The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-23
ROCKEFELLER GETS FINANCE LESS0HS
 FROM SCHOOL GIRL

Trinidad, Col, Sept. 23-J ohm D. Rockefeller, Jr., yesterday continued his investigation of living conditions on the properties of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Visiting the school at Sopris a twelve year old girl told MT. Rockefeller how to deal in stocks and bonds. how to run a bank, and how to finance a corporation that would pay a 10. per cent annual divi dend a ten-cent block of common stock.
 In his round of the school a teacher in the highest grade told MT. Rocke- felleu that the pupils had established a bank and a store in which school supplies were sold
 Really" said MT. Rockefeller, 'I should like to know something more about this system of finance"
 'Blanche,' said the teacher, will you explain it to MT. Rockefeller
 Then Blanche McArthur, a daugh- ter of a coal digger, walked to the front of the room shook hands calmly with MT Rockefeller and began her financial lesson.
 You see,'7 she began, ''I am cashier of the bank. We already have five dollars on deposit, all brought by the children"
 Five dollars!" exclaimed Mr. Rockefeller s.WonderfuI!'
 we have part of this loaned out to pupils-on good security, of course. We are looking around for perma- ,nent investment for the rest of our money"
 The girl then branched off into a discussion of stocks and bonds. MT Rockefeller listened gravely as the child told of the things which make bond issues safe or unsafe.
 "'We have a store, too, MT. Rocke- feller,'' she continued. <''It was form ed by some of us boys and girls, who each subscribed ten cents to the capi- tai stock We buy school supplies, pencils and tablets, at wholesale and sell them to the pupils. Last year the store paid between 30 and 40 cents dividend on each 10 cents in stock. Don't you think that was do- ing pretty well MT. Rockefeller ?"
 MT. Rockefeller nodded in assent. MT. Rockefeller previously had been entertained by an exhibition of first aid'' work by some of the boys of the school. In imitation of the regular first-aid teams maintained in the Southern Colorado mines the boys, coached by their teachers and the camp physician, have organized a team and give frequent drills, one of their number being selected as the patient.
 At Sorphis also MT. Rockefeller in spected houses which the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company recently made arrangements to buy and tear down.
 
 beIong ging to the company, were built thirty years ago by the rniners-m ost- 1y employed when the mine was opened. Unsight1y and unsani- tary they contrast strangely with the newer homes of the employees.
 These people have stuck to those old houses,'' MT. Rockefeller explain ed, 'fn spite of everything we could do. They pay only a nominal rent for the 1and-say a dollar a year and they have steadfastIy refused to remove to better quarters.
 "The company has made arrange ments to buy the houses outright for several thousand dollars, and we are constructing new. sanitary cottages on the hillside near the old settlement. Tm afraid, even now, we may have trouble in getting some of the old timers to take their new quarters when we get them built" H
 Leaving Sopris, the Rockefeller par ty motored to Morley. one of the newest mining camps in the district. Here the cottages are practically all of cement construction. The '"com- pany store,'' standing on the brow of a steep bluff, is built in Spanish mis- sion style.
 Returning to Trinidad from Nor ley, MT. Rockefeller halted for g brief visit at iStaryville. The days work practically completed the round of Colofado Fuel and Iron Company camps in Las sAnimas County.