Random Reminiscences of Men and Events | Page 4

of the rapid
progress of the company in the early days.
It was to be expected of such a man that he should fulfil his destiny by
working out some great problems at a time when most men want to
retire to a comfortable life of ease. This would not appeal to my old
friend. He undertook, single handed, the task of building up the East
Coast of Florida. He was not satisfied to plan a railroad from St.
Augustine to Key West--a distance of more than six hundred miles,
which would have been regarded as an undertaking large enough for
almost any one man--but in addition he has built a chain of superb
hotels to induce tourists to go to this newly developed country. Further
than this, he has had them conducted with great skill and success.
This one man, by his own energy and capital, has opened up a vast
stretch of country, so that the old inhabitants and the new settlers may
have a market for their products. He has given work to thousands of
these people; and, to crown all, he has undertaken and nearly completed
a remarkable engineering feat in carrying his road on the Florida Keys
into the Atlantic Ocean to Key West, the point set out for years ago.
Practically all this has been done after what most men would have
considered a full business life, and a man of any other nationality
situated as he was would have retired to enjoy the fruits of his labour.
I first knew Mr. Flagler as a young man who consigned produce to
Clark & Rockefeller. He was a bright and active young fellow full of
vim and push. About the time we went into the oil business Mr. Flagler
established himself as a commission merchant in the same building
with Mr. Clark, who took over and succeeded the firm of Clark &

Rockefeller. A little later he bought out Mr. Clark and combined his
trade with his own.
Naturally, I came to see more of him. The business relations which
began with the handling of produce he consigned to our old firm grew
into a business friendship, because people who lived in a comparatively
small place, as Cleveland was then, were thrown together much more
often than in such a place as New York. When the oil business was
developing and we needed more help, I at once thought of Mr. Flagler
as a possible partner, and made him an offer to come with us and give
up his commission business. This offer he accepted, and so began that
life-long friendship which has never had a moment's interruption. It
was a friendship founded on business, which Mr. Flagler used to say
was a good deal better than a business founded on friendship, and my
experience leads me to agree with him.
For years and years this early partner and I worked shoulder to shoulder;
our desks were in the same room. We both lived on Euclid Avenue, a
few rods apart. We met and walked to the office together, walked home
to luncheon, back again after luncheon, and home again at night. On
these walks, when we were away from the office interruptions, we did
our thinking, talking, and planning together. Mr. Flagler drew
practically all our contracts. He has always had the faculty of being
able to clearly express the intent and purpose of a contract so well and
accurately that there could be no misunderstanding, and his contracts
were fair to both sides. I can remember his saying often that when you
go into an arrangement you must measure up the rights and proprieties
of both sides with the same yardstick, and this was the way Henry M.
Flagler did.
One contract Mr. Flagler was called upon to accept which to my
surprise he at once passed with his O.K. and without a question. We
had concluded to purchase the land on which one of our refineries was
built and which was held on a lease from John Irwin, whom we both
knew well. Mr. Irwin drew the contract for the purchase of this land on
the back of a large manila envelope that he picked up in the office. The
description of the property ran as such contracts usually do until it

came to the phrase "the line runs south to a mullen stalk," etc. This
seemed to me a trifle indefinite, but Mr. Flagler said:
"It's all right, John. I'll accept that contract, and when the deed comes in,
you will see that the mullen stalk will be replaced by a proper stake and
the whole document will be accurate and shipshape." Of course it
turned out exactly as he said it would. I am almost tempted to say that
some lawyers might