THE RICHEST MAN ON EARTH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2251, 12 October 1889, Page 3

THE RICHEST MAN ON EARTH.

The startling atatemert la mode that' the pinnacle cf earthly wealth Is thooght I to bare bean reacbod by Mr Jjhn D. Rookffllow, who ronat, it ere fore, have displaced tho Vanderbllt boys and the Duke of Westminister from their p>et* as rival oilmen's for the honor of bring accounted the u'obest man on earth. Rockefellers' wea'th has increased antil It is said that ha (a now m receipt of 20 000,0' Ololsayear. John D. Recife: era' life-story made htm one of tbe n< tvplb cf the New World loop before it m c drecmed that ho would tver reach lha greatest fcel.bt a* a mililcnalre. A certain Fr Rockefeller removed from the cent al patt of this Eta c icf s than 40 team ago to eß'ablish a home for bimse f and family In Cleveland. John D and Wlillim ware his sons. John D. finished h<» boyhood m tho Oblo city, and get his •ohoollng there. Then be osme to New York, md wan prood to bicome a bookkeep9r m a little store (or tbe sale of farm prodooe on commission In W»ter street At 19 years of age be and a Mr M. B. OUrk went into that business on their own , account. This was at tbe olose <f the war. While a book-keeper Mr Rockefeller had Invested a 11' tie money In a •mall til refiaery op the river. Tbe potUr In the s-ma ttore had pat his •mall saving* In tbe refinery also, In time Rockefeller thought he taw a fortune la oil, and sold ont his let rest m he •tors to O!ark. He and the former porter, sow a millionaire Samuel Andrews, thcD devoted all their time to oil refining. Rockefeller wan twcnty-ssx aod Andrew was nnder twenty five, Their refiner* was not worth SOOdo'u, and was not paid for* They prospered and Juho's brother William became h's partner In ano'her refinery. The two refineries were presently j >tned, aod a store was opened In this olty for the Bale cf tbe oil the? xrfincd. They needed money to swing their pans wltb, and set oat to find it . Away off In Ssglnaw. Michigan, was Henry fif. Flagler, sent tbore by a rich father-in-law to make his fortune m lombor end *aft. He was n't succeeding. Th-/elber-ln-law heard of the Rockefeller*, asd calling Flagfer to New York, pat him aod 60 OOOdo'.s into the naw firm. From thla stage m the Rockf f oller'o history begins the Unexampled oaieer of the Standard Oil Company, Taking that name and a c*p(t»l of a mi'lioo, John D Rockefeller rapidly coocummated bis plan to control tbe oil prodnot of the nation. Tbe business grew bo enormous that it was able to olt»ln the lowest freight rates from tbe railroads, and tbtsa were often •och that Commodore Vanderbilt remarked that only one man In the world conld dictate to him, and that was Roohi* feller. Refineries were booght right and left for stook or oash. All who, like Colonel O. H. Payne, took stock became jloh ; and others got a fair prioe and that was all. Tbe corporation was a mon< po'y ontil 1889 After that the railroad rebelled, and then the Standard built its pipe lines and defied tbe roads. The company is incorporated m many States and managed by tbe Standard Trast Company m tbla oity; with John D. and William Rockefeller still at tbe bead. William owd3 and lives at the bet at if nl Aaplnwall estate at Tarrytofrn, jast above *hs limits of this oity, on the Hudson . 36bn D. Hves near Greenwich, on tbe Sound, with a coterie of business associates, who come to town tveiy day m a private oar that la fitted up like a olabfaoaee on wheelr, Henry M. Flagler, whose inoamo now ii about 7,000,000d015. sv year has a grand home m town. These •nd the lesser magnates of tbe great oil irast are all quiet, plain, democratic oitfzsns, not one of whom puts on the airs ct tbe average hotd ole»k.