The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-08-06
OIL Distribution
!, An EXACT SCIENCE

Exiiy . Million Dollars . Week In
Fersapn Gold Comes to This
Comfy 70 Pay For Standards
PrAduct That u PsdAled to the
Doors 81 Hut and Palace, Accord
Ing to the Rockefeller Plan Of
informal ionaI Barter.
This Rockefeller Foundation, 70
make story Of It, Is tn reality just
this-it Is the dream OF poor boy
come true. It IL the happy ending
Of an AMERICAN novel Of real life. It
10 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 hke-began more
than hah century ago. II began in
a shabby little boarding house in
Cleveland. in the brain OF lad OF
eighteen who was clerking for
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 .
day. His hours Of labor we're from
breakfast until bedtime. For his
room and meals he vas paying 81 q
week. 20 that his net income-the
basis Of his dream Of fortune and phi
-
Z year.
Even at this time, and with this
income. he built q tiny little founda-
ton of his own. Out of the sixty
cents 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 thos little
philanthropic entries were made is
still in existence 1t is known by
the name of Ledger A" in the Rock
efeller family 1t Is a completely
worn out little notebook, with bro
ken cover and tattered pages Of
faded writing. but 1t is one Of the
most precious treasures in the Rookie
Teller vaults. 1t has more than a
personal interest now 1t has sud-
denly become historic. because 1t re-
cords the origin Of "the most CON-
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 rioened
into an organizer OF benevolence
He Vas a member of a mission
church, which was fast breaking
down undef the weight OF $4,000
mortgage. This sixty cent day
yOu.h undertook to collect the
money, AID be did It,
THAT Mas proud day." he said
In later years. when the last dollar
was COLLECTED"
b Little as he knew it, the boy was
ttla at work upon the fulfilment Of
his dream to tacome perhaps the
greatest gettsr. 80 the greatest CIV
Z 'iye 4 ~ ..s' sgeaxs y;y-pe.-
ca Kan Of bulsp$ss and large at.
fairs. ne still reta!aed the habit e
organizing his giving as yell Il ~
getting. He even went so far as t2
organize his family into Q sort 8.
foundation. At the breakfast table
he would distribute the various ap-
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 the difficult art of giving"
The whole bent Of the Rockefeller
mind seems to have been inclined
from the first toward the working
out of this problem Of distribution
The business of the Standard Oil
Company itself is much more mat
ter of distribution than OF production.
1t was PROFESSIONALLY the first COM
pany that undertook to sell its prod
uct directly to the users on 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 uttermost parts of
the Garth 1t has, for instance, no
fewer than 5000 tank wagons travel
ing from door to door in the twenty
countries of Europe, selling pints and
quarts of liquid light to whosoever
demands it, Fully 100000 a
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 ap-
titude and business experience. Mr..
Rockefeller was well 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 afterthought