The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-11-21
POVERTY STRUCK GENIUsEs.

S5s5sA vi 4IAk Il H1kGOVh Vl1lvAuNlIHs tl
A6ms instances Of How Those with Gem
luz have Enabled those without IL to
Make Money.
Now York Star.
1.-The woods are full OF" g%eniuses, to
employs popular and expressive phrase.
And they are all poor; that is, with
very few exceptions. There are Erics-
son and Edison; they are both pretty
we'll fixed. But q thousand other in
ventors haye died poor, or live in pow
erty 10 ace ignoramusss proiting and
growing rich on their ideas.
The producer or rarely reaps
profits. The farmer has all the toll and
Ill the risks, while the mere trickster
or knave who the market makes
fortune in an hour. The publisher
Who has q little money and some
low cunning buys the idea Of the
poor genius. and on it Pounds q prop
erty in o magazine or in the stereotype
pIates Of . learned work that is an ex-
haustless fountain OF wealth. In litera-
ture and art it is the intangible idea
that is worth money, and that lasts and
grows after the genius who has evolved
q has squandered the dole pinched out
70 him in repayment for the happy
thought. For instance, there was
BENEFITS first managing editor-the
man who gave him the idea of spicy
personal Journalism. He put Bennett
In 8 new path and he pursued it. The
ground he covered, and the edifice he
was enabled to rear on that ground,
we're in no part the property Of the dis
Goverer.
Although the rule is that the discoy-
erer Of anew idea fails to reap the
profits. it Is pleasant to contemplate
Arst the lucky few who have surmount-
ed the impossible and de6ed the laws
OF Fate.
Mark Twain, for instance, was q
genius from the start, but of his early
IDEAS NOT one to-day brings him in a
profit. Yet there are people profiting
and growing rich by them. Successful
newspapers have been founded on them;
publishers have built up fortunes on
them. When this had gone on for some
time and there was o prospect that
Mark would go down to the grave a
wretched played genius, leaving the
Jeremy Diddlers Of the world to grow
rich on the new ideas he had evolved, he
got q sudden revelation Of commercial
wisdom.
He detected that an idea did not cease
ID be property after it had been pu OF
paper and sold; that it grew and evo.
luted In imperishable shape and repro.
dnced itself often o thousand-fold
Then he began to plot that he might
secure . grip on the ideas he brought
forth. The interested world howlec
that he was ceasing to be a genius ans
vas becoming q peddler, a dealer in no,
tions, a mercantile individual. But he
preferredto hold his grip and secure the
profits, though he might lost caste as 8
genius.
He held ON interest in the house he
built from that time, and to-day is the
sWeRlthiest author you can fndin a Jour.
ney around the world. If the publish
ers do not like. but decry him, it is be-
cause he has mingled their commercial
cunning with his talent, and they view
him as q queer fsl-a genius In his
tale, but q fnancier and a peddler in
his head.
Another is the richest Of modern ORA
matists-long BARLEY Campbell. He
started as q typical genius. He built
up two newspapers on novel plans Of
his own. and when they were built
found he hadn't o corner in either dom
icile for himself, nor owned stick nor
stone in the palaces he had erected.
Then he developed dramatic instinct.
He modestly set forth the merits Of his
work, and q minstrel manager, Dick
Hooley. seized the idea and its autho,
and by playing the genius for all he
was worth in Q notions estab.
ished Hoolsys Theatre in Chi.
cage, which has been a paying enter.
prise eyer since. OF course the genius
had nc share in the proceeds, and
NJ drifted out on tile cold world in due
tune. He began to havea sad expert
ence after the manner of geninses gen
orally. He wrote plays and coaxeG
hy- by night managers, igorant but Gun.
ming fellows, to play them. He sold
{ dramas to stars, taking for his work
what sum would satisfy his immediate
pressing wants. Then the fy.hy-night
managers ana the stars went out and
made fortunes on the work Of ill-paid
genius, who got some praise, much pity
and 3 little ridicule as his share.
There was one nightin October, 1879,
when BARLEY walked through Union
square with his last IS in his pocket,
cudgelling his brains for the materiai
Tor . new play to keep him going on hii
erratic course Yet at the same hou1
three frst-olass theatres we're raising
their curtains OF plays written by him
which drew an average OF a Thousand
dollars g night into each house. Not .
cent Of interest did the genius who hae
originated these paying ideas have il
his work. Those who had paid ridicu.
lotisly small sums for the manuscript.
were reaping the great harvest Of dol
lars these original ideas brought forth
That night Campbell got an idea. II
sel1 no more plays" said he.
What will you do. then?' asked hi
TREND.
I'll have them played myself" h,
replied.
He stuck TO his resolution. He hat
sOme trouble at first. A star who tool
fancy X Bart1ev's work wanted to blu,
il outright In the usual way, and wa,
indignant when the author proposed {,
hire the star for the play instead o
sacrificing the play and himself to til,
star. The scheme worked and geniu'
Deasiag to- be 8 genius and becoming
business man, began to grow rich b!