Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-09-02
rockefeller
BILLIONAIRE
JOHN D. WILL Be WEAL1HIEST
MAN In The WORLD.
II Is Figured He will Be BiiIiOnaire
in 1919, IL He Has no Bad Luck.
1t Is Almost Impossible to Com.
pute This Enormous Sum of
Money.

C1OOGv.
A dispatch from New York says
that if John d. Rockefeller lives till
his eightieth birthday he will prob
ably become bilionaire-the first
in history.
The latest approximately accurate
estimates available" we are told,
''place his fortune in 1905 at at least
$3.50, 100000. In 1900 it was $400,-
100000. At this ratio of increase
the Rockefeller fortune will be a
billion in 1919, when he reaches
four score years"
The suggestion that Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter is not a Millionaire several times
over will come as a severe shock to
thousands. They have been accus-
toned to regard his wealth as limit
less so long that it will be hard 20
to get down to the painful reliza-
ton that he is not even biliiCn-
aire.
After reading denunciatiOns, SrG-
day supplement estimates, the report
of lawsuits and other matters
touching Rockefeller and his wealth
for years the hasty reader natural
1y assumes that billions are the
same to him as Lincoln pennies to
anybody else. He doesn't stop 10
think of what billions ere. He just
assumes that Mr.. Rockefeller has
them.
Those who garner their views as
TO his possessions more from word OF
mouth in the course of street corner
and saloon discussions go even fur
ther. 1t is difficult to express accur-
ately the street corner, saloon dis
cussion idea of how much money Mr..
Rockefeller really has. However,
we will try. And this about as near
as we can come to it:
Write large figure 81 very
plainly on a long board fence, ana
then hire man to make ciphers af-
ter it all ady long If he is an indus
trious man and works every minute
of the time at high rate of speed
the amount represented when he
knocks off at 6 p. M, though prob
ably a fearful underestimate, is about
as near as we can hope to get to the
total
And now these people are called
on to believe that their large and en-
thusiastic opinions of Mr.. Rockefel-
ler's wealth have overshot the mark
that he is, in fact, nothing more than
a multi-millionaire! To any one who
understands the pleasure OF using
figures with beautifully reckless
abandon the request smacks of posit-
i've cruelty.
There is another thing: The read
ers of yellow journals have grown so
familiar with mililonaires and multi
millionaires in connection with chor-
us girl affairs that they really feel
more stimulating to the jaded i'm
agination. Mr.. Rockefeller, as the
possessor of countless billions, hal
long supplied that need.
But will Mr.. Rockefeller as
multi millionaire do it? We fear
not. A multi-millionaire, no matter
how you look at him, is no more than
a millionaire several times over. The
taint of the commonplace, the sug-
gestion of Duquesene clubs, chorus
girls and front pages full OF large
type still clings to him. There are
no substitutes for the Millionaire to
all appearances.
1t is sad situation. And 1t
would be rendered sadder If any very
conservative person were to suggest
that the prediction that Mr.. Rookie
feller will be a Millionaire even in
1919 is more moon shine than any
thing else. Therefore we refrain
from suggesting it, though strongly
tempted to do so.