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Show ROCKEFELLER AND HIS FOUNDATION. The Chronicle of San Francisco begins SB article on the Rockefeller foundation with these ( words: "The methods by which the Rockefeller and ! other grest oil fortunes were obtained in the early years of their accumulation were those of ruthless and outrageous oppression of weaker competitors. They csnnot be justified hy any '-onceivable code of morality." Maybe that ia true, but it is hard to understand under-stand when we consider that during those years the price of oil was continually reduced and the quality of the oil sold constantly improved. We never heard of a specific case where an owner of an oil well or an oil compapy waa obliged to give up business and aell at an undervaluation. It has always seemed to us that Rockefeller beat competitor by producing a better article and lling it" at a less price, bnt we may he mistaken. mis-taken. If the clwncrs of a department store sell goods cheaper than can the retail merchant who hsa to employ much help and pay heavy rent, t ti rat liiisftit'Ss on the part of the big concern doea not imply dishonesty, but simply makes clear that great capital always had the advantage over small capitsl. Rockefeller did not begin with a vast capital in money, but he did have a test capital in brains. lie made a better article t twin hia competitor, and sold it at a less pi And those people who used the article .sIws.vn bought where they could get the best article at the lowest price. If they were sorry for Ihoac who were forced out of the business, they wttT not sorry enough to buy an inferior s,rttele and pay an cxtm price for it. A iiisn tindH a gold mine. He can estimate .Hurt if it tfoeH down to the depths and maintains i he sanie, grade of ore, it ig worth a great deal . money. Hut he knows that often ores shrink J in value on some of the lower levels, after the deposits on the surface are soon worked out; ulicii there are faults in veins and the ore body is lost i-iul it requires extensive and costly w6rkjt in which to reduce the ores. If at such a J time the owner sells his property for what he thinks is h fair price, and the buyer opens the I mine, buflda reduction works, and the ores grow richer and richer as depth is attained, it ia in J had taste for the original owner to bewail his lim-d fortune and tell how much money he lost. Our belief is that the chief harm done by Rockefeller Rocke-feller is in the way hia money has been used since he accumulated it. If we understand the matter rightly, he is up to his eyes in the gold combine which holds its club ovrr the business of flic United States, makes panics when it pleases, demonetised silver, compelled the gov bj erament to sell bonds for 1250,000,000 in a time of profound peaee, and brought on the panic of 1907 that it might secure s grest property for a heggarly price that it had long coveted; and when necessary to rompaa its own ends, haa bought newspapers to corrupt public opinion snd hired learned writers to presch a fool faith to the people. But hqwever this may be, the Rockefeller ) foundation ia one of the most superb institutions ever devised, and in promise carries more hope .to suffering mortals than any other one institu-, institu-, tion iu all the world. |