Standard Oil had taught the American public an important but paradoxical lesson: Free markets, if left completely to their own devices, can wind up terribly unfree. Competitive capitalism did not exist in a state of nature but had to be defined or restrained by law. Unfettered markets tended frequently toward monopoly or, at least, toward unhealthy levels of concentration, and government sometimes needed to intervene to ensure the full benefits of competition. This was particularly true in the early stages of industrial development. This notion is now so deeply embedded in our laws that it has become all but invisible to us, replaced by secondary debates over the precise nature or extent of antitrust enforcement. 297

Instead of making isolated gifts, Rockefeller wanted to finance institutions whose research would have a pervasive influence. Of the University of Chicago, he later said, "Following the principle of trying to abolish evils by destroying them at the source, we felt that to aid colleges and univerities, whose graduates would spread their culture far and wide, was the surest way to fight ignorance and promote the growth of useful knowledge. 146 To Rockefeller, the least imaginative use of money was to give it to people outright instead of delving into the causes of human misery. "That has been our guiding principle, to benefit as many people as possible,' he affirmed. "Instead of giving alms to beggars, if anything can be done to remove the causes which lead to the existence of beggars, then something deeper and broader and more worthwhile will have been accomplished. "47 314

He spent the night at Harper's house and was so unnerved by the absence of clocks the visit made him deviate from his usual daily schedule that he gave Mrs. Harper a thousand-dollar check as a gift and suggested she buy clocks. 326

According to legend, when prohibited from talking about money directly to Rockefeller, Harper circumvented the ban by praying aloud for money in his presence. 329

He contributed to education and medical research, for they strengthened recipients and better prepared them for the evolutionary struggle- that is, he equipped them to compete but did not tamper with outcomes. For this reason, he never used his wealth to alleviate poverty directly and scorned any charity that smacked of social welfare. "Instead of giving alms to beggars," Rockefeller said, "if anything can be done to remove the causes which lead to the existence and broader and more worthwhile will have of beggars, then something deeper
been accomplished."7 Unlike Carnegie, he did not build libraries, athletic facilities, or music halls for the recreation of ordinary people but promoted pure research that would lead to more generalized benefits. 469

469-472, 478-479, 491-493

It is an enduring tribute to Rockefeller that so many Standard Oil companies prospered during the remainder of the century, controlling a significant fraction of both the American and world oil industry. Rockefeller's stepchildren would be everywhere: Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon), Standard Oil of Ner York (Mobil), Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), Atlantic Refining (ARCO and eventually Sun), Continental Oil (Conoco), today a unit of DuPont, and Chesebrough-Ponds, which had begun by processing petroleum jelly. Three offspring Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron 558 would belong to the Seven Sisters group that would dominate the world oil industry in the twentieth century; a fourth sister, British Petroleum, later took orer Standard Oil of Ohio, then known as Sohio. It was certainly not their intention, but the trustbusters helped to preserve Rockefeller's legacy for posterily and unquestionably made him the world's richest man. 559 558-559

It was one of many signs in Rockefeller's later years that he yearned for the innocent pleasures of his bucolic boyhood. "I am very sorry to see this tendency of crowding into the cities, very sorry," he once told a Bible class. "It is not like fifty years ago, when I was a boy. It seems to me that as the cities grow larger the country in general becomes weaker."3 562

568-570