The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-30 00:00:00

A NEW RHYME FOR JOHN BULL.
"Rectification" ia vexation;
"Haphazard" is as bad;
"Activity" perplexes me;
And "Papers" drive me med.—Punch.

FOUR MILLIONNAIRES.

Four residents of San Francisco have died since the
beginning of this year—Hopkins, Colton, Reese, and
O'Brien—all of whom began life in poverty and died
reputed millionnairea, each of three of them leaving an
estate estimated at more than 8,000,000 dollars. The
San Francisco Alta gives the following account of the
four :—" Hopkins was strict, economical, fond of
business for the sake of business, with a strong sense
of duty, a dislike of display, and of any participation
in political management. He was a quiet, just man,
liked and trusted by all who knew him well; fitted to
thrive by prudence and thrift, avoiding everything
that looked to him like speculation, but not unable to
comprehend or unwilling to undertake great enter-
prises, such as the Central Pacific was at the begin-
ning.
Colton was a very different man. He began life as
an office-holder, :was a natural politician, and was fond
of participating in public movements and influencing
men about him. He had a natural liking for specula-
tion, and made many
.investments which would never
have found favour with Hopkins; but he was much
more careful than the average speculator. He en-
joyed the spending as well as the making of his money.
He was proud of his magnificent home, and was the
only one of the four that had one, Hopkins dying
before the completion of his palacez which he built
rather as a sense of duty to California than to gratify
his own taste. Like the others, Colton had an excel-
lent reputation for fair dealing.
It would, we imagine, be no injustice to Michael
Reese to call him a genteel miser. He had a genius
for lending money. An excellent judge of men and a
sound thinker, he earefully studied the investments
offered to him before accepting them. It was his rule
to rely exclusively on his own judgment, and never to
take a large risk merely because of a possibility of
large gains. Reasonable certainty of a moderate
profit was, in his opinion, the first requisite in a
business transaction. After he had acquired his first
million he borrowed largely, and nobody knew better
where to borrow cheap or to lend dear. He provided
himself sith a good stock of available securities, from
which he could readily obtain money from people who
would not lend unless they could obtain their funds at
very short notice. He loaned at much higher rates.
It is said by those who ought to know that he made
200,000 dole, annually on borrowed money. He paid
several visits to Europe, and sometimes indulged in
little luxuries; but his expenditures for personal en-
joyment were generally less than those of men with
an income of 2,000 dols, a year. His only gift of money
for a public purpose in his lifetime, so far as we know,
was that of 3,000 dols, to purchase Lieber's library for
the State University. He could make himself agree-
able in company, and was fair and faithful in business
transactions. _ _

W. S. O'Brien had no uncommon capacity in any
respect, and in the ordinary course of events he would
never have made more than a moderate fortune. He
owed much of his great success to genial manners. As
a good fellow he had few superiors. He always
had a cheerful word for everybody, and everybody
liked him. His popularity contributed much to
give a start to the house of Flood and O'Brien, and
he was fortunate enough to be associated with
men whose special knowledge and talents raised the
firm to princely wealth. He did not bother himself
much in the acquisition or in the management of his
wealth; it added little to his enjoyment-, and made
little change in his tastes or associations. He was to the
last the same plain, simple-hearted man among his old
friends as in the earlier days. Each of these four
men deserved his good fortune, acquired it fairly, and
used it in a manner that did no harm to the community.
Hopkins obtained much of his wealth from Govern-
ment subsidies; but in return he helped to build
2,000 miles of railroad, and he made& good return for
all he got. Cotton helped to build 700 miles of rail-
road. O'Brien's wealth contributed to erect one of
the finest buildings and to found one of the wealthiest
banks in the United States. Reese erected many good
buildings. Hopkins, O'Brien, and Reese were child-
less; Colton leaves two daughters. The millions
accumulated by one generation will be distributed by
the next.

The Americans are notoriously intelligent, and
many of them have achieved great sueceas in science. As
classical scholars, however, they are not, as a rule, distin-
guished for classical knowledge. An amttaing illustration of
their ignoranoe of Latin was given the other day at a oertain
fashionable watering-place. A party of Americans were
calling on a physician. On entering the hall, one Jonathan
said to another, pointing to the door-mat, "It's easy to see
we are in a doctor's house, for thilte's salve written on the
very mat."—Tortty Asir.