that The Pratt Oil
Company had been pushed to the wall, and would shortly have its neck
wrung by John D. Rockefeller and have to start all over. But these
prophets knew neither Rockefeller nor Rogers, and much less the
resources and wants of the world. In very truth, neither the brothers
Rockefeller, Rogers, nor Archbold, nor any one of that score of men who
formed The Standard Oil Company, ever anticipated, even in their wildest
dreams, the possibilities in the business. The growth of America in men
and money has been a thing unguessed and unprophesied. Thomas Jefferson
seemed to have had a more prophetic eye than any one else, but he never
imagined the railroads, pipe-lines, sky-scrapers, iron steamships,
telegraphs, telephones, nor the use of electricity and concrete. He did,
however, see our public-school system, and he said that "by the year
Nineteen Hundred the United States will have a population of fifty
million people." This is why he made that real-estate deal with
Napoleon, which most Americans of the time thought a bad bargain. Rogers
had great hope and an exuberant imagination, but the most he saw for
himself was an income of five thousand dollars a year, and a good house,
unencumbered, with a library and a guest-room. In addition, he expected
to own a horse and buggy. He would take care of the horse himself, and
wash the buggy, also grease the axles. In fact, his thoughts were on
flowers, books, education, and on cultivating his mental acreage.

John D. Rockefeller was sorely beset by business burdens. The Standard
Oil Company had moved its headquarters to New York City, where its
business was largely exporting. The brothers Rockefeller found
themselves swamped under a mass of detail. Power flows to the men who
can shoulder it, and burdens go to those who can carry them.

Here was a business without precedent, and all growing beyond human
thought. To meet the issues as they arise the men at the head must grow
with the business.

Rogers could make decisions, and he had strength like silken fiber. He
could bend, but never break. His health was perfect; his mind was fluid;
he was alive and alert to all new methods and plans; he had great
good-cheer, and was of a kind to meet men and mold them. He set a pace
which only the very strong could follow, but which inspired all. John D.
Rockefeller worked himself to a physical finish, twenty years ago; and
his mantle fell by divine right on "H. H." with John D. Ar