The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-10-02

I MY ideas or business are no
doubt old fashioned, but the funda-
mental principles do not change
from generation to generation and
| sometimes | think that our quick
witted American business men do
not always sufficiently study the
real, underlying foundations of
business management When a
mans affairs are not going well he
hates to study the books and face
the truth. From the first the men
who have managed the Standard
Oil Co. kept their books intelli-
gently as well as correctly.
1T is common thing to haer
people say that this company has
crushed out its competitors. Only
the misinformed could make such
an assertion. 1t has always had
and always will have hundreds of
active competitors.
ITO succeed in business" the
writer continues. requires the best
and most earnest men to manage it,
and the best men rise to the top"
Speaking of the silence he has
hitherto maintained Rockefeller
says: Just how far any one is
justified in keeping what he regards
as his own private affairs from the
public, or in defending himself from
attacks. is a mooted point. If one
keeps silence, the inference of
wrong doing is sometimes even
more difficult to meet, as it would
then be said that there is no valid
defense to be offered"
Rockefeller takes up in the first
installment the inner history of his
organization. 1T would be surpris-
ing he writes, IF in an organiza-
ton which included great number
of men there should not be an occa-
sional employe here and there who
acted in connection with the bust
ness or perhaps in conducting his
own affairs in a way which might
be criticized. To Judge the charac-
ters of all the members of great
organization or the organization it.
self by the actions of few individ-
uals would be manifestly unfair"
To the charge that he forced men
now his partners to join with him,
Rockefeller declares:
Il would not have been so short
sighted If it were true that | fol-
! lowed such tactics, ! ask would it
have been possible to make of such
men lifelong companions?"
He describes his only visit to the
offices of the company in eight
years, which took place in the sum-
mer of 1907. There he found the
| spirit of harmony and cooperation
| existent. and the members of the
| firm and the heads of departments
still followign the long established
custom of lunching together at long
tables on the top floor of the COM
pany's building. These are surely
not browbeaten men," is his con-
clusion. |
In discussing the antagonism
which his organization has encoun-
tered he declares that it has been
due to its practice all over the
world of supply direct to the con-
sumner This same diea has been
followed by others and in many
lines of trade he continues. Il
have often wondered if the criti-
cism which centered upon us did
not come from the fact that we
were among the first, if not the
first, to work out the problem of
direct selling to the user on a broad |
scale"
Then follows a picture of the
early conditions of the oil industry,
when it was considered a most haz-
ardous business-"not altogether |
unlike the speculative mining UNI
dertakings we hear so much of to-
day" to quote the author.
A sense of humor that has not !
generally been accorded the oil |
magnate by his biographers breaks |
out from time to time in these rem |
iniscences. ITO read some of the |
accounts of the affairs of the com
pany," he writes, "one would think
that the directors did little but
come together and declare divi-
| dends."
In a tribute to his associates he
says: IF the business were taken
over and run by anyone but eX-
perts | would sell my interest for
any price | could get
part of this chapter is devoted
to the opportunities of which Amer
lean business men may avail them
selves by foreign expansion. I'VE
are just beginning to think of the
foreign people we can serve-the
people who are more behind us in
civilization. In the east a quarter
of the human race Is just awaken
ing. More than half of our com
panys product is sold in foreign
countries"
Rockefeller declares he has no
patience with the men who say
they do not have the opportunity
/