The Portland daily press., 1892-04-05

beautiful Mohawk valley town, CanaJo-
harie? How that town would have
swelled with pride, and how promptly
would her citizens have come forward
to provide her, not only with set Of
colors, but with set of gold plate for
her officers mess room. The average
New Yorker seems to be absolutely in
different to everything save his own
selfish comfort, and in the struggle for
wealth cares for nothing save that
which gives him some temporary enter
tainment It is not to be wondered at
that all the other cities in the country,
filed with pride and in love with their
own growth and Importance, should
feel a contempt for the metropolis
amounting almost to hostility. don't
blame 'em.
MIR. CARNEaE's MONTE CRIsTo.
Another distinguished New Yorker,
Mr.. Andrew Carnegie, while never hav-
ing been exactly a resident of this little
Pennsylvania town, there entered into
the first contract which furnished the
basis of his great fortune. 1t is not
generally known that Mr.. Carnegie
made his first money as an oil producer.
It was on farm on Oil Creek, about
three miles from this town of Franklin,
and an outline of the operation which
has been furnished to me by gentle
man acquainted with the circumstance
reads like Rider Haggard's romance OF
ssKing Solomon's Mines" The exact
locality where Mr.. Carnegie made his
first big money was known as the
Story farm 1t was a barren spot. con-.
sisting of hillside and bottom land, upon
which the owner, William Story,
was gradually compromising with
starvation by trying to raise
enough to keep himself alive.
His farm consisted of 400 acres
and for a long time he tried in vain to sell
it for SO an acre. Later, when there were
symptoms of oil in that locality. the
shrewd Mr.. Carnegie, with his Scotch
instinct for making money, came along
with few friends and bought Farmer
Story's land, paying him $4,000 there
for. This was great deal more than
Story ever thought his wretched farm
was worth and great deal less than
Mr.. Carnegie expected to have to pay
for it with the petroleum development
coming down the creek, and so both
men were well satisfied with the bar
gain. Mr.. Carnegie and his friends or
ganized the Columbia Oil Company and
proceeded to drill wells on the farm,
with the result of developing the rich
est bonanza ever produced on one farm
in the history of the oil industry. There
is no mere guesSwork as to what this
farm poured into the lap of Andrew
Carnegie and his friends. The late
David A. Stewart, the Pittsburgh iron
man, who was treasurer of the Columbia
Oil Company, testified in lawsuit in
Erie, Pa, in which he refreshed his
memory with the books Of the company,
that the Story farm had produced oil to
the value of between S6,000,000 and ST.
100000 Since that time the farm has
yielded enough to run the total up to
$40 900, 900 or more. In the ten years up
to the time of this lawsuit the produc-
ton of the farm had been nearly 2,000,-
900 barrels, and in this period dividends
had been declared amounting to 401 per
cent. on the capital stock. So it was
from this bonanza farm that Mr.. Carne-
TCCClpCQ w lA1CIl 1lclSo A1lS.S1C AiiAil
one of the money kings of the world
and enabled him to contribute lseg of
pure Scotch whisky to the white house
and never miss the money.
OFFICE HOURS, 10 TO 1.
On the door of the North American
Review Office there is still visible the
easy-going legend which the late Mr..
Allen Thorndilxe Rice kept there when
the Review was his plaything. It reads:
:.oFF1cE HOURS FROM le TO IL:
Lloyd $. Bryce, the present owner and
editor, really works there four or FIVE
hours day, and that is getting to be
the average of the Office hours of your
successful New Workers. Not that such
a one does not work with his brain and
at his profession or business many more
hours than five in the twenty-four. He
simply varies the scene and surround
ings and method of his work
by going elsewhere. Meeting peo-
pie" is now wel-recognized part
of a lawyers business, for exam
pie. He must ''mix." But to return
for moment to Gen. Bryce. who holds
a unique position among New York edi-
tors. He looks like fnnicky chief of
fashion, with more clothes than ideas.
He is actually one of those New York
ers enrolled by Butler McAllister in
that apotheosis of social idiocy, "The
One Hundred and Fifty" But as mat
ter of fact Editor Bryce is nothing of
the kind He is brawny man and an
admirer of brains in others. His wife
is one of the handsomest ornaments of
the Metropolitan opera house boxes.
The other day Gen. Bryce, who is moth
ing if not polite, escorted young con-
tributor- young men really do have
chance at the Review-to the grating in
front of the cashier and directed that
sedate functionary to make out to the
young contributors order check for a
gratifyingly large amount. Now the
young contributor had not felt
at all certain, as to this par
ticular article, whether he was
going to hear from the cashier at all
or not. His surprise and delight at
being escorted to that desirable indi-
vidual's presence by no less parsonage
~