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Rockefeller trained himself to reveal as little as possible, even in private letters, which he wrote as if they might someday fall into the hands of a prosecuting attorney.
Like many other future magnates—Andrew Carnegie (born in 1835), Jay Gould (1836), and J. Pierpont Morgan (1837)—he was born in the late 1830s and would therefore come to maturity on the eve of the post–Civil War industrial boom.
“There were many men who hunt a little, fish a little, and drink whiskey a little, and only attain a little success in life, and all for the lack of a little religion.”
“The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money.”
Mark Twain singled out the California gold rush as the watershed event that sanctified a new money worship and debased the country’s founding ideals.
“Save when you can and not when you have to,”
It might well be that his early commitment to charity gave him some inner license needed to pursue wealth with unparalleled—and at times unprincipled—vigor.
This parting was vintage Rockefeller: He slowly and secretly laid the groundwork, then moved with electrifying speed to throw his adversaries off balance.
“The widespread and excessive use of rum is the tinder which inflames the worst passions in human nature, fosters riots, Communism and strikes, promotes ignorance, vice and crime, and more than any other cause, threatens the stability of our free institutions,”
“I wore a thin overcoat and thought how comfortable I should be when I could afford a long, thick Ulster. I carried a lunch in my pocket until I was a rich man. I trained myself in the school of self-control and self-denial. It was hard on [me], but I would rather be my own tyrant than have some one else tyrannize me.”
On his desk, Flagler kept a quote from a popular novel, David Harum, which said, “Do unto others as they would do unto you—and do it first.”
Other Cleveland refiners evidently made the same calculation, and by late 1866 the city supported fifty refineries, ranking second only to Pittsburgh. Cleveland’s refineries were so numerous that their foul, acrid atmosphere enveloped the outskirts, tainting the beer from local breweries and souring the milk.
“It is remarkable how much we all could do if we avoid hustling, and go along at an even pace and keep from attempting too much.”
Is this what he also said to his employees?
Rockefeller’s supreme insight was that he could solve the oil industry’s problems by solving the railroads’ problems at the same time, creating a double cartel in oil and rails.
“You know we are independently rich outside investments in oil—but I believe my oil stock the very best.”
What *are* his other holdings at this time?
Early on, Rockefeller realized that in the capital-intensive refining business, sheer size mattered greatly because it translated into economies of scale.
Extremely punctual for all appointments, he said, “A man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily.”
A sweet, good-natured woman, Cettie nevertheless had a strong didactic side that could verge on fanaticism. As she once confessed to a neighbor, “I am so glad my son has told me what he wants for Christmas, so now it can be denied him.”
Being a little vexed one day at my objection to some clause he desired in the contract which was being drawn, he said in a sarcastic tone: “Mr. Dodd, do you often act for both sides in a case?” I said, “Not often, Mr. Rockefeller, but I am always ready to do so when both sides want an honest lawyer.” This seemed to amuse him and we soon brought the matter to a settlement.
The original oilmen were self-made roughnecks, biased against science and prone to operate by intuition, whereas Rockefeller brought a rational spirit to the business, and this counted among his greatest contributions.
