Los Angeles herald., 1891-08-01
HERALD. MORNING. AUGUST 1891

lowering about the lowest, which think
was eight cents on the dollar. Then it was
discovered that the bonds had been pur.
chased by little syndicate of men organ
lied by the sharp young clerk. The other
fellows put in the capital and be put in
the information. Now this young man is
railway king. He controls 10000 miles
of road. and is building new line His
wealth is estimated at ten millions of dol
lars"
At this juncture clerk from the depart
ment of justice, having finished munching
q cheese sandwich which he had washed
down with the only luxury he could afford
Ia glass of half milk and half cream-con-
tributed his portion to the symposium of
stories about wealth getting. II want to
tell you of the luck friend of mine had,"
said he, when he thought he was in the
hardest luck he had ever met with. He
used to be clerk in the navy department,
but was fired out very suddenly one day,
and thrown on his beam ends without
dollar in the world. He tried to find an
other place here, but failed, and went over
to New York to see if he could pick up
anything there. He was about out of
money, and was reduced almost to the
necessity of living by his wits. One after
noon he was standing in drinking saloon
on Broadway, hoping some one in the in
discriminate generosity of inebriety would
ask him up to take drink. Sure enough,
tipsy individual came in, and seeing the
lone stranger standing by invited him to
imbibe. The usual conversation followed,
and my friend soon learned from the To-
quacity of his new acquaintance that the
latter was an inventor of new gun, and
4 n fxo, rfrr.
he had been unsuccessful in an effort to en-
list the interest of the authorities.
81 wish had some good man who knew
the ropes to go in with me and market my
gun" said he s'for have big thing All
it needs is. chance" 'Tm your man."
said my friend, who would have said the
same thing, under the circumstances, had
the inventor proposed a trip to Egypt to
sell salve warranted to cure dromedary
itch, or journey to Greenland to cut ice
for the New York market The upshot of
the chance meeting and gin conversation
was another trip to Washington by the in
ventor, accompanied by my friend as man
/ ager and promoter. A company was or
ganized, capitalized at large sum- The
government was induced to give the inven-
tion trial, orders followed the tdst, and
my friend is now worth at least $3.50, 900.
If all goes we'll with the gun during the
next five years he will be millionaire"
"All these stories go to show" said
newspaper man who was one of the party,
"that while there is life there is hope.
Any one of us may yet be rich or famous.
For examples of the ease with which men
travel the upward road when once they
begin to rise, we have only to look at some
of the successes among statesmen. There's
Jim Mcmillan, the ten millionaire senator
from Michigan. A man who knew him as
a boy told me Mcmillan was clerk in a
hardware store at fifteen dollars month
when he first landed in Detroit. green
boy from over in Canada. His first strike
was in getting appointed purchasing agent
of railroad, where he was quick to see
the money making opportunities offered
by the railway supply business. When a
young man be organized the company
which built the Michigan Car works, and
from that on his rise in wealth was rapid
enough to suit the most ambitious.
Senator Plumb, of Kansas, who is a
much more weal5hy man than he is gen.
orally credited with being, and who Is
making money faster than ever, used to be
a journeyman printer out on the prairies,
happy if he could make a string of 1000
ems day, at thirty cents the thousand.
Senator Seockbridge, of Michigan, who is
easily a millionaire, was the poorest kind
of boy down in Bath, Me- He drifted up
to Boston, where he was a thirty-dollar-a-
month clerk in a wholesale house. He got
chance to go to Chicago and get a part
nership in lumber firm, and knew how to
improve his opportunities. Leland Stan
! ford, the richest man in the senate, and
one of the five richest men in the United
States, was also a poor boy. Senator
Hearst told me before he died that when
he was prospecting out in the mining
country he went without his dinner more
than once because the grub had run out
and he hadn't any money with which to
buy more. He welded the pick and shovel
many a day, and died worth 100000 900.
Senator Jones, of Nevada, who has made
two or three fortunes, and now promises to
pile up bigger one than ever also used to
handle the pick and shovel Ex-senator
Joe Brown, of Atlanta, one of the richest
men in the south, started out in life as the
teacher of country school at thirty-five
dollars month and "board around" Ex-
Senator Farwell, of Chicago, told me last
winter that when he left the farm and
went up to the city to seek his fortune he
walked part of the way and abegged rides
from teamsters the remainder because he
hadn't money to pay coach fare. The first
year he worked in Chicago was as clerk in
bank at q salary of 500. Farwells great
chum, Senator Davis, of Minnesota, said
one day last winter in the senate cloak
room that when he landed in st. Paul
after the war he had just six dollars in his
pocket. In ten years he was earning $35, 600
q year as q lawyer and was elected governor.
The fact is, !" continued the newspaper
man, among all the successful men now
or recently in public life there are only two
or three who were born with silver spoons
in their mouths. Senator Dixon, of Rhode
Island; Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, and
a few others were born rich, but for every
such case there areascore or fifty instances
ofpulling ones self up by force of character,
genius, luck, or whatever you choose to
call it. Ex-senator Payne of Ohio, who is
very rich man, and who did not, as is
generally supposed, make his money in the
Standard Oil company, was a fellow law
student with Stephen A Douglas in York
state One of them lent the other money
with which to go west and make his fort
une-I am not sure now which was the
lender and which the borrower.
Senator Manderson once walked bare
footed down Pennsylvania avenue from
the Capitol to the White House, and every
one knows that Senator German, the com
ing man, used to be page in the senate
chamber. Senator Blodgett, of New Jer-