Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1889-05-18
WHEN FORTUNES COME.
q Statement That Wealth IN AmerI-
GA le ACQUIRED by Men of Forty.

make ms everlasting fortune some day |
when he grew tired OF politics. But |
there Is plenty Of time for thar, s. said |
he. ''Do you know that ii is almost a |
rule in this country that men do not |
make their fortunes until they are forty
years old or older? The grand excep-
ton to the rule is Jay Gould, but the
contemporary fortunes were nearly all
made when their founders were at or
beyond middle age. Commodore Van
derbilt, John Jacob Aston, A. I.
Stewart, and all the others prove what
say"
The reporter TO whom this was said
turned over the pages of the biograph-
les and other works OF reference at his
hand, and found enough in them to
warrant the assertion that at least
great many rich Americans have been
beyond forty years Of age when they
have accrued riches. Certainly the
richest body of men in the land, the
United States senate, is composed Of
elderly men, but in the lower house of
congress we see millionaires who look
scarcely old enough for the rule.
Alexander L. Stewart came here in
1928 from Ireland. where he was born
in 1903. He opened little linen store
on Broadway, and gathered wealth very
slowly at first, as most other men had
done. He was prudent, shrew and
original, and gradually became heavy
Importer; but he was forty-five years
/ old when he became able to put up the
iirst OF the two great stores in which he
ai,erward transacted his business.
Henry Clews Is an exa mple. He
spent his early manhood as a clerk,
and when the war broke ont and found
him a broker In a small way he began
TO make money. He and his partner,
Mr. Ltyermore, who retired at the close
Of the war with half million, jobbed
10 certificates Of Indebtedness. and laid
the basis Of the wealth which, Clews
afierward accrned He failed. but
further demonstrated the rule by maxi
ing his way over again, as Henry Vii
lard has done.
Henry Willard is about ffty-fve years
old. He came here from Germany at
twenty years Of age, and sold subscript-
ion books at FIRST, then became an irreg-
} ular writer for the press. He studied
law later, but gave that up and adopted
journalism Us his profession. He was
Iforty-one years old when in 1874, he be-
, gan the great Oregon railway opera
: ton that made him wealthy. Nine
! years later, when the famous golden
. spike was driven through Northern
Prcliic railroad sleeper he was worth
100000 lie impoverished himself
J IN trying to maintain the value Of his
property, and went under. Next, al
more than fifty years Of age, he rose
again as financicr.
Warner Miller is fifty years old. Be
! ginning in the humblcst way, he man
aged 10 organize mill company, and
worked sixteen hours a day for ten
years 10 make his fortune. He wa:
past forty when his bank accounts
showed him that he could afford TO take
the world more easily. lie is a million
aire now. Levi. +. Morton is about
sixty.thrce years old. Twenty-Five
years ago, when he was thirly-cight Of
thirty-ninc, he founded his banking
house. He was fiity-one when hi
wealth enabled him to devote part o
his time TO public life, His great strok'
was made when he established his Lon
don house in 1868, and soon alterwarC
went into the syndicate for funding tn
United States debt. He was past forty
, three then. Charles Crocker was pas
! forty when he began TO be million
I airc. Edward T.. Jones, the rich seal
maker was Lieutenant Governor OF thi
state. was born in 1928. He began hi
business career at the close of the wai
and was long past forty when he be
came rich. Henry Il. Courtney, tn
, marble millionaire, now dead, starte
, with fifty dollars in 1853, when thirty
three years old He was beyond mid
9 die life when he got his pile.
John q. Slawson, car-fare box j
/ ventor, was twenty-five years old whe
: he went TO New Orleans In 1910 frol
y this state. There he slowly made b
I way upward. But for the war h
would have pushed his invention ;
forty-six years of age. but he had
wait, and he was past fifty when his bi
/ money began TO pour in. His frien
4 Stephenson. the horse car builder. ais
Y millionaire, had TO waite for mtdd
d nge to get great riches. So did III
,. elder Bennett, of the Herald, so di
I Hon. Oswald Ottendorfer, and so d
50 the late Marshall 0, Roberts.
y jay Gould's early life was a failur
"a but this phase of it was very short /
9, was born in 1881, and went into spec
10 lating in railroad stock in 1889, wh'
y he was only twenty-eight years ole
70 ~ He was very successful and made u
n. of the war, when il broke out, to gil
10 large returns on small or shre7
=. sooc,lntions. His fortieth year foui