The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-07-15

The greatness of the house of Roth
schild is only partially due to the clpital
at its command. Like most other kinds
of greatness, commercial greatness de-
pends on the possession Of special per-
sonal qualities. For family to be COM
mercially great it is necessary that many
of its members should have these quail
ties. The founder of the house of Roth
schild left no fewer than five sons, each
stationed in great capital, all working
together, and all bringing to the manage
ment of business more or less Of the same
shrewdness, coolness and indefatiga ie
activity. ii it is hard to make money, it
is still harder to keep it.
The fate of most great commercial
houses is either to be ruined by the i'm
providence of those who succeed to the
family rights of control, or to disappear
by sinking into the prudent security of
accumulated capital invested beyond the
reach of commercial vicissitudes. The
eminence of the Rothschilds is due to
there being go many of them, and to the
unusual circumstance that throughout
the family there ran the same turn for
assiduity in business Rich men are not,
as rule, fond of taking trouble, and the
life of a man who really manages a great
business is one of incessant trouble. No
man perhaps is so rich that he does not
wish TO be richer; and to many men the
mere consciousness of holding 80 COM
manding position as that enjoyed by
the Rothschids is in itself powerful at
traction.
But nothing will induce men of great
wealth, whatever may be their CONNER
cial or political influence, to 90 on year
after year, with the incessant fatigue of
attending to a asst business, except the
desire to crafty native taste for doing
business well and to obey the traditions
of their family. Although for many
years crippled by illness, Baron Lionel
was as punctual and as eager in attend
ance on business as if he had been a
young clerk striving to be singled out
for promotion. If the business of the
Rothachilds Is described roughly, it may
be said to be that of having large sums
of money ready for great operations. 1t
is these great operations which attract
the notice and awaken the admiration or
envy of the public. But the real work of
such firm consists, not in making these
operations, but in being ready for them.
To know what operations to undertake
and when to undertake them, it is neces-
sary to be perpetuaIly acquiring every
kind Of information, to be inside the
politics of nations, to watch all the ebbs
and flows of the tide of money. Then
the funds which are to be some day en-
ployed in great things must be meantime
employed in little things. Capital must
not only not stand idle, but must be
made to increase; and yet it must be so
used as to be as much as possible at COM
mand, and not locked up so as to be use
less when wan ed. To so in and out of
temporary investments so that the hand
ling of the money brings a fair average
of profits requires much delicacy Of ma
nipulation, and a wearing concentration
of mind on the minutie of business. The
Rothschilds are great in the world of
commerce because they have real de-
| light in business, in the tedious task of
acquiring and piecing together informa-
tion, and in the dextrous manipulation
of temporary investments.