worth reading the full missive. It was reportedly given to Rockefeller's son by his father upon passing down control of the family's vast holdings and power.

Another excerpt or two-

"The danger to our system clearly is not that the "people" will spontaneously rise up and dispossess us. The "people" never initiate anything. All successful movements are led from the top, usually without the knowledge of the movement, by men like your father with vast resources and brilliant plans. The real danger arises in the upper-middle classes. Occasionally, these people make vast fortunes through some brilliant technological innovation in their business or through the favor of local politicians that escape our influence. Because of their ignorance of the reality of our power, however, the new rich usually fall easily into our hands. For instance, they seldom realize until too late that the dozens of loans they may owe to apparently independent banks can be called simultaneously with a mere nod from your father. Graver danger is presented by those whose enterprises are so successful as to be self-financing. Since the advent of the corporate income tax truly self-financing corporations are extremely rare. Most disquieting is when these upstarts acquire the covert or open support and advice of your father's major international antagonists. This is particularly dangerous in countries with long democratic traditions where it is difficult to make our arbitrary rulings stick. "

4. Centralization of Power ~ Real division of power between national, state, and local government is dangerous to our system. When local politicians have real autonomy, even in limited spheres, they can do much to enable upstarts to challenge our power. Our program is to bring all levels of government under our sway through such innovations as federal aid, revenue sharing, high federal taxation, and regional government.