"Thrift, thrift, Horatio," is the one idea upon which the great captain of the oil business has always insisted.
Many have detected in these habits of mind only the cheese-paring activities of a naturally narrow spirit.

Rockefeller's old Cleveland associates remember him as the greatest bargainer they had ever known, as a man who had an eye for infinite details and an unquenchable patience and resource in making economies.

Yet Rockefeller was clearly more than a pertinacious haggler over trifles.

Certainly such a diagnosis does not explain a man who has built up one of the world's greatest organizations and accumulated the largest fortune which has ever been placed at the disposal of one man.

Indeed, Rockefeller displayed unusual business ability even before he entered the oil business.