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The Civil War made a lot of people rich, John D. Rockefeller among them. He started as a trader in commodities (salt, clover seed, timothy seed and pork) and ended up a wealthy man. He was still in his twenties (Chernow, 71). During that period, Rockefeller learned one crucial technique, namely, how to make the railroads compete for your business. Since his commodities business had lots of shipping needs, and there were a myriad of railroads available - too many, really, as a shakeout had not yet occurred - Rockefeller attained the lowest price possible on his company's shipping. While later in life Rockefeller would shun debt financing of his business's growth, during the Civil War period he borrowed as need be. His lenders became his mentors, always helping him focus on the need to repay every loan he took. Yes, it was serious business for Rockefeller, but at the same time a joyous business. It was, truly, fun (Chernow, 68).
During the same period that Rockefeller was building his business, he was also building his life. He married and began to grow a family. Just as importantly, he build a serious relation with his church, becoming an unfailing supporter of his church (the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church) in Cleveland (Chernow, 77).
He formed alliances with the railroads to secure kickbacks on his and others shipments of oil from the oil regions and refinery regions of Western Pennsylvania and Ohio to the East Coast, and then on to the world. The key word here was kickbacks. Since there weren't laws yet against such kickbacks, Rockefeller didn't mind plunging ahead with them no matter what his competitors thought.
Depending on your point of view, Rockefeller became, even this early in his career, either a religious homebody living a saintly life, or a scoundrel living on the spoils of other's work. As he retired thirty or forty years later, it still wasn't clear, and, basically, we still have a choice to make about it all. The government, finally, with the anti-trust legislation and court challenges and wins, forced the issue and broke up the empire that Rockefeller so carefully created. Rockefeller became a philanthropist - Churchill recognized Rockefeller for his generosity and discernment in science (St. Louis Post Dispatch) - who supported universities all over the country.
There was one final, saintly act that is forgotten, even in today's tumultuous financial markets. It was Rockefeller, in combination with federal money directed by Theodore Roosevelt, that turned the tide in the panic of 1907. J. P. Morgan got most of the credit. Rockefeller, quietly, supplied a lot of the funds that staunched the panic (Chernow, 544).
By order of the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1911, Standard Oil broke into thirty-four separate companies. We're not going to analyze here how well that split-up actually worked, as the entities were still owned by the same stockholders. There is, however, an interesting fact buried in the thirty four new companies created. Standard Oil of New Jersey inherited refineries, oil tankers, and marketing apparatus. It did not, however, inherit any oil to refine, ship or market. That spelled opportunity for another producer who had a lot of oil with no place to sell it (Davis, 77).
Edward L. Doheny had been developing oil fields in Mexico. In 1910 and 1911 his company had a couple gushers, a lot of oil, and no where to sell it. Standard Oil of New Jersey became one of the buyers for the Mexican oil, saving Doheny's company during the early development of the new fields in Mexico (Davis, 77).
Rockefeller's was a circuitous story with ups and downs all along the way. Doheny's wasn't much different. Revolution in Mexico ultimately made Doheny's ownership of the oil fields risky, as the Mexican government was interested in nationalizing them. In support of the Tampico oil fields, the U. S. Navy blockaded the port of Veracruz and supported American interests. The U. S. wanted the oil (Davis, 96).
Now, the Doheny story would have been a good Los Angeles boy makes good story except for one debacle that happened in the twenties, the Tea Pot Dome scandal. While finally found not guilty to all the counts against him, Doheny had hoped that his professional career wouldn't be judged by on scandal. It was not to be. Donheny spent his last years in declining health.
In contrast, Rockefeller targeted a one-hundred year life. He died in 1937 at ninety-seven, feeble, but bright to the end (Chernow, 674).
References
Chernow, Ron. Titan. The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Random House. 1998.
Davis, Margaret Leslie. Dark Side of Fortune. Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny. University of California Press. 1998.
Gold, Russell. Market Slide Puts a Spotlight on Big Oil's Cash Hoard. Wall Street Journal. 7 October 2008. B1.
St. Louis Post Dispatch, 8 July 1936.