An Interview with John D. Rockefeller

Simply from the grip he possessed as this man shook my hand, I knew he meant business. In many ways he is the definition of business. His name is John D. Rockefeller, and he is the richest man on earth.

Rockefeller informs me early on that much of his career was built on the values of his childhood. “Growing up as a small boy in New York, I always believed my purpose in life was to make as much money as I could, and then use it for the good of mankind”, recalls Rockefeller. This theory seems to have been adopted for use by many people following Rockefeller.

It is noticeable that everything about this man reflects his personality. “You will never catch me in the middle of a publicity stunt. I have avoided the spotlight all my life,” claims the millionaire, “It seems pointless to be caught up in time wasting affairs when I could be running a business to make money.”

As the facts arose that he was the first millionaire in America, and that his company, Standard Oil, had control of almost all of the oil in America, his modest words punched it all right back at me. He simply shrugged at the idea as though he had just been told the time on the clock. “My company, Standard Oil, is based out of Cleveland, Ohio. Using trains we are able to transport our oil and other products from Cleveland to cities on the east coast.” Once again, as if it didn’t matter, Rockefeller failed to mention that his company was leading the oil industry by far as the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. We have worked hard to gain dominance of the railroads, and they are a large part of my success.”

The topic of Standard Oil soon brought our conversation to focus on the rest of the oil industry, basically, all of Standard Oils competitors. The fact of the matter is, however, that Standard Oil now has virtually no other companies to compete with, a seemingly impossible monopoly of the oil business in this resource-rich land. As he explained his business methods I came to understand this man more. “For many of the competing oil companies I simply showed them my financial records so they could see what they were up against. I then offered to make a fair deal of partnership, or I would run them into bankruptcy.” Indeed, most of these oil companies agreed to his deals.

Knowing about his business life seemed to lessen the seriousness of the interview somewhat, “Ever since I was young, my two greatest ambitions have been to make $100,000, and to live to be one hundred years old. For the first time during our interview, a soft smile dawned on his face. “One ambition down,” said Rockefeller of far exceeding his goal of $100,000, and as to living to see the ripe old age of one hundred, “one ambition to go.”

It seems that after all of the “impossible” that this man has accomplished, living to be one hundred should be an easy task.