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by John D Rockefeller

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Title: Random Reminiscences of Men and Events

Author: John D Rockefeller

Release Date: November 18, 2005 [EBook

#17090]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RANDOM REMINISCENCES OF MEN ***

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MR JOHN D ROCKEFELLER AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN.

Random

Reminiscences

of Men and Events

BY

JOHN D.

ROCKEFELLER

New York

Doubleday, Page & Company

1909

COPYRIGHT, 1908, 1909, BYDOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

Probably in the life of every one therecomes a time when he is inclined to goover again the events, great and small,which have made up the incidents of hiswork and pleasure, and I am tempted tobecome a garrulous old man, and tellsome stories of men and things which havehappened in an active life

In some measure I have been associatedwith the most interesting people ourcountry has produced, especially inbusiness—men who have helped largely

to build up the commerce of the UnitedStates, and who have made known its

products all over the world Theseincidents which come to my mind to speak

of seemed vitally important to me whenthey happened, and they still stand outdistinctly in my memory

Just how far any one is justified in keepingwhat he regards as his own private affairsfrom the public, or in defending himselffrom attacks, is a mooted point If onetalks about one's experiences, there is anatural temptation to charge one withtraveling the easy road to egotism; if onekeeps silence, the inference of wrong-doing is sometimes even more difficult tomeet, as it would then be said that there is

no valid defence to be offered

It has not been my custom to press myaffairs forward into public gaze; but I

have come to see that if my family andfriends want some record of things whichmight shed light on matters that have beensomewhat discussed, it is right that Ishould yield to their advice, and in thisinformal way go over again some of theevents which have made life interesting tome.

There is still another reason for speakingnow: If a tenth of the things that have beensaid are true, then these dozens of ableand faithful men who have beenassociated with me, many of whom havepassed away, must have been guilty ofgrave faults For myself, I had decided tosay nothing, hoping that after my death thetruth would gradually come to the surfaceand posterity would do strict justice; but

while I live and can testify to certainthings, it seems fair that I should refer tosome points which I hope will help to setforth several much-discussed happenings

in a new light I am convinced that theyhave not been fully understood

All these things affect the memories ofmen who are dead and the lives of menwho are living, and it is only reasonablethat the public should have some first-hand facts to draw from in making up itsfinal estimate

When these Reminiscences were begun,there was of course no thought that theyshould ever go so far as to appearbetween the covers of a book They werenot prepared with the idea of even aninformal autobiography, there was little

idea of order or sequence, and no thoughtwhatever of completeness.

It would have been a pleasure as well as asatisfaction to dwell with some fulnessupon the stories of daily and intimatecompanionship which existed for so manyyears with my close partners andassociates, but I realize that while theseexperiences have always been to meamong the great pleasures of my life, along account of them would not interestthe reader, and thus it happens that I havebut mentioned the names of only a few ofthe scores of partners who have been soactive in building up the business interestswith which I have been associated

J.D.R

March,1909.

Business 79

V Other

Business

Experiencesand

BenevolentTrust TheValue of theCooperativePrinciple inGiving 165

CHAPTER I

Some Old Friends

Since these Reminiscences are really whatthey profess to be, random and informal, Ihope I may be pardoned for setting down

so many small things

In looking back over my life, theimpressions which come most vividly to

my mind are mental pictures of my oldassociates In speaking of these friends inthis chapter, I would not have it thoughtthat many others, of whom I have notspoken, were less important to me, and Ishall hope to refer to this subject of my

early friends in a later chapter.

It is not always possible to remember justhow one first met an old friend or whatone's impressions were, but I shall neverforget my first meeting with Mr John D.Archbold, who is now a vice-president ofthe Standard Oil Company

At that time, say thirty-five or forty yearsago, I was travelling about the countryvisiting the point where something washappening, talking with the producers, therefiners, the agents, and actually gettingacquainted

One day there was a gathering of the mensomewhere near the oil regions, and when

I came to the hotel, which was full of oilmen, I saw this name writ large on the

John D Archbold, $4.00 a bbl.

He was a young and enthusiastic fellow,

so full of his subject that he added hisslogan, "$4.00 a bbl.," after his signature

on the register, that no one mightmisunderstand his convictions The battlecry of $4.00 a barrel was all the morestriking because crude oil was selling thenfor much less, and this campaign for ahigher price certainly did attract attention

—it was much top good to be true But if

Mr Archbold had to admit in the end thatcrude oil is not worth "$4,00 a bbl.," hisenthusiasm, his energy, and his splendidpower over men have lasted

He has always had a well-developed

sense of humour, and on one seriousoccasion, when he was on the witnessstand, he was asked by the opposinglawyer:

"Mr Archbold, are you a director of thiscompany?"

to start afresh on another line

I can never cease to wonder at hiscapacity for hard work I do not often seehim now, for he has great affairs on hishands, while I live like a farmer away

from active happenings in business,playing golf, planting trees; and yet I am

so busy that no day is long enough

Speaking of Mr Archbold leads me to sayagain that I have received much morecredit than I deserve in connection withthe Standard Oil Company It was mygood fortune to help to bring together theefficient men who are the controllingforces of the organization and to workhand in hand with them for many years, but

it is they who have done the hard tasks.The great majority of my associationswere made so many years ago, that I havereached the age when hardly a month goes

by (sometimes I think hardly a week) that I

am not called upon to send some message

of consolation to a family with whom we

have been connected, and who have metwith some fresh bereavement Onlyrecently I counted up the names of theearly associates who have passed away.Before I had finished, I found the listnumbered some sixty or more They werefaithful and earnest friends; we hadworked together through many difficulties,and had gone through many severe trialstogether We had discussed and arguedand hammered away at questions until wecame to agree, and it has always been ahappiness to me to feel that we had beenfrank and aboveboard with each other.Without this, business associates cannotget the best out of their work.

