Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-09-28

Gated and with little love or knowledge Of
literature, he takes profound interest in
schools and academies, and is forever in
creasing their efficiency and benefits Ig.
norant of art, he nevertheless is liberal
patron Of the painter and sculptor, and has
converted his home into huge but ex-
tremely miscellaneous art gallery. A re-
lgious man and a habitual church attendant,
he is oneof the leading spirits in the Stand.
ard Oil trust. Careless of his political
relations and averse to bearing the load
which comes to every citizen, he yet is q gen.
erous subscriber to campaign funds every
autumn and chronic vice president at all
mass meetings. Not long since the workmen
and women in one of his large ablishments
asked for slight increase Of wages. Instead
of the request being granted, the wages, al
lower in reply. The same week he founded
than $50. 600 for the benefit of the people of
the neighborhood in which most of these
workingmen resided. On another occasion
he, or the mysterious trust of which he is the
head, closed the refinery of clever young
manufacturer, who competed with them, by
series of transactions which came omin-
ously close to what the penal code calls ex-
tortion, and within twenty-four hours ap-
pointed the sorrowing rival to a position
worth more per annum than he had ever
made in single year in his oil works. His
wealth is hard to estimate. Various
judges have placed it anywhere from two to
thirty millions of dollars. From the investi-
cations made by state and national commit
tees into the Standard Oil trust, as well as
from the tax rolls Of New York, Brooklyn
and Long Island City, it is easy to see that
he is one of the very wealthiest men in the
world. He is as energetic and tireless in the
pursuit Of the dollar today as when he first
began his career, and seems consumed with
the ambition to die the richest man upon the
civilized globe
George Kemp is one of the merchant
princes whose names seldom appear in type.
OF humble origin, he started life with almost
no advantages, except scrupulous honesty
and tireless energy. His business career was
an UNMARRIED success from the first. When
hardly entered into his majority, he became
a partner in the drug house Of Murray &
Lanman, then one of the wealthiest in New
York. Upon its dissolution it became Lam
man & Kemp, in which his was the latter
name. Under his management it soon be-
came the greatest house in drugs and patent
medicines throughout the West Indies and
South America, and ere many years had
branch houses and agencies in Europe, Asia,
Africa and Australia. At one time it printed
advertisements in seventy languages. Lanman
& Kemp died by limitation and the present
concern, Kemp g. Co., took its place. The
profits of their business had been never in less
than six figures. Despite this fact, which
would be more than satisfactory to most men,
Kemp frequently engineers vast transactions
In other commercial fields. On one occasion,
when the opium crop in Asia promised to be
a failure, he, with the assistance Of his
managing clerk, Adolphus Halgarten, formed
a great syndicate Of capitalists in this country
and Europe, and before the trade were aware
Of the fact, had bought up or secured the con-
troll of all the opium in the world So thor
oughly were the details of the scheme elab-
GRATED that Kemp agent, it is said, was
stationed in every poppy field in Turkey and
India, sending daily reports of the number
Of blossoms to the central offices in London
and New York. Although the expenses were
excessive and the capital required something
never before heard of in the drug and chemi-
cal business, every step was success and
netted for the participating firms profit of
several millions On other occasions he has
controlled the market in opium, shellac and
other great necessaries, and is as powerful
today in his commercial field as Russell Sage
is in Wall street. Kemp has been wise in-
vestor in real estate. The land on Fifth
avenue and Fiftieth street, for example, on
which stands his beautiful Buckingham
hotel, has trebled in value since its purchase,
while the entire investment, land and build
ing, has doubled at the smallest estimate.
His business is SO thoroughly organized as to
require but little time or trouble. He at
tends to it oil the same and also superintends
his real and personal estate in person. He
has son who inherits much of his ability
and will probably inherit most of his wealth.
This is estimated at about ten millions.
Some twenty years ago little, active,
slender man from the south of Italy was en-
ployed in menial capacity in the offices Of
the Erie railway. Three or four years ago
his eldest daughter contracted marriage
with an upright, hard working, respectable
young fellow Of station in life about equal
to that of the father when he was of the age
of his unwelcome son-in-law. Thereupon a
large proportion of the newspapers INDUCED
In vast amount Of mawkish sentmentality
on the subject. A millionaires daughter had
married her coachman. Nobody pretended
that social position had been sacrificed. No
one alleged that an honest mans name was
not as much as the girl could hope for, bar
ring the money; but the occasion of it all
was the money. How did Moroslni make ita
When he was first in the employ of the
Erie he was under so years old, not well edu-
Gated, but sharp and quick to degree. He
was not i'll looking, though by no means as
handsome as he is now that time has
transformed his Herman beard into a counter
part of Victor Emanuels, and frosted that
and his hair, and filled up the figure almost
to portliness. His assiduity and unquestion-
ing obedience to the most incredible orders
won for him the confidence of Jay Gould
and James Fisk. Jr., when they began the
wrecking Of the Erie railroad.
Since that time he has been the constant
ov,6 Faithful caV.x,o,,% ~ Tox, Go,,)<l :.