The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-19
ADMITS ORGANIZATION
ContInned from Page one.

IlucI
"That was the reason he was given
part in the business" said Mr..
Rockefeller. "He was a practical re-
finer of oil and 1t gave him an excel
lent opportunity to associate himself
in the business in this way"
"Now tell us of the advantages and
disadvantages Of Cleveland as a re-
fining point" said Mr.. Millburn.
II should say that Cleveland was
the best distributing point to obtain
the, domestic trade" replied Mr..
Rockefeller. 81 suppose 1t had nat
ural advantages. We always had the
trade that We coulG supply by the
lakes. Many railroads led into the
west, and to the eastward we had the
Lake Shore, Atlantic G. Great West
ern the New York Central, the Erie,
and at times we avalled ourselves Of
the Pennsylvania railroad. We gen
orally. though, availed ourselves of
the northern lines, such as the Lake
Shore, New York Central and At
lantic & Great Western. We also had
a water route to New York by Lake
Erie, the Erie canai and the Hudson
river. This was an advantage, as we
had the capital to take this slower
route OF transportation. The disad-
vantage of Cleveland was that we
had long haul to the seaboard for
the export trade. We also had to
haul the crude oil to Cleveland
"What was the comparative size OF
your refinery to others at that time,
in 1S70?",. ..a
81 believe It was the largest in the
country at that time. -
"The company was capitalized at
81 100000; was that considered a
large capitalization? asked Mr.. NEIL
burn. E8 T Itrl
YES" replied Mr.. Rockefeller. cit
was considered very large. We
thought 1t very large, as we started
in 1860 with $4,000"
"rWere many improvements noted
in the business?"
ltot lllttlly Improvements Wtlt
made said Mr.. Rockefeller. awe
improved machinery and made our
own barrels. We had bought the
barrels, which held about forty-four
gallons, from the coopers, and we
thought we were paying a high price
at about 81 80 apiece. Some OF these
barrels were made of green wood,
and often the insides we're damp. This
caused shrinkage afte. the barrels
were filed. W" ""'N -"o tl E
1--WE then bought the wood our
selves and dried II in our own kilns
in the forest. Thus we had dry wood
We made our own barrels. which not
only were satisfactory because they
reduced leakage, but they were In
creased in size, increasing the capac-
ity by nearly FIVE gallons. These
barrels cost us when we manufac;
tured them, about half of the price,
50 80 which we formerly paid for
them" '
Mr.. Rockefeller said the savings
on the barrels represented a large
saving to the company and repre-
sented one Of the innovations devel-
oped in the company.
HThe things that we used from
time to time we were enabled to pro-
duce at prices lower than that which
we previously paid, as our capital in
creased" said Mr.. Rockefeller.
Let me ask you about the house
with you established here" said Mr.. &.
Millburn.
"YeS, that was an advantage. IL
gave us an opportunity to learn FOR
eign markets and the export trade.
We were constantly in need of In
creasing capital as our business de-
yelopcd, and in New York we we're
enabled to secure larger sums of
money at lower rates than In the
west. We we're always able to OBJ
tain large sums of money. and. am
thankful to say, We always had good
credit. We always kept our coven-
ants and paid our bills. Our ability
to secure large loans was OF great
advantage to us. Thus we extended
our facilities with New York bank
ers, with whom we kept our depos-
its, and we got our money at the
cheapest rates in the cheapest money
market In the world"
Through the acquaintance made by
William Rockefeller with wealthy
mon In New York connections were
formed enabling the company to bor-
row large sums for the further ex-
tension of the business. the witness
stated. Some of those who aided him
in obtaining funds were Amasa Stone
and Benjamin Brewster. New York,
he said, was the largest exporting
point at that time and is today. The
refined oil passed through the ware
house here, after which It went TO
Ntha f.Dnpa,ana aTha,.a . .,ae mona