It is not always the easiest of tasks toinduce strong, forceful men to agree It has

always been our policy to hear patientlyand discuss frankly until the last shred ofevidence is on the table, before trying toreach a conclusion and to decide finallyupon a course of action In working with

so many partners, the conservative onesare apt to be in the majority, and this is nodoubt a desirable thing when the meremomentum of a large concern is certain tocarry it forward The men who have beenvery successful are correspondinglyconservative, since they have much to lose

in case of disaster But fortunately thereare also the aggressive and more daringones, and they are usually the youngest inthe company, perhaps few in number, butimpetuous and convincing They want toaccomplish things and to move quickly,and they don't mind any amount of work or

responsibility I remember in particular anexperience when the conservativeinfluence met the progressive—shall Isay?—or the daring side At all events,this was the side I represented in thiscase.

ARGUMENTS VERSUS CAPITAL

One of my partners, who had successfullybuilt up a large and prosperous business,was resisting with all his force a plan thatsome of us favoured, to make some largeimprovements The cost of extending theoperations of this enterprise wasestimated at quite a sum—three milliondollars, I think it was We had talked itover and over again, and with severalother associates discussed all the pros andcons; and we had used every argument we

could command to show why the planwould not only be profitable, but wasindeed necessary to maintain the lead wehad Our old partner was obdurate, he hadmade up his mind not to yield, and I cansee him standing up in his vigorousprotest, with his hands in his pockets, hishead thrown back, as he shouted "No."It's a pity to get a man into a place in anargument where he is defending a positioninstead of considering the evidence Hiscalm judgment is apt to leave him, and hismind is for the time being closed, and onlyobstinacy remains Now theseimprovements had to be made—as I saidbefore, it was essential Yet we could notquarrel with our old partner, but aminority of us had made up our minds that

we must try to get him to yield, and weresolved to try another line of argument,and said to him:

"You say that we do not need to spend thismoney?"

"No," he replied, "it will probably prove

to be many years before such a sum must

be spent There is no present need forthese facilities you want to create, and theworks are doing well as they are—let's letwell enough alone."

Now our partner was a very wise andexperienced man, older and more familiarwith the subject than some of us, and allthis we admitted to him; but we had made

up our minds, as I have said, to carry outthis idea if we could possibly get his

approval, and we were willing to waituntil then As soon as the argument hadcalmed down, and when the heat of ourdiscussion had passed, the subject wasbrought up again I had thought of a newway to approach it I said:

"I'll take it, and supply this capital myself

If the expenditure turns out to be profitablethe company can repay me; and, if it goeswrong, I'll stand the loss."

That was the argument that touched him.All his reserve disappeared and the matterwas settled when he said:

"If that's the way you feel about it, we'll

go it together I guess I can take the risk ifyou can."

It is always, I presume, a question inevery business just how fast it is wise to

go, and we went pretty rapidly in thosedays, building and expanding in alldirections We were being confrontedwith fresh emergencies constantly A newoil field would be discovered, tanks forstorage had to be built almost over night,and this was going on when old fieldswere being exhausted, so we weretherefore often under the double strain oflosing the facilities in one place where wewere fully equipped, and having to build

up a plant for storing and transporting in anew field where we were totallyunprepared These are some of the thingswhich make the whole oil trade a perilousone, but we had with us a group ofcourageous men who recognized the great

principle that a business cannot be a greatsuccess that does not fully and efficientlyaccept and take advantage of itsopportunities.

How often we discussed those tryingquestions! Some of us wanted to jump atonce into big expenditures, and others tokeep to more moderate ones It wasusually a compromise, but one at a time

we took these matters up and settled them,never going as fast as the mostprogressive ones wished, nor quite socarefully as the conservatives desired, butalways made the vote unanimous in theend

THE JOY OF ACHIEVEMENT

The part played by one of my earliest

partners, Mr H.M Flagler, was always

an inspiration to me He invariablywanted to go ahead and accomplish greatprojects of all kinds, he was always on theactive side of every question, and to hiswonderful energy is due much of the rapidprogress of the company in the early days

It was to be expected of such a man that heshould fulfil his destiny by working outsome great problems at a time when mostmen want to retire to a comfortable life ofease This would not appeal to my oldfriend He undertook, single handed, thetask of building up the East Coast ofFlorida He was not satisfied to plan arailroad from St Augustine to Key West

