The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-16

made SIG, Ooo, 900 in Comstock and w.
D. Ralston and D. O. Mills made about
sc. 900 600 EACH John p. Jones
came in between the highest and
the lowest of this group OF
Comstock millionaires. His Crown
Point profits were about 100000. The
senator has always been of specula-
tive turn of mind and he took his big
profits in Crown Point and invested
them in other properties, chiefly in Cal
ifornia. The result was that he lost his
first fortune very quickly. But he had
retained his control of the Crown Point
mine and he soon took enough out of /
that to put him on his feet again.
He had made and lcWt two fortunes
when he was elected to the Senate in
1873, and he was then reputed to be
worth S5,000,000. Five years later-in
July, 1S7S-ne went west and was virtu-
ally made a pauper by speculation. He
owned any quantity of mining property
in the Sierra Nevadas, but it was
thought to be exhausted. No gold had
ever been found in these mines below
the 1880 level and the general belief was
that none was to be found Harry
Jones, the senator's brother, now Dead.
had faith in the lower workings and he
went down to the 2,100-foot level. His
persistence was rewarded by the dis
covery Of a vein of gold richer than
any the mine had shown. The find was
made in September, 1878. and the SEN
ator's stock, which had been knocking
about the New York market a foot
ball for the brokers at 81 share, sud-
denly jumped to $220-an astonishing
advance. The new find made the SEN
ator again rich man. He then ac-
Quired large interest in some gold
mines on Douglass island, Alaska. and
when his Nevada property gave out
again, he found another fortune in the
Alaska venture. His income from his
Alaska investments was said at one
time to be $4,000 a month. In addition
to his mining property in Alaska and
California, the senator owns a large
tract of land at Santa Monica, Cali
fornia, which is becoming a much-fre-
quented winter resort
Although Mr.. Jones' business inter-
ests are all in the extreme west. he
spends most of his time in the east
When he is not in Washington he is
usually in New York. He leads a
bachelor life here nowadays At one
time Mrs. Jones spent her winters IN
Washington and entertained a great
deal. OF late the senator has lived at
Chamberlin'S most of the. time. There
he can be found almost any evening,
surrounded by a group of friends, tell
ing stories or listening to them He
plays an occasional game of poker. but
that is almost the. only social life he
knows. He does not care for stereo-
typed social entertainments and he
would rather discuss the silver prob
lem with casual visitor than go to a
reception at the White House. Much
of his time is given to study. He is.
perhaps, better informed on the finan-
cial problem than any other man iii
public life today. Even his political
enemies admit this. His old friends in
the Republican party, while they diff
fered with him on the silver question,
never hesitated to, admit the strength
of his reasoning and the extent of his
knowledge. They have always spoken
of him as one of the most plausible
takers in the Senate. Yet he has never
been much of a Speech-rnaker there.
When he does make a silver speech, it
is after months of preparation; and
the speech is worth the making. He
takes no part in general debate on any
other question, unless it be the tariff
He is a strong protectionist and almost
as fluent in debating the abstract tariff
question as in supporting the free coin
age of silver. But silver is his hobby;
and it is a singular fact that among
those who disagree with him entirely
on the subject, there will be found
very few who will claim that they can
answer his arguments.
me last SpeecH Ildue on silver by
Mr.. Jones in the Senate was delivered
in October last 1t took him sixty days
to deliver it. He could have completed
it in two days, but he would have had
to occupy the whole time of the Sen
ate each day. The speech
filled more than 100 pages, 70, 900
words. AS soon as it was known to
the country that the senator was 60
ing to speak, requests Tor copies of
the speech began to pour in on him.
He filed them all and every one was
granted. The senator is the greatest
missionary the silver interest ever had.
His speeches have a wider circulation
than any other speeches delivered in
either house of Congress. And they
are not distributed merely to crafty
the senator's vanity. Mr.. Jones de-
livered speech in 1890 which consum-
ed the whole of two legislative days
of the Senate and more than 100000
J copies of that speech were printed and