The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-13
Solomon Had Resources Commensu-
rate With His Numerous
Entanglements.
His Annual Income Was NOT Less
Than s3,ooo,ooo,ooo for a
Long Time.
c Alexander, Lucullus
Ptolemy, Jacques t.s"'' wv,
md Vanderbilt Not IN IT,

49,. ~ which appeared in the Pittsburg
n:.no+cb of November 9. They have heeh
located j., Mashonaland by the wohoellui
.,,;,,, of nrebistor;c structures found there.
xUha+her or not these are the mines III
.,nestion will be the prime theme OF inc
discpssion fer some time to come. Aitnousn
frequently discoursed upon pie'iouSls, VIZ
circulation some years ago Oh L. 80
H,prard's unique work OF hctloh VI '.'o
enbiect gave an unprecedented impetus "
the investigations, and now we may cohn-
aartlv look forward to 4 renewal OF 'Ae
..ua Whether or not these mines nave
NOD an existence in fact has not as yet
,aen satisfactorily determined, but
oor+o;n Il is that Solomon, the
,,;so hnt much married KING.
snccecded before his death. $40 u. e.. IN Sc
crr;nc somehow or other. and hiding away
enough treasure to give him an uhques-
t;ora1 r;oht to be considered the wealthlest
man the world has ever known.
Asmuch as possible my be said--ano OK
nnperated. too-about the rches OF VIC
Rothschilds, VnnderDilts, Astors, Gouius |
and the rest, but all SINK INT. lhsieii'h w.
when com pared to solomons PIE; when
w. navid died he made his son the trus us !
taa If a fund amounting to $4.lh3'oou'uoV'
81 10 exnended in the building OF the teM-
nia There ia not doubt that solomon knew
kis business, and if there were any uhPalu
salaries when the temple was hnlsheu, oui-
omon's was not on the lls. as we n"'o
dence that his fortune at the ontset aesle.
GATED nearly S,OOOOO0C0O, and he went
right along adding TO 1t; H., ,,o,fro,,s
Admitting that he had the "ohorous
mines of Ophir and Tarshlsh to oraw uPon,
he had also the entire commerce OF we l.eu
sea in his hands. lie controlled the lumpef
interests of Lebanon. BESIDES oealns ~
moat every kind of trade known TO the
world. The best authorities OF ancient anu
madam times agree that for several years
his animal income amounted to at least 3D.
OOO. COO. Oh, what platform for the
socialists of that day to work upon. ,nt'
nevertheless, Soloman was goou man: ne
managed to dispense conslaeraole 81 ms
more than can be sad OF many VI 'no
great moneved men of the present DAY.
Whenever the subject of great rlcnes is
brought up, Crnsus, king of Lydia, IS the
first individual thought of, generally, as
most people have mistaken ldea tnat he
the richest man that ever uveu. Sl Cs'
was rich, but he was not IN II WIN oo'o
mon. Besides. he was a bad man ana ropoeu
everybody. The great authority: Kennel.
puts his wealth down at S2,OOo,Ooo,oUo,
which is probably not too high an estimate
considering that he made presents, wnlcn
Herodotus valued at $l5,OO0,OOO. to the Del
milan temple. Clpsus was also great
..lntton and dotted on beans. the regular
bona fide article canonzed in later DAYS by
the Bostonese.
Another very rich man and robber WIS
the Grecian. Alexander the Great. lie
brought back as share of the spolis from
one expedition about SSoOONi,OOo. he nad
little pocket money before tnat anu WIN
what he accumulated afterward. by SAND
bagging his neighbors, he may be SAID to
have had considerable money. The sum OF
$l,5OO a wear is considered far income
nowadays, Darios Hystaspes,a Persian King
was compelled to add six additional clphers
to that figure to enable him to 1--we In com,
fort for twelve months. He nourlshed
about $50 b. c.. and the fame OF his income
is about the only thing of interest he mas
left to us.
semiramis of Babylon was a woman and
as homely as we'll could be, from all ac-
counts, but she had money, and as the hu-
man race as a rule does not ask those pos
eessing that advantage to pose as models of
either physical or mental superiority, we
may nut SemlramlS down as being Il really
excellent person. What the exact extent Of
her fortune was is not known. but. rs Dio-
dOruS tells us of some statues that She
erected in the temple of Belus. which
modern authorities have valued at S6O, Co.,
600, Semiramis must have Ii cd some
money.
Ptolemy Philadelphus WIS an Egyptian
king who is said to have been healthy,
wealthy and fat. He lived to good age;
weighed 45O pounds and had little matter
of 81 1856, OOOOOo in his inside pocket. he
would doubtless have had more if such a
thing were possible, MS he was an out and
out miser; in fact. he had such an inordinate
love for money that he actually married
his grandmother to keep the wealth in the
family.
AS the Romans were nearly always at wal
with somebody, and generally to their I'D
vantage, it might be conjectured that some
of the citizens of the great empire sue
ceeded in accommodating fortunes of extra
ordinary magnitude. Licinus Crassns wa
one of these. He had a tremendous lot o
money.
Roilo asserts that he had more thai
$3.50, GOO, 600 invested in real estate alone
while his personal property amounted to a
least four times "a much. Crassus was
liberal fellow. and was in the habit of Civ
ing grand suppers. to which the entire pol
ulace of Rome was invited. Several of tn
Roman emperors succeeded in scrapin
considerable doodle together. Julit
Cesar had an enormous fortune before
assembled the throne, and. it is said. was
debt to the extent of $15, 0OO,OO when
julius must have had either plenty
money or great credit if he was permitte
to get that deep.
Probably the richest of all the Roma
monarchs was Augustus. He was the lucl
heir to about $1Sl, 45s,cO0 to begin wit
and he took good care to add to it viii
ruler of the empire. Augustus was also OF
Of the greatest spendthrifts that ever occ
pied the Roman throne. and that is sayil
great deal. His baths cost more thu
$40. COO, COO alone.
Lucullus was another Roman who Ii;
money, and it is also absolutely certain
aides that no monarch of any age excell'
him in the manner of living. He WINS n
every sense OF the wcrd. his library CO
tanned some of the most rare and valuat
manuscripts in the world. 10 give I
scholars of every country the advantage
these he threw his library doors wide Op
and extended a general invitation to I'M
viduals of that class everywhere, which it
hardly necessary to say was eagerly accepte
But Lucullus' reputation comes down
10 along with the odor of good meals
much a. anything else 1t was said that
dinner was ever set before him that c.
thority estimates Lucullus fortune
about 2, 800, OOO, 600 francs, and it must ha
been al Of that.
Coming down to more recent time tn,
Was o Frenchman named jacques Gee
the s.Aaster of the Mediterranean. "a
was called. who had big pile of the ne.
full. He was, also. extraordinary to rela
a. good and charitable as he was rich. a
eained tho love of his countrymen by
Kindness to them.
He il vas Who raised and equipped at
he 4R-Ak ii