Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1908-08-20
MONUMENT OF STONES
TO ROCKEFELLER
Texas Farmer Pays Unique
Tribute.

DENTON, TEX, Aug. 1S-(Spe-
ciaD-A G. Lee, a wealthy farmer oil
Denton county, is making satisfactory
progress in his work of erecting d
monument to John D. Rockefeller
He is now laying the stones of the
monument 1t will be a pyramidal
structure of enormous size Mr.. Lee
will spend most of his fortune in err
Getting this unique testimonial to the
man who he believes is one of the
greatest public benefactors the world
ever produced Mr.. Lee is such an
admirer of Mr.. Rockefeller that he
calls his farm the Rockefeller farm
and his country home "Philan-
thropy" The site of the monument
is upon an eminence a mile south of
the town of Denton When finished,
the monument will be several hun
dred feet high and can be seen for
many miles around. Mr.. Lee is well
educated and keeps in close touch
with the current events of the day.
He has a high standing in the COM
munity where he lives. In speaking
of the monument the other day, Mr.
Lee said:
THE work on the monument began
March 10, 1907, and has been pushed
as rapidly as possible ever since, and
is progressing very nicely at present,
as weather and other conditions are
favorable to the work just now
set out with the expectation of MAX
ing the monument the wonder of the
modern world, and every day | live
| become more hopeful that | will re-
aliZe my expectation.
THE Rockefeller monument will go
down in history of the modern world
as the seven wonders of the world
have come down in that of the anci-
ent world 1t should be remembered
that the seven wonders of the ancient
world were all built as monuments.
THE reason | took the initiative in
the building of this monument at so
great cost of labor and money is that
I was deeply touched by the great
good that Mr.. Rockefeller is doing in
the world. He is giving good for evil
that is, going on in his great work
of philanthropy just as though the
world was approaching what he was
doing, when, in fact, he was being
abused for the good he was doing.
lie went deafy and blindly on with
his good work, paying no attention to
the hard things that were being said
about him in the press, in the pulpit,
in the political field on the street
corners and elsewhere 1t struck me
that he must be an extraordinary
man, or he would have become dis
gusted with the people for being so
ungrateful; that he would have stop
ped his philanthropic work, and the
fact that he did not made me think he
deserved the greatest monument that
was ever erected and | set out to
build it.
1T looks like fortune has favored
me so far in accomplishing my pur-
pose. Just as Mr. Rockefeller's un-
just critics RELOCATED oil from the
category of commercial commodities,
not subject to the fuctuation like 9TH
er commodities, such as meat, -four,
sugar and coffee, and if oil should
slightly advance at any time accuse
him of increasing the price to re-
coup an amount of money he had
given to some worthy object, | have
been charged with a sinister or i'm
pure motive in erecting this monu-
ment. But knowing that my object
is good, and hoping that my work may
influence people when | am dead and
gone and cause them to look upon
Mr. Rockefellers life and work in
the true light, gives me courage and
inspiration to go on
The monument is already one Of the
greatest curiosities of this part of
Texas 1t presents an imposing sight
as viewed from a distance of several
miles. Many men and teams are con-
stantly employed in its construction