rockefeller’s 38 letters to his son-letter 36: wealth is a responsibility
dear john:
i am very happy that a financial crisis that almost caused a national disaster has finally passed!
now, i think our president of the united states, mr. theodore roosevelt, can go to louisiana to continue hunting with peace of mind, despite his surprising incompetence in this crisis. of course, mr. president did not do nothing. he supported wall street with "worries". god! our taxpayer was so blind that he sent such a new york bastard to the white house.
frankly speaking, the mention of theodore roosevelt’s name and everything he did to standard oil makes me indignation. he is the narrowest and most vengeful villain i have ever seen. yes, this villain succeeded. with the power in his hands, he became the winner of an unfair competition initiated by him. the federal court issued the huge fine that was unprecedented in american history and ordered its dissolution. our company. see what this despicable man has done to us!
however, i believe that his so-called punishment will not succeed in the end. on the contrary, he will feel greatly disappointed, because i believe that all our companies are not rubbish. we have an outstanding management team and sufficient funds. we can resist any risks and strikes, our wealth will come from their healthy bodies. wait and see! there will be times when we secretly cheer.
however, we were indeed hurt and treated extremely unfairly. theodore accused us of being a villain with huge wealth, and the judge insulted us as notorious thieves, as if our wealth was conspired to plunder. wrong! those stupid guys don't know how big companies are built, and he doesn't want to know. every penny of our money is permeated with our wisdom, and we have paid a load of sweat every step forward. the cornerstone of our business building is laid by our lives. but they don’t want to listen, but they have to be like paranoia, only believing in their own low-powered judgments, insulting to belittle our business ability, and even ignoring the fact that we use the cheapest and best quality kerosene to illuminate the united states.
i know that the long sword in theodore's hand will definitely be swung until a big gain is achieved, because he rejected our proposal of reconciliation. but i am fearless, because i have a clear conscience, and the worst result is that he uses his power to break up our brilliant and happy family, but the happiness will not stop, and the glory will not fall. the future based on reality will prove all this.
there is no doubt that we are experiencing unprecedented persecution, from the roosevelt administration. however, we cannot use emotions and anger to suppress our conscience. when a crisis comes, we can never stand on the sidelines. it will make us feel shame and uneasy conscience. we should come forward. because we are citizens of the united states, we have a duty to save our country and our fellow citizens from disasters. as a rich man, i know that huge wealth is also a huge responsibility, and i shoulder the mission of benefiting mankind.
the financial crisis swept wall street. depositors in panic lined up to withdraw their deposits from the bank. there was a run. when a crisis that would cause the us economy to enter the great depression again, i had a foreboding that the country had fallen into it. double crisis: the government lacks funds and the people lack confidence. at this moment, "mr. moneybag" must do something about this. i called mr. stone and asked the associated press to quote me and tell the american people: our country has never lacked credit, and the financial world has knowledge. scholars take credit as their life. if necessary, i would rather use half of the securities to help the country maintain its credit. believe me, the financial earthquake will not happen.
thank god, the crisis has passed, and wall street has come out of the predicament.
and for this moment, i did what i should do, as the wall street journal commented, "mr. rockefeller helped wall street with his voice and huge sums of money." it’s just that i’ll never let them know that in overcoming this panic, i was the one who took the most money from my pocket, which makes me very proud.
of course, wall street was able to successfully survive the credit crisis. mr. morgan can be described as outstanding. he is the out-and-out commander of this war. he brought together a group of business celebrities to cope with the crisis and used his irreplaceable financial talents. the resolute personality saved wall street. so i said that the american people should thank him, the people on wall street should thank him, and theodore roosevelt should thank him even more, because morgan did what he should have done but failed to do because of his incompetence.
nowadays, many people, and of course newspapers, praise the generous people, but to me it is worthless. the peace of conscience is the only reliable reward. we should take the responsibility of our country and bear it bravely. i think those people who sincerely extend a helping hand are just like me. we just want to illuminate our motherland with our own strength, faith and loyalty.
but i am not without shameful records. forty-six years ago, when so many young americans obeyed the call of the motherland and went to the front loyally to fight for the liberation of slaves and the maintenance of federal unity, as a young man, i thought that the company had just opened and my family wanted relying on it to live, did not go to war.
this seems to be a reassuring reason, but at that time, the country needed me and we needed to shed blood. this incident has always disturbed my conscience. it wasn't until the economic crisis arrived more than a decade ago that i had a chance of salvation. at that time, the federal government was unable to guarantee gold reserves, and washington turned to mr. morgan for help, but morgan was unable to do anything. it was me who put out a huge subsidy to the government to quell the financial panic. this makes me very happy, more than how much money i make.
but i didn’t see myself as a savior, let alone pretentious. only a fool would be pretentious because i was rich, because i was a citizen. i know that i have huge wealth, and i also bear huge public responsibilities because of it. what is more noble than having huge wealth is to serve the motherland in accordance with the needs of the motherland.
john, we are rich, but at any time, we should not spend money arbitrarily. our money is only used to create value for mankind, and we must not give any selfish people a little bit of benefit. of course, we will never donate money to republicans to support elections. theodore roosevelt has already hurt us.
fame and virtue are the decoration of the soul. without her, no matter how beautiful the body is, it should not be considered beautiful.
love your father
november 20, 1907
rockefeller famous quote:
1. great wealth is also a great responsibility.
2. only fools are pretentious because they are rich.
3. never let anyone with selfish intentions benefit a little bit.
