After David Rockefeller’s Death, Here’s A Reminder Why The Rockefellers Were Hated During The 1900s

Added on 21 March 2017, 02:43, Updated on 22 March 2017, 12:56

Billionaire "philanthropist" David Rockefeller has died in his sleep at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York. He was 101 years old. Mr. Rockefeller, the last of his generation of the famed American family, was the grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.

After his death, people have started to talk about this family’s business relations and dark history. Listverse collected some of the reasons why they were hated in the early 1900s. What they’ve reminded us is that the Rockefellers were called thieves, murderers of women and children, manipulators, and outright liars during those years. Here are 9 of the reasons why people hated them.

Source: http://listverse.com/2016/11/24/10-reaso...

1. The stolen railroad.

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As you may already know, the Rockefellers did not get rich by being nice guys. And this railroad story is concrete proof of that.

As it was reported in the newspaper in 1911, the original owners of the Duluth, Mesaba, and Northern Railroad had just finished laying the track. They wanted to build terminals, but they needed more money to complete it. In comes Reverend Gates, a man hired by the Rockefellers to take charge of their charities. Rev. Gates explains to the owners that John D. Rockefeller has been keeping track of the building of their railroad and that he would lend them the money out of charity. The men accepted the loan for $420,000. Two months later, Rockefeller pretended that he needed the money back right away because of some “financial embarrassment.” The men received 24 hours to repay the loan. They scrambled to get a bank loan to repay Rockefeller, but Rockefeller already told the banks that the men’s credit “wasn’t worth a whoop.” Since they were unable to repay the loan, Rockefeller was able to take control of the railroad for a tiny fraction of what it was worth.

2. Unfair Wages

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John D. Rockefeller did not think much of the men who worked for him, and he wasn’t afraid to let the public know about it. In one instance in 1913, Harvey Pratt Judson, an educational man owned by Rockefeller, made it clear that he and Rockefeller did not believe there should be a minimum wage. They believed that “every man and woman, boy and girl gets just the wages they are worth.” It did not matter that these workers were not able to live on these wages.

3. The Ludlow Massacre

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In 1914, the coal mines were beyond dangerous. The pay was impossible to live on, and the miners were not paid in US cash. They received “money” that could only be used in the mining camp’s stores. Anything the miners made could only be used to purchase goods and food from the owner of the mine, who happened to be Rockefeller Jr. The men went on strike. Jr. hired a militia to force the men back into the mine and things got ugly. The miners and their families were forced out of their shacks and had to live in tents. The militia machine gunned the tent colony and lit it on fire. Two women and 11 children died in the assault along with several the men. The incident caused outrage across the US, and Jr. was branded a murderer of women and children.

4. Women And Children Terrified

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The miners’ families who survived the Ludlow massacre began to live in fear because they thought they would be killed by Rockefeller Jr.'s men. Don MacGregor, someone who supports miners, reports what women and children lived through during those years. He saw a group of small children “with wide and reddened eyes run from my approach because I was a stranger and the Ludlow massacre of the innocents had taught them the fear of all strangers. "Next, a pregnant woman ran out to MacGregor. She begged and pleaded that he take her away from the mining camp. “I don’t want my baby born here within reach of the machine guns. There was a woman going to have a baby at Ludlow and they burned them both.”

5. Printed Fake News

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If you can manage the press, you can also manipulate American people’s hearts and minds. It was exactly what the Rockefellers tried to do it after the Ludlow Massacre. They used their money to publish their own pamphlets to sing high praise on the “good” they brought to America. The Rockefellers also joined forces with Hearst Press in 1915, publishing only positive articles on the Rockefellers and demonizing anyone who spoke out against them. They were publicly accused of printing fake news and providing the public with false information about the salaries of their enemies, the union leaders.

6. Kept The Mine Workers In Poverty

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John D. Rockefeller, Jr. went to Colorado in 1915 to visit one of their mines. He was too tired to leave, so he decided to stay at the mine superintendent’s shack. The family was living in extreme poverty, in spite of the long 12-hour work days, and had to double up on sleeping arrangements just so Jr could have a bed to himself. The next day, Jr. returned to the mines only to get a very cold shoulder from the men working inside. At one point, Jr. tried to communicate with the poverty-stricken workers, but “the miners grinned their contempt. As the foremen began to introduce them one of them turned and walked away. Two others started to work.”

7. Meddled In Education

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John D. Rockefeller spent big money on higher education to “chloroform public thought.” Through his Rockefeller Foundation, he gave endowments to colleges that agreed to teach young men “safe and conservative doctrines.” He even boosted the salaries of certain professors who agreed to teach or preach, ideas that benefited the Rockefeller empire.The danger of organized labor to the Rockefeller empire was high on the list of ideas to stamp out. He did not want young businessmen graduating from college with the progressive beliefs that workers had rights.

8. Refused To Give Out War Loan

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It was World War I, and the Allies were trying to secure loans for the war. John D. Rockefeller was approached by the British and the Russians, but he refused to loan any money to the cause. In his own words, he said, “This war is awful! Don’t you think it is awful?” J.P. Morgan also approached Rockefeller to do his part in the war effort, but it was no use talking to crazy. It was already being discussed that J.P. Morgan might become the next “richest man in the world,” and it was obvious that there was tension between the men. When asked about J.P. Morgan’s involvement in war lending, Rockefeller answered:

“A wise owl lived in an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Why can’t we all be like that bird?”

9. Troubles Of A Sincere Man

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Congress demanded that John D. Rockefeller explain why there was yet another rise in gasoline prices in the spring of 1916. Irritated at being questioned, Rockefeller said that it was an issue of supply and demand. By this time, more and more unaffiliated newspapers were treating the Rockefellers with extreme sarcasm. One article, titled Troubles of a Sincere Man insisted that the government should lighten Rockefeller’s burden, “We do hate to see a sincere fellow citizen like Mr. Rockefeller struggling under conditions which he cannot control. To help Mr. Rockefeller keep his head above water the government can well afford to go to supplying the supply of gasoline.”

How do you feel?