The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1911-03-02
By CHARLES KLEIN

money, instead Of being a blessing.
promised to become not only curse
to himself, bit a source Of dire peril
to all mankind-was genius born of
the railroad age. No other age could
have brought him forth. His peculiar
talents fitted exactly the conditions of
his time. Attracted early in life to
the newly discovered oil fields of Penn.
sylvania, he became a dealer in the
raw product and later refiner, &C.
curing with capital, laboriously saved,
first one refinery, then another. The
railroads were cutting each others
threats to secure the freight business
Of the oil men, and John Burkett Ry-
der saw his opportunity. He made
secret overtures to the road, guaran-
teeing vast amount of business IL he
could get exceptionally low rates, and
the illegal compact was made. His
competitors, undersold in the market,
stood no chance, and one by one they
were crushed out of existence. Ryder
called these naneuvers business" The
world called them brigandage. But the
Colossus pcospered and slowly built up
the foundations Of the extraordinary
fortune which is the talk and the Won
der Of the world today. Master now
Of the oil situation, Ryder succeeded
in his ambition Of organizing the EN-.
pire Trading company, the most pow.
erful, the most secretive and the most
wealthy business institution the com
mercial world has yet known.
Yet with all this success John Bur-
kett Ryder was still not content. He
was now rich man, richer by many
millions than he had dreamed he could
ever be, but still he was unsatisfied.
He became money mad. He wanted
to be richer still, to be the richest man
in the world, the richest man the world
had ever known. And the richer he got
the stronger the idea grew upon him
with all the force Of q morbid obses-
sion.
Yet this commercial pirate, this Ma
poleon Of finance, was not a wholly
bad man. He had his redeeming quail
ties, like most bad men. His most pro.
nounced weakness, and the one that
had made him the most conspicuous
man Of his time, was an entire lack Of
moral principle. No honest or honor
able man could have amassed such stu
pendous wealth. In other words, John
Ryder had not been equipped by ma
ture with a conscience. He had no
sense of right or wrong or justice
where his own interests were concern
ed. He was the prince Of egoists. On
the other hand, he possessed qualities
which, with some people, count as
virtues. He was pious and regular In
his attendance at church, and, while he
had done but little for charity, he
was known to have encouraged the Civ.
ing o. aims BY members Of his family,
which consisted Of q wife, whose tImid
voice was rarely heard, and q son JEFF
fefgon, who was the destined successor
Of his gigantic estate.
Such was the man who was the real
power behind ths Southern and Trans.
coot1nsntal railroad. More than any
- else Ryder had ,beeu aroused b.
ths present legal action, not % much
tor the money intsfsst ct stake 90 that
any one should dare TO thwart his win.
Il had been PIT scheme Of his, this
purchase for q song whsn the land was
cheap Of some thousand acres along thu
line, and It 10 true that at the time Of
the purehsee thera had been some idea