AMERICA'S RICHEST MAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5227, 6 April 1895, Page 1

AMERICA'S RICHEST MAN.

J. D. ROCKEFELLER AND HIS ' ENORMOUS FORTUNE. (Detroit Fret Press.) What does the richest man in this country do in a day ? John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oilking, io the man. His fortune has now reached the gigantic figure of 145,000,G00d01a. Before the end of the year it will have reached the terrific sum o£ lp^OOO.OOOdols. Paopla who olaitn to know say thet hia wealth ia growing at the rate of 15,000,000d01s a year. He is not an extravagant man; his family are even more modest in iheir tastes than he is, and that he does not spend one-twentieth of hie annual income, is generally believed by hia friends.

MR ROCKEFELLSR'e INCOME is unquestionably somewhere in the neighbourhood of * 15,000,000d01s a year. The Standard Oil Company pays immense profits to its owners, and Mr Rockefeller ia the principal owner. Based upon an annual income of 15,000,000d0l a year, the oil king ha 3 1,250,0G0d0l a month to spend, or 41,666d0l every day in the week, including Sundays and holidays.

A great many men would be satisfied to retire from all business pursuits if they had as a fortune just one day's income of Mr Rockefeller. Not bo with the latter. Perhaps the ambition of his life is to have a daily incomo of 100,000dol. In that event he would have built up a fortune of 325,000,000d'01, and hove every cent of it bring in as much interest aa his present fortune. ■

It in not- without the pale of possibility that Mr Eookefellelf -wilJ live to see his daily income reach the lOO.OOOdoIs figure, i Thirty-five yeara ago Mr Rockefeller was worth 2000dols. la that time, practically sfcsrting on nothing, he has made 145,000,000d015. Ho is flfty-five years old now, vigorous and healthy, and in all probability yill live twenty yeara more, in which time it -would not be unreasonable to suppose that he could double hie enormous wealth. •■..•■ . My Rocfcefellerjs d^-58^Ikm;i^t^r« of -fact one. He spends it much the same aa the man working oh a salary and with a family to support. TheM is, ho Bhow or ostentation about what he doss. Few people in the financial or bu^inesa world know him eyen by eight. Not one out of fifty of the c-mployes of the Standard Oil Co, in. its offices en lower Brcadway, New York, have ever spekan a word to him. Many of them would not know him if they saw him. . THB ROCKEFELLER HOME is on the Eonth Bide of Fifty-fourth Street, 3UBt west of Fifth Avenue, and overlooks' the park fronting Stf Luke's hospital on the opposite oide of the street. The house ia a big, substantial b?own-6tone affair of no particular kind of architecture. It is built on the lines of solid comfort, with a wide entrance in the middle and with large rooms opening- on the central hall. The house has a miniature park around it, a very exceptional thing in that part of the city, where pround is worth in the . neiglibourhood-of 4000dol a front foot. When Mr Rockefeller leaves his house at 9 a.m., if the .day is fine, he walka towards Fifth Avenue. Very often he starts up-town in the direction of Central Park. Sometimes he is accompanied by one or both ol! his daughters and sometimes by liiß sou, a young msn of twenty-two yeare, who in now learning the ropes of the oil company. Mr Eockefeller ia a great believer in the efficacy of walking and all kinds of exercise as health givers, and he has taught all. the members of his family to believe the same. After a three or four mile tramp in the park Mr Rockefeller tarns back to Fifth Avenue and'often walks down to Twenty- third Street, where he takea a Broadway car to his offices. Frequently he walka all the way down to the office, a distance of four • and a half mile 3 from his home.* On these' tramps he is sometimes accompanied by bis eo>i or by lm brother, William Eookefellsr, who is sleo one of tha SfcandardPO.il princes. Mr Ecckef oiler has never figured in public life, has never taken any apparent* interest in politics and ha 3 etudiously avoided meeting people, "thu3 making of himself the least known millionaire in the metropolis. His clothes have the appearance of tho ready-made article, and in every way modern Cro33ua looks tho plain, ordinary business man. THE OIL COMPANY. Arriving at the building of the Standard Oil Co., Mr Rockefeller goes at once to his suite of private officeß. , There he ia mefc by hia two private secretaries. One of these aecretaries attends to that part of his business relating to the Standard Oil Co., while the other attends to his personal business interesl'Bi Hundreds of letters addressed to the rich man are Received every day, but he does not see ona out of twenty of .them. . The secretaries, under secretaries, stenographers, typewriters and clerks take-. ogre of the others. It ia the samef^with people who call with, the intention of seeing the Oil King. Maiiy^'of these callers have rehearsed in weir minds what they would say and ho^'they would act to. favourably imprasEthe-'millionaire only to be met by the polite but-firm secretary, who in very few words, turns the caller homeward a disappointed iaau. THE' CHIEFS OP THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS ' make condensed reports for the daily perusal ol Mr Rockefeller, and the reading of theee o.cq«py nearly the entire morning. Few of thesa chiefa have ever hod any verbal coihumtuaation with Mr Rockefeller, although many of them have been connected with the company for years. There are less than half a dozen men ia the army of people employed by the concarn who have acceßa to Mr Rockfeller's personal sanctum 1 . A large percentage' of the callers are men and women, who, having read of the wide philanthropy of toe man who endowed a single educational institution in Chicago with 2,600,000d018, think it will be an easy matter to {nduce'him to, turn Borne of the golden Rtreaui in their direction. Biit ifc."l&qnj3t here that the personal private Hccrei-ttTv of Sir Rockefeller comes in. • Thja gentleman devotes nearly all his time to the phUaathropio work of b4iem-

ployer. How much money the latter gives away in year can only be conjectured. His charities are conducted on the same retiring, unostentatious plan that characterizes his whole life. No one outside of his secretary and himself knows what he giveß away. MB BOCKEFBLIBB IS NOT AH INDISCRIMINATE PHILANTHROPIST. All of his charities tend in the direction of religion or education. In consequence not one out of fifty of the callera at his office have their wishes gratified. Mr Rockefeller always lunches in hia office, and spends his afternoon until four o'clock going over reports and dictating instructions. At 4 o'clock he starts uptown, usually walking all the way home. If the weather is stormy he goes home in his brougham, which invariably meets him on inclement days. He dines plainly et 6 o'clock, and seldom goeß out in the evening unless it is to attend some important church meeting. He goes very little into society and ia very rarely seen at the theatre or opera. Mrs Bockef eller and the two daughters care as little for society nnd the pleasure of the play aa Mr Rockefeller. Moßt of their time is spent p.t homo. Thua the wealthiest individual family in the land leads the quietest and most prosaic of lives.