“TAINTED” MILLIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1020, 22 July 1911, Page 4

“TAINTED” MILLIONS.

NO TRUST IN TRUST MONISY. Mr John D. Rockefeller will not be permitted to organise the gigantic Rockefeller Foundation, ”to promote the advance of civilisation,” to which he had intended devoting the greater part of his fortune. The scathing denunciation of the methods of the Standard Oil Trust incorporated in the recent verdict of the Supreme Court declaring the trust an illegal combination has served to accentuate popular disapproval of the public use of money earned by this unlawful monopoly. Public opinion objects to the perpetual consolidation of the Rockefeller millions for any cause whatever, fearing that in some way the money may be used against the national welfare. Mr Rockefeller will have to find some other way to dispose of his money. If he is given permission at all to establish his foundation, the amount of money he will be permitted to apply to it wil' be limited to a comparatively small amount. It is now fifteen months since Mr Rockefeller applied to,; Congress to incorporate his foundation, and Congress has taken no

action whatever. It was intimated at the time that Mr Rockefeller intended making an initial gift of ,£60,000,000 to the foundation, so invested as to produce an annual income of £4,000,000. His sou, Mr John D. Rockefeller, jun., was to have the actual management of this great fortune, and was to devote his entire life to the work. Scarcely any praise has been given Mr Rockefeller for his intended gift. On the contrary, criticisms have been aroused in every part of the country. It has been asserted that the articles of incorporation, as originally drawn up, would lodge in the hands of the trustees of the foundation greater power than Congress Itself possesses. No limit whatever was made to what constituted the “advance of civilisation.” If the trustees believed civilisation could be advanced by disbanding the American navy or by inveigling America into a war with some other Power, for instance, there was nothing in the original charter to prevent them devoting the entire ,£4,000,000 a year for such a purpose. These objections were advanced so persistently that, six months ago, Senator Gallinger, acting for Mr Rockefeller, withdrew the original articles of incorporation and substituted new ones. They provided that the maximum capitalisation of the foundation, excluding natural increases in value of the property bequeathed, should not exceed £20,000,000. None of the income could be added to the principal, and it must be expended for the purpose of the foundation. Congress was given the power to impose at any time such limitations on the objects of the foundation as the public interested demanded. At the end of fifty years the trustees of the foundation were authorised to distribute all or any part of the property, by a twothirds vote, and at the end of one hundred years this authority devolved upon Congress. Even the limitations thus voluntarily accepted by Mr Rockefeller have not served to popularise the idea ot the foundation. Both the public and Congress are indifferent to the changes in the charter, and the people continue to show a reluctance to accept any money from the head of the Standard Oil Trust. The congressional Bill of incorporation has not been reported out of committee. It it ever is reported there will follow lively debates on the floor of Congress, and speeches will be made about fortunes accumulated by trust manipulations that probably will result in the rejection ot the proposed charter.