Random Reminiscences of Men and Events
THE DIFFICULT ART OF GETTING
To my father I owe a great debt in that he himself trained me to
practical ways. He was engaged in different enterprises; he used to
tell me about these things, explaining their significance; and he
taught me the principles and methods of business. From early boyhood I
kept a little book which I remember I called Ledger A--and this little
volume is still preserved--containing my receipts and expenditures as
well as an account of the small sums that I was taught to give away
regularly.
Naturally, people of modest means lead a closer family life than those
who have plenty of servants to do everything for them. I count it a
blessing that I was of the former class. When I was seven or eight
years old I engaged in my first business enterprise with the
assistance of my mother. I owned some turkeys, and she presented me
with the curds from the milk to feed them. I took care of the birds
myself, and sold them all in business-like fashion. My receipts were
all profit, as I had nothing to do with the expense account, and my
records were kept as carefully as I knew how.
We thoroughly enjoyed this little business affair, and I can still
close my eyes, and distinctly see the gentle and dignified birds
walking quietly along the brook and through the woods, cautiously
stealing the way to their nests. To this day I enjoy the sight of a
flock of turkeys, and never miss an opportunity of studying them.
My mother was a good deal of a disciplinarian, and upheld the standard
of the family with a birch switch when it showed a tendency to
deteriorate. Once, when I was being punished for some unfortunate
doings which had taken place in the village school, I felt called upon
to explain after the whipping had begun that I was innocent of the
charge.
"Never mind," said my mother, "we have started in on this whipping,
and it will do for the next time." This attitude was maintained to its
final conclusion in many ways. One night, I remember, we boys could
not resist the temptation to go skating in the moonlight,
notwithstanding the fact that we had been expressly forbidden to
skate at night. Almost before we got fairly started we heard a cry for
help, and found a neighbour, who had broken through the ice, was in
danger of drowning. By pushing a pole to him we succeeded in fishing
him out, and restored him safe and sound to his grateful family. As we
were not generally expected to save a man's life every time we skated,
my brother William and I felt that there were mitigating circumstances
connected with this particular disobedience which might be taken into
account in the final judgment, but this idea proved to be erroneous.
STARTING AT WORK
Although the plan had been to send me to college, it seemed best at
sixteen that I should leave the high school in which I had nearly
completed the course and go into a commercial college in Cleveland for
a few months. They taught bookkeeping and some of the fundamental
principles of commercial transactions. This training, though it lasted
only a few months, was very valuable to me. But how to get a job--that
was the question. I tramped the streets for days and weeks, asking
merchants and storekeepers if they didn't want a boy; but the offer
of my services met with little appreciation. No one wanted a boy, and
very few showed any overwhelming anxiety to talk with me on the
subject. At last one man on the Cleveland docks told me that I might
come back after the noonday meal. I was elated; it now seemed that I
might get a start.
I was in a fever of anxiety lest I should lose this one opportunity
that I had unearthed. When finally at what seemed to me the time, I
presented myself to my would-be employer:
"We will give you a chance," he said, but not a word passed between us
about pay. This was September 26, 1855. I joyfully went to work. The
name of the firm was Hewitt & Tuttle.
In beginning the work I had some advantages. My father's training, as
I have said, was practical, the course at the commercial college had
taught me the rudiments of business, and I thus had a groundwork to
build upon. I was fortunate, also, in working under the supervision of
the bookkeeper, who was a fine disciplinarian, and well disposed
toward me.
When January, 1856, arrived, Mr. Tuttle presented me with $50 for my
three months' work, which was no doubt all that I was worth, and it
was entirely satisfactory.
For the next year, with $25 a month, I kept my position, learning the
details and clerical work connected with such a business. It was a
wholesale produce commission and forwarding concern, my department
being particularly the office duties. Just above me was the bookkeeper
for the house, and he received $2,000 a year salary in lieu of his
share of the profits of the firm of which he was a member. At the end
of the first fiscal year when he left I assumed his clerical and
bookkeeping work, for which I received the salary of $500.
As I look back upon this term of business apprenticeship, I can see
that its influence was vitally important in its relations to what came
after.
To begin with, my work was done in the office of the firm itself. I
was almost always present when they talked of their affairs, laid out
their plans, and decided upon a course of action. I thus had an
advantage over other boys of my age, who were quicker and who could
figure and write better than I. The firm conducted a business with so
many ramifications that this education was quite extensive. They owned
dwelling-houses, warehouses, and buildings which were rented for
offices and a variety of uses, and I had to collect the rents. They
shipped by rail, canal, and lake. There were many different kinds of
negotiations and transactions going on, and with all these I was in
close touch.
