of partiality to corporations or rail- roads. He has shown very well, indeed. how widespread is the damage resulting from prejudice to the railroads.
 "The same applies to thoughtless at tacks other lines of industry. It is worse than thoughtless to say off-hand that the wealth and the industries of the country are in the hands of a few rich men who alone will suffer There is direct loss to thousands of frugal people who have invested small savings in these | enterprises. and the indirect effects still reaches other thousands who depend in one way or another upon the success of every industry.
 | woven until it is something like the cir eulation of the blood in the body. An in jury of operation at one point shocks and weakens the whole.'
 Referring to the financial situation MT. Rockefeller said:
 "Who is more interested In the material prosperity of this country than I am? My eggs are not all in one basket by any means.
 Lots of Nonsense. l "A great deal of nonsense is printed | every now and then about my having con l trol of all railroads of the country, or l having monopollzed this or that. The truth Is, that figure as an investor and | stocknolder rather than as a proprietor. 1 But any depression is likely to mean a | loss of Salues to me The gr6ceryman l may not feel it if the coal business is | bad, or the wheat grower suffer if the railroads lose, but the man with varied in I terests feels every phase of depression. It | is fact that hardly any sort of business can experience dull times without loss to me. It should be plain then that l have | the best right to judge of good times. 1 'I am harnessed to a car in which l the people ride. Whether l like 1t or not l must work for the rest. l cannot l avoid this responsibility if I would But l 1 do not complain of this. I am willing to draw my share of the load long l l am able (so would you and D. I "The first step I tookk meant obligat- l in; myself to working men who hence- l forward looked to me for employment, l and investors who put in their money ] and looked to me for results. At every step forward the load heavier. The working men numbered few score, at hrst then a few hundred, then thousands.
 Working for Others. "There was similar increase In the l number of investors who could hold me l to account. While l worked for myself l l had to work for them also. Today. re- | tired from active business: retired that l Is from business for myself. the capital l nave invested makes work for thou sands, and opens opportunities for thou sands of others to place their savings | profitably.
 No man with money can escape this | responsibility, or loosen this yoke from l his neck.
 We are servants and not masters;' I we who are or have been engaged in l large business affairs. It is to our vital interest that the country prosper; that l the people prosper They can destroy us and our business, at least destroy our 1 power of serving them. We would prob- ably suffer the least. The richest man l can eat but three meals a day. and 1t
 
 or provide real luxuries in living The men who have acquired the largest for tunes have not pursued wealth but bus | mess success. Had they desired money l tor the enjoyment of money they would | have stopped far short of spending their lives as they have In a struggle that 1 ensues
 "'rhe natural ambition of every man to make good provision for his family can | be sa tisfied far short of the point reached | by the big men of the industrial world of 1 today But they continue to toll at theIr desks because they love achievement: for I the keen delight in creating where noth- 1 ing was, and sometimse I believe people 1 will be convinced that they are toiling 1 for love of country as well" Little Family Jars. we are proud of our natural sense of | goon honor" he remarked. "If we must have little family jars among us. why | should we let the outside world laugh. l Why should we waste the energy we need | to build up the country in tearing each | other to pieces? If evils have crept in 1 during the marvellous development since 1 the civil war, and 1t Is not impossible that some few have crept in, we not do | away with tham without destroying tho 1 whole fabric? Admitting for the sake of i argument that the business world is 1 | patient that needs treatment, must 1t be | said of the result that the operation was | successful. but the patient died?' ! MT. Rockefeller was asked why he did | not run away from the hue and cry. He 1 laughed. Perhaps because my favorite music is Yankee Doodle" he suggested. | Then more gravely:
 1 "I suppose l might have converted my 1 interests into gold at one time. and have 1 taken my money to England or some | pleasant part of Europe. where life is or- | ganized to make things comfortable for | the man with money But do you know 1 that way of escape from the responsirili- | ties that wealth brings to an American | never occurred to me? The United States | cannot develop enough drawbacks to l make me lose the feeling that there is l no nlace like home. and that this home