The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1910-06-17
OIL DISTRIBUTION
An EXACT SCIENCE

sed4
Fully Milton Dollars q Week IN
Foreign Gold Comes to This
Country TO Pay For Standards
Produet That Is Pcddled to the
Doors Of Hut and Palace. Accord
Ing TO the Rockefeller Plan OF
international Barter.
This Rockefeller Foundation, to
make a story Of it. Is in reality lust
this--it is the dream OF poor boy
come true. 1t IS the happy ending
OF an American novel of real life. It
is the climax Of one of the most dra-
matte and impressive careers that
this country. or any other, has ever
known.
! The dream-or the novel Or dra-
ma, whichever YOU like--began moro
than half century ago. It began in
shabby little boarding house in
Cleveland, in the brain of lad of
eighteen who was clerlting for a
! shipping and real estate company.
There were at that time about a
million other American boys Of the
T, 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 income-the
basis OF his dream of fortune and phi
lanthro py-was not more than $135
/ a year.
Even at this time. and with this
income. he built tiny little founda-
ton Of his own. Out OF the sixty
cents day, he set aside a few PEN
MES for the church. or for some hun
| CRY family, or to drop into some hat
1 that was passed around in the Office.
/ The notebook in which these little
! philanthropic entries were made is
still in existence It is known by
the name Of Ledger AZ in the Rock
efeller family. 1t is a completely
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
personal interest now. 1t has sud-
denly become historic, because it re-
cords the origin of ''the most COM
! prehensive scheme of benevolence il
the whole history Of humanity
4 The managerial instinct was so
/ strong IN this boy that he was not
! satisfied with merely aging his share
/ into the contribution boxes. BY the
time he was nineteen be had ripene6
into an organizer of benevolence.
He was a member of mission
church, which was fast breaking
4 down under the weight of q $4,000
j mortgage. This sixty cent j. day
/ youth undertook to collect the
money, and he did It.
That was a proud day." he said
in later years, when the last dollar
was collected
Little as he knew 1t. The boy was
then at work upon the fulflment of
his dream to become perhaps the
! greatest getter, and the greatest Civ
er, of his generation.
Later, when he became a prosper
/ Gus man of business and large af-
fairs, he, still retained the habit OF
organizing his giving as well as his
! getting. He even went so far as to
organize his family into a sort OF
foundation. At the breakfast table
he would distribute the various ap-
1 peals for help among his children.
requesting them TO investigate each
case and make report to him on
| the following day. In this way his
| children, and especially his son and
namesake. who is destined to distrib-
ute the revenue of the Rockefeller
fortune, received Spartan training
in s'the difficult art of giving
The whole bent of the Rockefeller
mind. seems to have been inclined
4 he fvok owI
| out of this problem OF distribution.
/ The business of the Standard Oil
| Company itself Is much more a mat
| ter Of distributionthan of production.
It was unquestionably the first COM
pany that undertook to sell its prod
uct directly to the users on a world
! wide scale. For the most part, it de-
/ livers its oil, not to wholesalers and
| middlemen, but to the family that
burns 1t, whether 1t be in the United
/ States or In the uttermost parts III
| the earth. It has, for instance. no
| fewer than 5000 tank wagons travel
/ ing from door to door in the twenty
countries of Europe, selling pirts and
| quarts Of liquid light to whosoever
demands It. Fully $1,00O,OO0
week. in foreign gold or its equiva-
lent, comes to this country to pay for
| the oil that is peddled to the doors
of hut and palace. according to the
Rockefeller plan of International dis
| tribution.
| Consequently, both by natural an
titude and business experience. Mr..
Rockefeller was well prepared to
work out the problem of distributing
the surplus money of me rich In a
systematic and efficient manner. His
new foundation is no afterthought.
1t is no sudden change of mind or
change of heart. 1t Is the natural re-
! suit of fifty years Of experience and
| experiment. What he began to do as
poor boy in Cleveland boarding
house, he is now about to complete
on an international scale-that is the
explanation of the new plan that has
excited SO much comment and so
much curiosity.