Rockefeller Reward

Of the $167,000,000 John D. Rockefeller Jr. has given away, some $12,000,000 has been spent outside the U. S. To help Europeans, Chinese, Japanese and Indians stricken by war, famine, earthquake and leprosy Mr. Rockefeller gave about $3,000,000. The League of Nations' library at Geneva was built and stocked with 2,000,000 Rockefeller Jr. dollars. The Palestine Archeological Museum got $1,680,000. Half a million helped build the Shakespeare Memorial Foundation theatre at Stratford upon Avon. A million and a half went to Germany's Heidelberg and Goettingen Universities, London's University College, China's Lingnan University, Japan's Tsuda College. Mr. Rockefeller's biggest single foreign handout was to France's Comite Franco-Americain pour la Restauration des Monuments.

An unexpected guest in 1923 at a Versailles fete which raised only $5,000 to restore the French Bourbon kings' crumbling Versailles and Trianon palaces, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was shocked by their state of decay, gave the Comite $1,000,000. His workmen did a thorough Rockefeller job of repair. Later Mr. Rockefeller gave $2,080,000 more, some of it to restore the War-shelled Cathedral of Reims and to put the chateau of Fontainebleau in shape.

In 1931, he replied to French hints that more was needed by announcing that the essential repairs were complete and that France must now take care of its own monuments. Grateful Versailles made Mr. Rockefeller Jr. an honorary citizen, named a street for him. Last week the French Government formally got around to thanking Mr. Rockefeller.

With his wife, his son David, his daughter Abby and his son-in-law David Milton, John D. Rockefeller Jr. last week went to Versailles for the unveiling of a stone tablet inscribed in gilt letters: "At the close of the World War a citizen of the United States of America, John D. Rockefeller Jr., contributed by his magnificent liberalities to the restoration of the chateau and park of Versailles, the palaces of Trianon and their gardens, the Cathedral of Reims and the chateau of Fontainebleau. In inscribing here the name of John D. Rockefeller Jr. the government of the Republic has wished to show the gratitude of the French people."

Mr. Rockefeller & family drove back to Paris to the Elysee Palace where President Albert Lebrun promoted him to the top-notch rank of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. Replied U. S. Citizen Rockefeller, 62: "The praise should go to my father for two reasons. The first reason is that in early youth I learned from my father, who is approaching his 97th birthday in the best of health, that the greatest satisfaction comes from rendering a worthwhile service. . . . The other reason is that it is only because of my father's unprecedented generosity to me in early life that what I have done has been possible. . . ."

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