by
taking them from others so they are losers and you the gainer, whereby
you win at the cost of their happiness; or by expanding the world's
wealth so that others gain when you do. You, I know, prefer the latter,
that others should make money when you do, rather than that they should
lose and suffer when you are benefited."

I did not then know "Standard Oil's" and the "System's" religion as I do
now. I had yet to learn the cruelly cynical principles that guide this
financial Juggernaut in its relation with men and things. I imputed to
it the generosity and freedom which seemed to characterize Henry H.
Rogers' personality, ignorant that the man and the machine he served
might stand for different things. The "System's" Big Book says: "A
dollar honestly made makes another for some one else; but a dollar taken
is two dollars, because it increases our power and diminishes the
people's. Between the 'System' and the people must be eternal war, and
it is the price of the 'System's' existence that all opportunities of
weakening the people are sternly utilized."

"Mr. Rogers," I continued, "I have discovered in 'Coppers' an
opportunity whereby you and your associates can, by the investment of a
hundred millions of dollars, obtain these results: _First_, your money
will be as safe as in anything you now have it invested in. _Second_, by
indorsing this form of investment with the seal of your business
success, you will make it known to all who have money and there will at
once arise a tremendous demand for its securities. This demand will
drive prices up until dividend returns are in normal proportion to the
legitimate value of the security, namely, four to six per cent., which
is, as I can prove to you, a little more than can be got from anything
else but 'Copper' with the same elements of safety. _Third_, when the
advance I foresee occurs, your one hundred millions have doubled, and
all those who have joined us in the venture or have held on to their
stock will gain in the same proportion. As I estimate that we will have
but a third interest in all the good American 'Coppers,' there should be
something like $200,000,000 for the people, while we will have made
$100,000,000. To bring this about I have planned a campaign which will
make what you have done known from one end of the world to the other,
and will persuade the people at large to look at 'Standard Oil' in a
more favorable light than they do now. And, what is more, all