Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-01
HOW THEY GOT RICHES
ts4lLE THERE'S LIFE THERE'S
HOPE" A TRUE SAYING.

tQfG tHOC SSSuv1.
mnnau usas in . Fiat House -Duoa<s
aEoaA soap shep-A Clerk Becomes
naxlroad Kine-.whieh Of Us VIM soon
Bs Rich end FAmous9"
Especial Correspondenco-]
WASHINGTON, May 1s.--A few days ago
number Of government officials met in
ono of those well known gossip centers of
the Capital City the dairy luncheon rooms,
which swarm near all the departments,
and over their sandwiches and milk fell to
talking Of the ease with which money ia
made in this world. / fancy this is a favor
ite topic Of conversation with all sorts of
people, under all sorts Of circura stances,
and therefore these governments officials
cannot BE- accused Of indulgence in dreams
uncommon among their fellows, nor of USE
leas waste of Uncle Sans valuable time.
whats the use of being poor all ones
HEP exclaimed an official Of the treasury
department, who every day of his existence
b responsible for millions upon millions of
dollars, and who as q rule is hard pushed
to pay his grocer and his doctor and buy
shoes for his large family Of girls "Now,
LIT me tall you. The last time was in
New York met an old friend of mine
ffom Buffalo. Fred Gerlach is his name.
When knew Fred he was a twelve dollar
weak clerk in Dun's mercantile agency
in Buffalo, and he used to borrow quarters
and half dollars of me between pay days.
That was only six or eight years ago. Now
they tall me he is nearly millionaire He
q the owner Of the big apartment house
which bears his name, and which rises
something like ten or twelve stories. near
Broadway, about Thirty-third street. How
did he do it, That is what asked Fred.
and he told me the secret of his success.
Il seems 30 simple that any one might do
Il Getting tired of bending his back over
desk In the mercantile agency, he came
down to Now York to look about.
'sN0tiring nice apartment house for
rent ouo day he was seized with the idea of
taking lease of it and subletting it. He
hadn't any money, but did have good ad-
dreas and lots Of cheek, and greatly to his
surprise the owner, who was rather hard
mp for tenant, signed the papers with
him at once. Fred had to borrow money
to pay for his first advertisements in the
papers, but it wasn't more than two or
thsse weeks till he had the house full of
tenants at good prices, and he found HIM
salf the happy possessor of q net income of
thousands year. After this all the rest
was easy. Having made one success, land
lords were eager to have him take hold of
their property, and he leased building after
building, always subletting to good ad-
vantage. In tho end he built the great
apartment house which bears his name
OF course it isn't all paid for yet, but the
prices which the tenants put up for their
quarters are paying not only the interest
but rapidly extinguishing the principal
outstanding"
ut seems easy, doesn't its" chimed in an
official from Michigan. ''but in my opinion
luck has good deal to do with it. To
illustrate my meaning, let me tell you of
the case Of q friend of mine who used to
live at Monroe, in my state. ! won't give
you his name, because don't suppose he
cares for that sort of notoriety. Six or
eight years ago he lent some money to
scheming relative of his-one of those
chaps who are always going to make big
strikes IL some one else will only advance
the capitAlEwith the usual result. The
scheme didn't pan out, and my friend had
could get out OF the wreck. There he
found that his debtor had started soap
factory, and all there was to show for the
money advanced was dingy old shed,
Shiny and greasy, with few Thousand dol
lars worth of machinery and small guam
tity Of material on hand.
MY friend didn't know any more about
soap making than he did about building
locomotives, but there was nothing else to
do but take hold of the wrecked business
and try TO make something out of it, AT
61t it didn't prosper very well, but after
few months things began to look little
brighter. My friend learned something
shout the business, and being a pretty
Bhxewd fellow and good manager contrived
to increase the sales of the establishment
every month. That was, think, about
i've years ago. My friend is still there,
and his whole fan1ily has moved down from
Michigan, and they are worth a half mill
inn dollars If they arc worth q cent"
sThat reminds me of the manner in
which certain railway magnate got his
fxst big start in life, " said an official from
Minnesota HE was clerk in the freight
department. Of railroad, and his duty was
- 20 down ON the docks and check off
1kuiGhs His pay was $500 year, and he
was hard up all the tima, going broke be-
TWEEN pay days as regularly as pay days
cana. The road was q bankrupt sort of
conpern, and the stock wasn't worth FIVE
owned and controlled by the bondholders,
and The bonds were nearly all held in Hol-
Land. The Dutch capitalists finally became
much disgusted with the property, and
sent man over from Amsterdam to in
Quife into things and see what could be
done. The agent proved to be an amiable
but very thick headed person, and when be
presented himself at the offices Of the COM
pany, and said he wanted to take trip
over the road for the purpose of making an
inspection, the superintendent concluded
TO detail some young man to go with him
rs . matter Of courtesy.
'1This clerk had a little pull in the Office
of the superintendent, and contrived to get
the detail, more for picnic than with any
idea Of making money out Of the trip, but
he hadn't been out long with his guest
from across the water till he became pos
sessed Of brilliant idea. he started in de-
hberately and systematically to bear the
properly in tho estimation of the agent
He pointed out and exaggerated all the
weak points, and managed to ccser up the
strong ones. he ding donged into the
Dutchman's ear that the road was a bank
rupt concern, and always would be, that
IL permanent way was nothing but line
Of dirt covered by . mortgage and streak
q rust, and the rolling stock was so badly
run down that millions Of money would be
required to renew il.