Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1910-06-17
OIL Distribution
an EXACT SCIENCE

Fully q Million Dollars Week In
Foreign Gold Comes 20 This
Country 70 Pay For Standards
Product That 10 esddIsd 70 the
Doors Of Hut and Palace. Accord
Ing to the Rockefeller Plan OF
International Barter.
This Rockefeller Foundation. to
make a story OF II, Is in reality just
this-it Is the dream of poor boy
come true. II Is the happy ending
of an American novel Of real life. 1t
Is the climax OF one of the most dra-
matte and impressive careers that
this country. or any other, has ever
known.
The dreamer the novel or dra-
ma. whichever you like-began more
than half century ago. 1t began in
shabby little boarding house in
Cleveland, In the brain Of lad OF
eighteen who was clerking for n
shipping and real estate company.
There were at that time about
million other American boys of the
same age. and not many of them had
received fewer privileges than this
one. He had been educated partly
In the public schools. but mainly at
home, by his mother and father. His
pay, at this time, was sixty cents a
day. His hours Of labor were from
breakfast until bedtime. For his
room and meals he was paying 81 a
week. so that his net incorc the
basis Of his dream Of fortune aud phi
lanthropy-was not more than $135
a year.
Even at this time, and with this
Income. he built tiny little foun1a-
ton Of his own. Out Of the sixty
cents a day, he set aside q few pen
MES for the church, or for some hun
cry family, or to drop into some hat
that was passed around In the office
The notebook in which tn ,se little
philanthropic entries were made is
still in existence. II Is known by
the name OF Ledger A" in the Rock
worn out little notebook, with bro
ken cover and tattered pages Of
faded writing. but It is one Of the
most precious treasures In the Rookie
Teller vaults. 1t has more than n
personal interest now. II has sud-
denly become historic, because 1t re-
cords the origin of 1.-The most COM
prehensive scheme Of benevolence in
the whole history Of humanity"
The managerial instinct was so
strong in this boy that he was not
satisfied with merely paying his share
into the contribution boxes. BY the
time he was nineteen he had ri3ened
into an organizer of benevolence
He was a member Of mission
church, which was fast breaking
down under the weight OF a $4,000
mortgage. This sixty = cent day
youth undertook to collect the
money, and he did 1t.
THAT was a proud day." he said
In later years. when the last dollar
was collected"
Little as he knew II, the boy was
then at work upon the fulfilment oil
his dream to become perhaps The
greatest getter, and the creates; CIV
er, of his generation.
Later, when he became a prosper
Gus man OF business and large af
organizing his giving as well as hi!
getting. He even went SO far as L
organize his family into sort o
foundation. At the breakfast tabl,
he would distribute the various ap
peals for help among his children
requesting them to investigate eacl
case and make a report to him oil
the following day. In this way hi
children. and especially his son an:
namesake, who Is destined to dIstrib
ute the revenue of the Rockeselle
fortune, received a Spartan trainin,
in 1.-The dificult art Of giving"
The whole bent Of the Rockefelle
mind seems to have been inclnet
from the first toward the workin;
out of this problem of distribution
The business OF the Standard Oh
Company itself is much more mat
ter of distribution than OF production
1t was unquestionably the first com
pany that undertook to sell Its prod
uct directly to the users on q world
wide scale. For the most part, il de
livers its oil, not to wholesalers an
middlemen, but to the family tina
burns 1t, whether it be In the Unite
States or in the uttermost parts q
the earth. 1t has, for instance, T.
fewer than 1000 tank wagons trave
ing from door to door in the twent
countries of Europe. selling pints an
quarts of liquid light to whosoeve
demands 1t. Fully 100000
week, in foreign gold or its equiv;
lent, comes to this country to pay fC
the oil that is peddled to the door
of hut and palace. according to III
Rockefeller plan OF international di
tribution.
Consequently. both by natural a:
titude and business experience. M
Rockefeller was well prepared {
work out the problem of distributin
the surplus money Of the rich in
systematic and efficient manner. II
new foundation Is no afterthough
1t Is no sudden change of mind {
change of heart. II Is the natural =,
suit of fifty years OF experience an
experiment. What he began to do
a po6r boy in Cleveland boardin
house, he Is now about to compler
on an international scale-that is Il
explanation OF the new plan that b;
excited so much comment and {
much curiosity.