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美國100位歷史名人榜(11)：石油大王John Davison Rockefeller洛克菲勒

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil magnate. Rockefeller rev

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John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil magnate. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and first American worth more than a billion dollars. He is often regarded as the richest person in history.

Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He is also the founder of both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. He was a devoted Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions throughout his life. Rockefeller adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life.He had four daughters and one son; John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "Junior" was largely entrusted with the supervision of the foundations.

Standard Oil
By the end of the American Civil War, Cleveland was one of the five main refining centers in the U.S. (besides Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and the region in northwestern Pennsylvania where most of the oil originated). In June 1870, Rockefeller formed Standard Oil of Ohio, which rapidly became the most profitable refiner in Ohio. Standard Oil grew to become one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. The railroads were fighting fiercely for traffic and, in an attempt to create a cartel to control freight rates, formed the South Improvement Company, in collusion with Standard and other oil men outside the main oil centers. The cartel received preferential treatment as a high-volume shipper, which included not just steep rebates of up to 50% for their product, but also rebates for the shipment of competing products. Part of this scheme was the announcement of sharply increased freight charges. This touched off a firestorm of protest from independent oil well owners, including boycotts and vandalism, which eventually led to the discovery of Standard Oil's part in the deal. A major New York refiner, Charles Pratt and Company, headed by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers, led the opposition to this plan, and railroads soon backed off. Pennsylvania revoked the cartel’s charter and equal rates were restored for the time being.Undeterred, though vilified for the first time by the press, Rockefeller continued with his self-reinforcing cycle of buying competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out. In less than four months in 1872, in what was later known as the "Cleveland Conquest" or "Cleveland Massacre", Standard Oil had absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors.

Eventually, even his former antagonists, Pratt and Rogers, saw the futility of continuing to compete against Standard Oil: in 1874, they made a secret agreement with their old nemesis to be acquired. Pratt and Rogers became Rockefeller's partners. Rogers, in particular, became one of Rockefeller's key men in the formation of the Standard Oil Trust. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt became Secretary of Standard Oil. For many of his competitors, Rockefeller had merely to show them his books so they could see what they were up against, then make them a decent offer. If they refused his offer, he told them he would run them into bankruptcy, then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. He saw himself as the industry’s savior, "an angel of mercy", absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive. Standard was growing horizontally and vertically. It added its own pipelines, tank cars, and home delivery network. It kept oil prices low to stave off competitors, made its products affordable to the average household, and to increase market penetration, sometimes sold below cost if necessary. It developed over 300 oil-based products from tar to paint to Vaseline to chewing gum. By the end of the 1870’s, Standard was refining over 90% of the oil in the U.S. Rockefeller had already become a millionaire.Standard Oil Trust Certificate 1896In 1877, Standard clashed with the Pennsylvania Railroad, its chief hauler. Rockefeller had envisioned the use of pipelines as an alternative transport system for oil and began a campaign to build and acquire them. The railroad, seeing Standard’s incursion into the transportation and pipeline fields, struck back and formed a subsidiary to buy and build oil refineries and pipelines. Standard countered and held back its shipments, and with the help of other railroads, started a price war that dramatically reduced freight payments and caused labor unrest as well. Rockefeller eventually prevailed and the railroad sold all its oil interests to Standard. But in the aftermath of that battle, in 1879 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania indicted Rockefeller on charges of monopolizing the oil trade, starting an avalanche of similar court proceedings in other states and making a national issue of Standard Oil’s business practices.

人物簡介

約翰·洛克菲勒全稱約翰·大衛森·洛克菲勒（英文：John Davison Rockefeller，1839年7月8日－1937年5月23日），美國實業家，慈善家，以革命了石油工業與塑造現代慈善的企業化結構而聞名。1870年他創立了標準石油，在全盛期他壟斷了全美90%的石油市場，成為美國第一位十億富豪與全球首富。他也普遍被視為人類近代史上首富，財富總值折合今日之3000億美元以上。　　

他受到記者與各種輿論的攻擊，標準石油最後被美國最高法院判決違反反托拉斯法並且在1911年被勒令拆分為34家公司(事實上，反托拉斯法正是針對標準石油而制定的)。規模之巨大，其後繼企業：艾克森美孚ExxonMobil、埃莫科Amoco、康納科Conoco和雪佛龍Chevron在百年後的今天依然是世界最大的數間石油公司(其中艾克森美孚為2007年Fortune 500全球企業第二大)。　　

另一方面，洛克菲勒在他人生的後40年致力於慈善事業，主要是教育和醫藥領域。他在1897年正式結束對標準石油的直接管理，但保持了大部分的股權。他出資成立洛克菲勒研究所，資助北美醫學研究，包括根除十二指腸寄身蟲和黃熱病，幫助了野口英世的研究，也對抗生素的發現貢獻甚大。另外難得的是，他對黑人族群非常關照，並斥鉅資提升黑人教育，廣設學校。他也是個虔誠的北浸禮會教友，並且在他的一生中支持了很多教會背景的機構。　　

今天的兩所美國頂尖大學：芝加哥大學、與洛克菲勒大學都是他創辦的。現今的紐約市也處處可見洛克菲勒家族留下的地標，如聯合國總部大樓、洛克菲勒中心等等。洛克菲勒堅信他人生的目的是“從其他惡性競爭的商人們身上賺取盡可能多的金錢，而用此金錢發展有益人類的事業”。他以各種手段成為了空前絕後的巨富，但他不煙不酒不賭不色，一生可謂勤儉自持，並在晚年將大部分財產捐出資助慈善與研究事業，開美國富豪行善之先河，給今天如比爾·蓋茨與沃倫·巴菲特等富豪寫下了先例，讓他成為美國近代史上最富傳奇色彩與爭議性的人物之一。

創造壟斷時代
這位壟斷者的一舉一動牽動著國際石油市場的每一根神經，他創建了一個史無前例的聯合事業--托拉斯。約翰·洛克菲勒通過氣勢如虹的兼併和擴張壟斷了美國的石油工業，而被人稱為"石油大王"。世界首富比爾·蓋茨把洛克菲勒作為自己惟一的崇拜物件："我心目中的賺錢英雄只有一個名字，那就是洛克菲勒。"洛克菲勒中心的53層摩天大樓坐落在美國紐約第五大道上。這裡也是標準石油公司的所在地約翰·洛克菲勒。標準石油公司創立之初（1870年)僅有5個人，而今天該公司擁有股東30萬，油輪500多艘，年收入已達五六百億美元，可以說，這裡的一舉一動牽動著國際石油市場的每一根神經。整個中心猶如一個龐大的帝國，而這個帝國的奠基人就是洛克菲勒。洛克菲勒創建了一個史無前例的聯合事業--托拉斯。在這個托拉斯結構下，他合併了40多家廠商，壟斷了全國80％的煉油工業和90％的油管生意。不久，托拉斯在全美各地、各行業野火般地迅速蔓延開來。顯然，洛克菲勒成功地造就了美國歷史上一個獨特的時代--壟斷時代