—a distance of more than six hundredmiles, which would have been regarded

as an undertaking large enough for almostany one man—but in addition he has built

a chain of superb hotels to induce tourists

to go to this newly developed country.Further than this, he has had themconducted with great skill and success.This one man, by his own energy andcapital, has opened up a vast stretch ofcountry, so that the old inhabitants and thenew settlers may have a market for theirproducts He has given work to thousands

of these people; and, to crown all, he hasundertaken and nearly completed aremarkable engineering feat in carryinghis road on the Florida Keys into theAtlantic Ocean to Key West, the point setout for years ago

Practically all this has been done after

what most men would have considered afull business life, and a man of any othernationality situated as he was would haveretired to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

I first knew Mr Flagler as a young manwho consigned produce to Clark &Rockefeller He was a bright and activeyoung fellow full of vim and push Aboutthe time we went into the oil business Mr.Flagler established himself as acommission merchant in the same buildingwith Mr Clark, who took over andsucceeded the firm of Clark &Rockefeller A little later he bought out

Mr Clark and combined his trade with hisown

Naturally, I came to see more of him Thebusiness relations which began with the

handling of produce he consigned to ourold firm grew into a business friendship,because people who lived in acomparatively small place, as Clevelandwas then, were thrown together muchmore often than in such a place as NewYork When the oil business wasdeveloping and we needed more help, I atonce thought of Mr Flagler as a possiblepartner, and made him an offer to comewith us and give up his commissionbusiness This offer he accepted, and sobegan that life-long friendship which hasnever had a moment's interruption It was

a friendship founded on business, which

Mr Flagler used to say was a good dealbetter than a business founded onfriendship, and my experience leads me toagree with him

For years and years this early partner and

I worked shoulder to shoulder; our deskswere in the same room We both lived onEuclid Avenue, a few rods apart We metand walked to the office together, walkedhome to luncheon, back again afterluncheon, and home again at night Onthese walks, when we were away from theoffice interruptions, we did our thinking,talking, and planning together Mr Flaglerdrew practically all our contracts He hasalways had the faculty of being able toclearly express the intent and purpose of acontract so well and accurately that therecould be no misunderstanding, and hiscontracts were fair to both sides I canremember his saying often that when you

go into an arrangement you must measure

up the rights and proprieties of both sides

with the same yardstick, and this was theway Henry M Flagler did.

One contract Mr Flagler was called upon

to accept which to my surprise he at oncepassed with his O.K and without aquestion We had concluded to purchasethe land on which one of our refinerieswas built and which was held on a leasefrom John Irwin, whom we both knewwell Mr Irwin drew the contract for thepurchase of this land on the back of alarge manila envelope that he picked up inthe office The description of the propertyran as such contracts usually do until itcame to the phrase "the line runs south to amullen stalk," etc This seemed to me atrifle indefinite, but Mr Flagler said:

"It's all right, John I'll accept that

contract, and when the deed comes in, youwill see that the mullen stalk will bereplaced by a proper stake and the wholedocument will be accurate andshipshape." Of course it turned out exactly

as he said it would I am almost tempted

to say that some lawyers might sit at hisfeet and learn things about drawingcontracts good for them to know, butperhaps our legal friends might think I waspartial, so I won't press the point

Another thing about Mr Flagler for which

I think he deserves great credit was that inthe early days he insisted that, when arefinery was to be put up, it should bedifferent from the flimsy shacks which itwas then the custom to build Every onewas so afraid that the oil would disappear

and that the money expended in buildingswould be a loss that the meanest andcheapest buildings were erected for use asrefineries This was the sort of thing Mr.Flagler objected to While he had to admitthat it was possible the oil supply mightfail and that the risks of the trade weregreat, he always believed that if we wentinto the oil business at all, we should dothe work as well as we knew how; that weshould have the very best facilities; thateverything should be solid and substantial;and that nothing should be left undone toproduce the finest results And hefollowed his convictions of building asthough the trade was going to last, and hiscourage in acting up to his beliefs laidstrong foundations for later years.

There are a number of people still alivewho will recall the bright, straightforwardyoung Flagler of those days withsatisfaction At the time when we boughtcertain refineries at Cleveland he wasvery active One day he met an old friend

on the street, a German baker, to whom hehad sold flour in years gone by His friendtold him that he had gone out of the bakerybusiness and had built a little refinery.This surprised Mr Flagler, and he didn'tlike the idea of his friend investing hislittle fortune in a small plant which he feltsure would not succeed But at first thereseemed nothing to do about it He had it onhis mind for some days It evidentlytroubled him Finally he came to me andsaid:

"That little baker man knows more aboutbaking than oil refining, but I'd feel better

if we invited him to join us—I've got him

on my conscience."

I of course agreed He talked to his friend,who said he would gladly sell if wewould send an appraiser to value hisplant, which we did, and then there arose

an unexpected difficulty The price atwhich the plant was to be purchased wassatisfactory, but the ex-baker insisted that

Mr Flagler should advise him whether heshould take his pay in cash or StandardOil certificates at par He told Mr Flaglerthat if he took it in cash it would pay allhis debts, and he would be glad to havehis mind free of many anxieties; but if Mr.Flagler said the certificates were going to