to make the sale, and am entirely candid in this
statement, and beg to call your attention to the time, some two
years ago, when you consulted Mr. Flagler and myself as to selling
out your interests to Mr. Rose, at which time you were desirous of
selling at _considerably less price_, and upon time, than you have
now received in cash, and which sale you would have been glad to
have closed if you could have obtained satisfactory security for
the deferred payments. As to the price paid for the property, it is
certainly three times greater than the cost at which we could now
construct equal or better facilities; but wishing to take a liberal
view of it, I urged the proposal of paying $60,000, which was
thought much too high by some of our parties. I believe that if you
would reconsider what you have written in your letter, to which
this is a reply, you must admit having done me great injustice, and
I am satisfied to await upon your innate sense of right for such
admission. However, in view of what seems to be your present
feeling, I now offer to restore to you the purchase made by us, you
simply returning the amount of money which we have invested, and
leaving us as though no purchase has been made.

Should you not desire to accept this proposal, I offer to you 100,
200 or 300 shares of the stock at the same price that we paid for
the same, with this addition, that if we keep the property we are
under engagement to pay into the treasury of the Backus Oil Company
any amount which added to the amount already paid would make a
total of $100,000 and thereby make the shares $100 each.

That you may not be compelled to hastily come to a conclusion, I
will leave open for three days these propositions for your
acceptance or declination, and in the meantime believe me,

Yours very truly,

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER.

Neither of these offers was accepted. In order that this may not rest
on my unsupported assertion, I submit the following documents: The
first is a letter from Mr. H.M. Backus, a brother of Mrs. Backus's
deceased husband, who had been associated with the business and had
remained with the company after his death. The letter was written
without any solicitation whatever on my part, but I have since
received permission from Mr. Backus to print it. It is followed by
extracts from a