New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-11-04

MuItimi|Iionaire Tells of Notable
Events In His Career.
DEFENDS THE STANDARD OIL.

Corporations Here to Stay Says Oil
King, and Should Be Created and
Regulated Under Federal Laws-Pre-
diets Great Future For Rising GEN
Grafton.
John D. Rockefeller appears for the
first time as writer in series of ar
of Men and Events the first of which
recently appeared in the October issue
of the Worlds Work.
Mr.. Rockefeller says at the outset
that on rainy morning when golf is
wanting, 81 am tempted to become
garrulous old man and tell some sto-
ries of men and things which have
happened in an active life" He refers
! to the extent to which he has been
associated with interesting people, es-
pecially in the business world, and con-
| tinues:
eff one talks about ones experience,
/ there is a natural temptation to charge
one with travelling the easy road to
/ egotism; if one keeps silent, the infer
ence of wrongdoing is sometimes even
more difficult to meet, as it would then
be said that there is no valid defense
| to be offered.
at has not been my custom to press
my affairs forward into public gaze,
but I have come to see that if my fam
! lily and friends want some record of
1 things which might shed light on mat
/ tiers that have been somewhat dis
cussed it is right that ! should yield to
their advice and in this informal way
go over again some Of the events
which have made life interesting to
me.
! eff tenth of the things that have
been said are true, then dozens of able
and faithful men who have been asO-
ciated with me, many of whom have
passed away, must have been guilty of
grave faults. For myself l had de-
cided to say nothing. hoping that after
my death the truth would gradually
come to the surface and pOsterity
would do strict justice, but while live
and can testify to certain things it
seems fair that should refer to some
points which [ hope will help to set
forth several much discussed happen.
ings in new light. l am convinced
that they have not been fully under
stood.
"It has been said that / forced the
men who became my partners In the
oil business to join with me. I would
not have been SO shortsighted. If il
were true that L followed such tactics
I ask would it have been possible tc
make of such men lifelong compan
ions? For fourteen years I have beer
out of business and in eight or ter
years have oGly once gone to the com
pany's ofice.H
Mr. Rockefeller speaks of the devel
opment of the Standard Oil company
and says that the plan of selling direc
to the consumer and the EXCEPTIONAL.
rapid growth of the business ''bred {
certain antagonism which, / suppose
could not have been avoided" Of TIL
/ direct selling to the consumer he says
sThis was done in fair spirit ant
, ! with due consideration for every one'
rights We did not ruthlessly go afte
the trade of our competitors and at
tempt to ruin it by cutting prices Q
instituting spy system. If any of th
employees of the company were over
jealous in going after sales they actet
:. in violation Of the expressed an,
known wishes of the company
Mr.. Rockefeller says that in the earl
days the Oil industry was considered
. most hazardous undertaking, not alto
gether unlike speculative mining un
dertakings. "None of u.s." he says
: ever dreamed of the magnitude Q
y what proved to be the later expar
sion.'' Further on he says:
: another thing to be remembers
;, about the so called octopus is tina
; there has been no water introduce
;. into the capital perhaps we felt tina
4 oil and water would not have mixed
. nor in all these years has any one ha
; to wait for money which the Standar
q owed. It is a common thing to hea
; people say that this company ha
!, uniformed could make such an asse
: ton. 1t has and always has had an
!, always Will have hundreds Of activ
competitors. The Standard has nc
! now and never Gid have a royal roa
3 to supremacy, nor is it's success due
:. any. one man. but to the multitude c
!. able men who are working together
On the subject of the modern corp
: ration the article says:
/ Beyond question there is a susp
cion of corporations There may |
o reason for such suspicion very oftel
:. for a corporation may be moral or IN
! moral, just as a man may be moral {
: the reverse, but it is folly to condem
n all corporations because some are ba
or even to be unduly suspicious of a
because some ;tfe bad. But the corp,
ration in form and character has con
/ to stay. That is a thing that may /
Z depended upon. 1t is too late to argr
: a bout advantages of Industrial comb