The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1908-10-28
ROCKEFELLER'S
"reminiscences
Multimilliona!re Tells of Notable
Events In His Career.
DEFENDS THE STANDARD OIL

He9ujAtod Under Federal laWo-Pro.
diets Great Future For Rising Gen.
Grafton.
John D. Rockefeller appears for the
first time as a writer in a series of ar.
ticles on "Some Random "reminiscences
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 a rainy morning, when golf Is
wanting, II am tempted to become q
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:
"If II talks about ones experience,
there is a natural temptation to charge
n 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.
ut 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
things which might shed light on mat.
tiers that have been somewhat dis.
cussed I. is right that l should yield to
their advice and in this informal way
go over again some of the events
which have made life interesting to
me.
IF a 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 l live
and can testify to certain things it
seems fair that l should refer to some
points which l hope will help to set
forth several much discussed happen
ings in a new light. l am convinced
that they have not been fully under
stood.
1T has been said that l forced the
men who became my partners in the
oil business to join with me. l would
not have been SO shortsighted. If 1t
We're true that I followed such tactics
I ask would it have been possible to
make of such men lifelong compan-
ions? For fourteen years l have lee:
out of business and in eight or ten
years have only once gone to the COM
pany's office"
Mr.. Rockefeller speaks of the devel-
opment of the Standard Oil company
and says that the plan of selling direct
to the consumer and the exceptionally
rapid growth Of the business "bred a
certain antagonism which, I suppose,
could not have been avoided" OF the
direct selling to the consumer he says:
"This was done in n fair spirit and
with due consideration for every ones
rights. We did not ruthlessly go after
the trade of our competitors and at
tempt to ruin 1t by cutting prices or
instituting a spy system. If any of the
employees Of the company were over.
jealous in going after sales they acted
In violation Of the expressed and
known wishes of the company"
Mr.. Rockefeller says that In the early
days the oil industry was considered a
most hazardous undertaking, not alto
gether unlike speculative mining un-
dertakings. "None Of u.s." he SAYS,
sever dreamed of the magnitude Of
what proved to be the later expan-
sion" Further on he says:
Another thing to be remembered
about the so called octopus is that
there has been no water introduced
Into the capital perhaps we felt that
oil and water would not have mixed,
nor In all these years has any one had
to wait for money which the Standard
owed. 1t Is a common thing to hear
people say that this company has
crushed out its competitors. Only the
uniformed could make such an asser.
ton 1t has and always has had and
always will have hundreds of active
competitors. The Standard has not
now and never did have a royal road
to supremacy, o Is its success due to
any n man, but to the multitude of
able men who are working together"
On the subject of the modern corpo-
ration the article says:
Beyond question there is q suspi.
cien Of corporations. There may be
reason for such suspicion very often,
for a corporation may be moral or i'm.
moral, just as a man may be moral or
the reverse, but it is folly to condemn
all corporations because some are bad
or even to be unduly suspicious of all
because some are bad. But the corpo-
ration in form and character has come
to stay. That is a thing that may be
depended upon. 1t is too late to argue
about advantages Of industrial combi. |
nations. They are a necessity. And if
Americans are to have the privilege Of
extending their business in all the
states Of the Union and into foreign
countries as we'll they are a necessity
on n Ia rrn cno1c o,I noo,:,S 49,