The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1910-07-14


Doors OF Hut and Palace Accord
ing to the Rockefeller Plan Of
International Barter.
This Rockefeller Foundation, 10
make a stC'y Of It, Is in reality Just
this-it is the dream of a poor boy
come true. II is the happy ending
of an American novel of real life, IL
is the climax Of one OF the most drn-
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 more
than half a century ago. II 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 a
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
" Nhh lhnN AAAAli bNhAtAINs w Iln
room and meals he was paying 81 a
week, so that his net income--the
basis Of his dream Of fortune and phi
lanthropy--was not more than s135
a year.
Even at this time. and with this
income, he built tiny little founda-
ton of his own. Out Of the sixty
cents a day, he set aside n few PEN
MES for the church, or for some hum
CRY family, or to drop into some hat
that was passed around In the office,
The notebook I'm which IN use little
philanthropic entries were made is
still in existence, II Is knOTn by
the name Of Ledger A" in the Rock
efeller family. It is 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. II has more than a
personal interest now. IL has sud-
denly become historic, because 1t re-
cords the origin Of 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 merelypayng his share
! into the contribution boxes. BY the
| time he was nineteen he had ripened
/ into an organizer OF bencyOlence.
lie was a member Of a 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 it,
That was proud day" he said
/ in later years, when the last dollar
/ was collected,
Little as he knew it, the boy was
/ then at work upon the fulflment Of
his dream to become perhaps the
greatest getter, and the greatest Civ
err, Of his generation.
Later, when he became n prosper
GUS man of business and large af-
/ fairs. he still retained the habit OF
organizing his giving as well as his
getting He oven went so far as to
organize his family into a sort Of
/ foundation. At the breakfast table
he would distribute the various APP
/ peals for help among his children,
requesting them to investigate each
case and make a 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 a Spartan training
/ in "the difficult art Of giving"
The whole bent of the Rockefeller
mind seems to have been inclined
from the first toward the working
/ ont OF this problem Of distribution.
/ The business of the Standard OH
/ Company itself is much more a mat
, Observation-Disclosures. 90
| II 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 It, whether it be IN the United
/ States or In the uttcrmOst parts Of
J 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 pints ald
quarts OF liquid light 10 whatsoever
! demands 1t. Fully S1,000,000
| week, in foreign gold or its equiya-
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 APP
titude and business experience, Mr..
Rockefeller was we'll prepared to
work out the problem OF distributing
the surplus money OF the rich in a
systematic and efficient manner. His
new foundation is no aftertbought.
1t is no sudden change OF mind or
! change of heart. 1t is the natural re-
! suit of fifty years Of experience and