The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-03-01
Stewart and Rockefeller
. Will Meet in Decisive
Battle March 7.
INDIANA IS WAR SCENE
Rival MiIIionaireS viii
Settle Feud in Whiting
Over Ethics.
BY BRUCE CATION.

MA HtENlEf writer
WHITING, Ind, March with
millions massed on each side. the
stage has been set in this quiet lit
tie Indiana town. an hours ride
from Chicago, for the financial
battle of the cenLury"--the fight OF
John d. Rockefeller Jr., to GUST
Colonel Robert w. Stewart as chair
man of the board of the Standard
Oil Company of Indiana, Se00,o00,-
900 concern.
On March z. Colonel Stewart will
be tried" before a jury composed
of the corporations $4,000 stock
holders with Rockefeller in the role
of prosecutor, In person or by proxy
mostly the latter-the Stockhold-
erS will vote or Rockefeller's mo-
ton that Stewart should resign be-
cause of his connection with the
mysterious Continental Trading
Company which was linked, in a
ways with the Teapot Dome oil
scandal.
Ethics VS.. Profits
Some have called it "a battle be-
bWCCll CblllIo anu HlOl4bos GAAAlE
Rockefeller has demanded that Ste
wart resign on ethical grounds and
Stewart, refusing, has stood largely
on his record for successful opera
ton of the company. 1t has just
recently declared two dividends of
$116,0000O0 each.
John D. Rockefeller Jr., owns only
< nF tho C+oVI1wI CNff ~
Indiana's stock and, through various
Rockefeller boards and foundations,
controls only 10 per cent more.
However, he has succeeded in rally
ing many stockholders to his sup
port in his efforts TO get the nee
esSary 81 per cent Of the vote. His
aged father, now Wintering in Flor
ida, owns none of the stock but is
giving his son his full support
Thus comes to showdown the
battle between the son of the worlds
richest man and Colonel Stewart,
the son of al Iowa blacksmith, who
has accumulated fortune esti-
mated at $100,000,000. The stake is
control of the Standard of Indiana,
the largest single manufacturer and
marketer of petroleum in the world.
Prepare for Battle
For months the two men have
been marshaling their forces-lining
up the votes of stockholders for and
against.
The whole titanic combat, in
which the two antagonists symbol
ize two opposing trends of Ameri-
can business life, dates back to q
curious, almost irrevelant side-is-
sue of the great Teapot Dome oil
scandal.
The Rockefellers, through
spokesman, recently announced that
they already had gained the support
Of more than As per cent of the
voting stock, and we're confident
that this would give them the vic
tory. Stewart, however, refused to
concede the truth of this claim.
Probably this is the first time In
the history of big business that
stockholders have sought to GUST an
official on purely ethical grounds. In
this fight Stewart represents the old
order Of business man; the business
man of tradition, who rolls up inn
mepse profits for his company and
makes no fine definitions about the
rights or wrongs Of the methods he
uses.
John d. Thinks Different
Rockefeller, on the other hand, is
interested in the ethics of the thing.
AS a stakeholder he surely can not
complain about the profits Stewart
has been making for him. In his
viewpoint he represents the new
attitude that has been growing up
in business circles; the attitude that
the simple standard docs it pay?"
is not quite good enough, even in
trade.
And there things rest as present.
Rockefeller VS.. Stewart-"ethics
against profits"-the old order
against the new. When the stock
holders cast their votes on March 7
it will be determined which is to be
1 the victor