The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-06

Htica1 naturs which you have viii be of
more value than the money
A New Business.
Then the man showed the collector a
number of sealskins which he had
brought with him from the Boring sea-
They seemed to be of excellent quality
and had been taken on whaling voy-
age.
Now said the whaler, eff you
will send these to London and have them
tested at the great dyeing houses there
and they turn out all right, good deal
of money can be made taking these seals
have no money, but l have ship, and
know where the seals can best be TAX
en- IF you can raise enough money to
victual my,ship and pay the needed adj
vance to my men, l will go north again
and get cargo of skins. We can make
satisfactory arrangements as to profits,
and a comp any can be formed on my re-
turn
Almost against his Judgment Mr.
Miller consented The skins were sent
to London, and in due time word came
back that they were of superior dye TAX
ing quality. The ship was victualed and
outfitted and sailed away to the Boring
sea for a cargo of skins
Luck Turns at Last.
nearly expired before the ship again an
chored inside the Golden Gate, and
when she did return she was loaded
down with handsome and perfect seal
skins, the profits from the sale of which
were such as to make it an easy matter
TO get enough money to capitalize the
proposed company The act of incorpo-
ration gave the company, too, the exclu-
sive right to the seal fisheries for a long
term of years on the payment of lib
era1 tax on each skin. Thus the Alaska
Seal Fur company, of which Miller was
the first president, came into being, and
presently he was rich From that time
his luck was good and not bad His
surplus capital was invested in business
enterprises, all of which yielded hand
some returns, without exception, and
never again was he victim of bad luck.
But, the story continues, he always
trusted the management of his ventures
after his first lucky strike to the hands
of others
Of course the man who SCOTS at the
doctrine of luck will say that this story
proves most conclusively the truth of
the law of cause and effect in business.
If Miller had not been collector, the
man with the sealskins would not have
gone to him, and without Mi11er's
k1OW100SG III p0D4lC u6A Liz CC1COS-
sions required to make the seal fur COM
pany glowing success could not have
been got.
The history of California as the land
of gold naturally abounds with incidents
of lucky strikes which suddenly raised
men of no fortune at all to positions of
wealth beyond the dreams of avarice
And naturally, too, most of these men
have long since lost all they got by
these lucky finds. Lucky Baldwin is
one of the well known men who has not
suffered in this way.
n I do not know how much this mans
total fortune is, but his ranch is sol
EMMY declared to be of the value of
SO, 900, 900. Nobody seems to know
what first gave him the nickname Of
Lucky but whatever it was, and
whether his first winnings were lucky
OR the result of careful calculation,
he Is, as every one who has ever dealt
with him is aware, one of the shrewdest,
''nerviest'' business men on this coast
! or anywhere else; but, according to all
reports. it is supplemented by good luck.
j. H RIsDELL