Thus it happened that my duties were vastly more interesting than
those of an office-boy in a large house to-day. I thoroughly enjoyed
the work. Gradually the auditing of accounts was left in my hands. All
the bills were first passed upon by me, and I took this duty very
seriously.
One day, I remember, I was in a neighbour's office, when the local
plumber presented himself with a bill about a yard long. This
neighbour was one of those very busy men. He was connected with what
seemed to me an unlimited number of enterprises. He merely glanced at
this tiresome bill, turned to the bookkeeper, and said:
"Please pay this bill."
As I was studying the same plumber's bills in great detail, checking
every item, if only for a few cents, and finding it to be greatly to
the firm's interest to do so, this casual way of conducting affairs
did not appeal to me. I had trained myself to the point of view
doubtless held by many young men in business to-day, that my check on
a bill was the executive act which released my employer's money from
the till and was attended with more responsibility than the spending
of my own funds. I made up my mind that such business methods could
not succeed.
Passing bills, collecting rents, adjusting claims, and work of this
kind brought me in association with a great variety of people. I had
to learn how to get on with all these different classes, and still
keep the relations between them and the house pleasant. One particular
kind of negotiation came to me which took all the skill I could master
to bring to a successful end.
We would receive, for example, a shipment of marble from Vermont to
Cleveland. This involved handling by railroad, canal, and lake boats.
The cost of losses or damage had to be somehow fixed between these
three different carriers, and it taxed all the ingenuity of a boy of
seventeen to work out this problem to the satisfaction of all
concerned, including my employers. But I thought the task no hardship,
and so far as I can remember I never had any disagreement of moment
with any of these transportation interests. This experience in
conducting all sorts of transactions at such an impressionable age,
with the helping hand of my superiors to fall back upon in an
emergency--was highly interesting to me. It was my first step in
learning the principle of negotiation, of which I hope to speak later.
The training that comes from working for some one else, to whom we
feel a responsibility, I am sure was of great value to me.
I should estimate that the salaries of that time were far less than
half of what is paid for equivalent positions to-day. The next year I
was offered a salary of $700, but thought I was worth $800. We had not
settled the matter by April, and as a favourable opportunity had
presented itself for carrying on the same business on my own account,
I resigned my position.
In those days, in Cleveland, everyone knew almost everyone else in
town. Among the merchants was a young Englishman named M.B. Clark,
perhaps ten years older than I, who wanted to establish a business and
was in search of a partner. He had $2,000 to contribute to the firm,
and wanted a partner who could furnish an equal amount. This seemed a
good opportunity for me. I had saved up $700 or $800, but where to get
the rest was a problem.
I talked the matter over with my father, who told me that he had
always intended to give $1,000 to each of his children when they
reached twenty-one. He said that if I wished to receive my share at
once, instead of waiting, he would advance it to me and I could pay
interest upon the sum until I was twenty-one.
"But, John," he added, "the rate is ten."
At that time, 10 per cent. a year interest was a very common rate for
such loans. At the banks the rate might not have been quite so high;
but of course the financial institutions could not supply all the
demands, so there was much private borrowing at high figures. As I
needed this money for the partnership, I gladly accepted my father's
offer, and so began business as the junior partner of the new firm,
which was called Clark & Rockefeller.
It was a great thing to be my own employer. Mentally I swelled with
pride--a partner in a firm with $4,000 capital! Mr. Clark attended to
the buying and selling, and I took charge of the finance and the
books. We at once began to do a large business, dealing in carload
lots and cargoes of produce. Naturally we soon needed more money to
take care of the increasing trade. There was nothing to do but to
attempt to borrow from a bank. But would the bank lend to us?
THE FIRST LOAN
I went to a bank president whom I knew, and who knew me. I remember
perfectly how anxious I was to get that loan and to establish myself
favourably with the banker. This gentleman was T.P. Handy, a sweet and
gentle old man, well known as a high-grade, beautiful character. For
fifty years he was interested in young men. He knew me as a boy in the
Cleveland schools. I gave him all the particulars of our business,
telling him frankly about our affairs--what we wanted to use the money
for, etc., etc. I waited for the verdict with almost trembling
eagerness.
"How much do you want?" he said.
"Two thousand dollars."
"All right, Mr. Rockefeller, you can have it," he replied. "Just give
me your own warehouse receipts; they're good enough for me."
As I left that bank, my elation can hardly be imagined. I held up my
head--think of it, a bank had trusted me for $2,000! I felt that I was
now a man of importance in the community.
For long years after the head of this bank was a friend indeed; he
loaned me money when I needed it, and I needed it almost all the time,
and all the money he had. It was a source of gratification that later
I was able to go to him and recommend that he should make a certain
investment in Standard Oil stock. He agreed that he would like to do
so, but he said that the sum involved was not at the moment available,