HATED POVERTY

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 443, 26 May 1937, Page 3

HATED POVERTY

COLOURFUL CAREER Late John D. Rockefeller A pUge in. the world’s history has closed with the death of John Davidson Rockefeller, the man who created the most powerful, money kingdom the world has ever seen. Conditions will never allow of another rise like his. American-horn son of an amiable American who believed in cheating hi 3 children at games “to make them sharp,” John D. made the leap from a few shillings a week to unimaginable wealth and power.

As a youth he saved money in a email blue bowl, like Vanderbilt, and many another Croesus. He hated poverty, and vowed to be worth 100, 000 dollars <t the age , of 30. He made his first 10,000 in produce merchandising in Cleveland, Ohio, by the- time he was 27, and reached his youthful -goal in the next four years. His chance at million_making had arrived with a request for financing by Shmuel Andrews, inventor of a new and better oil refining system. Rockefeller and Andrews, with two partners at different stages, first Clark and then Flagler, rose to power in the oil world, dropping all other interests until their Ohio refinery had, by means and methods Which have since been severely criticised, obtained' a virtual stranglehold on the entire American oil production). Then Rockefeller turned to railways, to iron and shipping. But these were always very much subsidiary to production of wealth from oil. He forced competitors out of business by compromising his railway companies and extracting secret information about his rivals’ movements froih them. His Money From God. Never was he conscious of wrongdoing. "God gave me my money,” he once said,- andi he believed i(t. Hie was shrewd, ice cold, remorseless in his drive toward, an objective If he stepped on toes here and theT’e if-'w’S's became minor mortals got in the way when he wlas on his way to becoming the richest man in the world. “There is no royal road to riches,” Mr. Rockefeller once said. “The path that leads from poverty to wealth is very steep and, rough, and it requires sturdy limbs; and a stout heart to climb it.” The future multimillionaire commenced his climb of the ladder of riches in very humble circumstances. Rockefeller’s, parents were poor, hard-working people,' his father earning the family subsistence on a small farm in Tioga County, New York. .< When young John was old enough to handle a hoe he was let out to neighbouring farmers, and worked curly and late in the fields and barns. He patiently, endured this drudgery until he was 16 years of age, showing much strength of character in those trying days and disciplining himself in the' habits of thrift and frugality, which, strengthening .with advancing years, hud considerable influence in the shaping of his after-career. “Pauperised” by Benefactions. That career culminated in his be> ing able to cllaim the first title” of “billionaire” in the world. Although his money was never compared with that of the fabulously wealthy Indian potentate, the Nizam of Hyderabad, who is said to post ess £500,000,000 worth of gold and jewels alone, Rockefeller wfas generally fregalnd|ed as being the world’s richest man. He was assessed on income from 2,000,000,000 dollars at one stage, but that was far from being a complete summary of his amazing ilamifieations'. His ben,eflactions have been estimated to total 600,000,000 dollars, and include 180,000,000 to the Rockefeller Foundation to “promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world”; 120,000,000 to the General Education Board for college endowments; 100,000.000 to the RockeTeller Institute for Medical Research, New ¥drk; 65,000,000 to the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, commemorating hi s wife (who died in 1915), and benefiting needy'mothers and children of New York. -At one time after his retrement he

used often -to visit, poor districts incognito to find out what people thought of tihe “oil king/’ In his eighties he still played, a good game of golf. He kept to nine holes a day, and often broke 40. His tips bore no relation to his other benefactions. He used to give “dimetr to golf caddies land children, of whom he was very .fond,, but in 1930 reduced hie donations to <‘nickles’’ The distribution of these small coins was a feature of his.* birthday celebrations at Tarrytown, New York. His great ambition was to live to be 100, but la/tterly he is said to have wlaived this hope. He lived what he was pleased to call “the simple life’’ in one of the world’s most magnificent estates —in the storied Pocantico Hills, high above Tarrytown, 20 miles tip the Hudson. River from New York, which might be seen in the distance.*' Thisglorious retreat cost Mr. Rockefeller millions of dolllars'. He kept 1000 retainers and 200 feardener s on It to preserve its beauties.