‘Thomas L. Greenough’ interview 1905
Thomas L. Greenough
In 1905, Thomas L. Greenough could look back over his life with pride. He had risen from common laborer to one of the Northwest’s leading capitalists in a few short years. He had been a benefactor to his community. In that year a reporter from the “Spokesman Review” interviewed him in his palatial home by the Rattlesnake. The following is a blunt but articulate exposition of his personal philosophy. In response to a question about his amusements he became expansive:
“About the only amusement I have is to be doing something. Drinking and carousing never appealed to me. I like to spend an hour with a friend sometimes, but really, I’m not very social in my instincts. Theater doesn’t strike me and as for music, I don’t know the difference between ‘Yankee Doodle’ and a ‘Liszt Rhapsody.’
“But when I’ve got a good stiff job of any kind on hand, then I’m happy. Nothing staggers me. I’m ready for anything and my real ambition is to be a man among men, and to pay my bills and meet my obligations. Fiction doesn’t appeal to me anymore than theater going. I read the newspapers and magazines for general news, but I don’t follow politics very closely. When I take a hand in politics, I’m in the game as a business.
“There’s a lot of agitation against big business men. They’re not as bad as they’re painted – not by a long way. I admire Rockefeller. John D. has done a big work and has done a lot of good for the country.
“I like men who can do things. It’s the people who can’t do any thing that are growling. Men who are doing things are always the objects of criticism. If moneyed men are hard hearted, it is because of all the roasts they are getting all the time for doing things.
“All this talk about cooperative government is foolishness. Every business must have a cool head and a cooperative government with a dozen heads, all at cross purposes, is sure to fail. The socialists are trying to make people wealthy by legislation. You can’t do it. Only people who have intelligence can really earn riches. I believe in the survival of the fittest in all lines of business. Let’s have individualism and give every man a chance to do all that they can. Pay for ability. The moment you undertake a cooperative government of a division of property, you destroy individual effort and then you go backwards. No country would prosper without individual rewards for big success. I heard Larson say once: “How many men are there who would work as hard as John D. Rockefeller?’
“There are mighty few young fellows who would do it. It seems that the young fellows who would do it. It seems that the youngsters are more shiftless than in my day, but I’m not complaining.”
The above article appeared in The Missoulian on August 10, 1975, in John Toole’s column ‘Other Days’.
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