The record-union., 1895-09-14

Ii Hung Chang 800, ,000.o 600
john ID. Rockefeller 10000, 600
The Duke of Westminster......... 1OO, O,OOO,O 600
Colonel North. 1OO, O,OOO,OSO
Cornelius Vanderb1lt....-........... 100000, 600
won q 1OO,OOO,OOO
Total. 81 ,0sO, 900, 900
Think of il! Over a billion dollars.
Enough to buy bicycle for every man
in the country. Yet it is doubtful if any
of these modern Croesuses gets any more
pleasure out of life than does the average
man who works hard for six days, and
sleeps and eats well, and rests on the
seventh. No nightmares over great
hoards of gold, and lying awake to check
mate the schemes of other millionaires.
A man can only eat so much. whether
he's prince or pauper. In fact, the
latter's appetite is ordinarily far and
away ahead of the former. Then the
pleasure of sleeping in solid gold bed,
certainly after ones eyes are closed, is in
no way superior TO doing on S2 cot.
Ii HUNG Changes MILLIONS.
But two of these multi millionaires in
herited their fortunes. One is the Duke
of estminster, the other is Cornelius
Vanderbilt. Ii Hung Chang alone IS in
danger of losing his, but then his head
might go. too. and person without that
necessary ornament wouldn't enjoy even
cracker.
AS Viceroy of the Chinese Empire he
was for years in position to accumulate
wealth of every sort. With his five hum
dred millions he is the owner of great
rice fields and innumerable pawnshops,
which are most profitable In the dis
tricts where he resides he is looked upon
as a veritable god. Hundreds of slaves
and servants wait upon him. and except
when he is called to court to visit his en-
ployer, the Emperor. he passes his time
studying. Everybody knows that the
Chinaman has to earn his spurs by BRAIN
work.
In China any young man who attends
strictly to business has no horror OF los
ing his place. de has to pass examina-
ton, but they decide simply whether or
not be is TO climb the ladder or stay
where he is.
Ii Hung Chang is a selt-made man and
climbed that ladder himself. The wealth
he has accumulated is the reward OF his
industry. Rumor says that a great part
of his money is invested in English con-
sols and American railway securities.
OF course the last war with Japan put
him in queer position. \ Undoubtedly
he will stop where he is If he can. In
any event. were he to go away he could
land on several continents and still lind
wealth enough there awaiting him.
While the money Ii Hung Chang pos
sesses has strings on it, so TO speak, it is
in his own name, and is increasing, so
reputable authorities say, at the rate of
over $4,000 day.
THE NITRATE KING.
Colonel North is an Englishman. He
is not man OF great refinement When
he was ii years old he could not read or
write. Like many OF his sort he knocked
about the world, serving sometimes as a
common sailor aboard ships which car
ried material from the old country to the
new. He is Yorkshire man and ar
rived In Chile when he was but % years
old. Originally q boiler riveter. he
found employment in the town
of Huasoo. AT this time the
nitrate fields of Peru were be-
ginning to be talked of as fields for spec
uiation. He had talent for mechanics,
and mastered every detail of the busi-
ness. After he had seen the fortune in
the stuff, he raised capital, invested it
and founded the fortune which ID to-day
rated at hundred millions.
lie secured control OF the nitrate beds
and arranged for a wafer supply in that
region. He needed ships and railways
for transporting the stuff, and also ar
ranged tor the capital necessary TO build
them.
Seeing the vast fortune which was to
be his he availed himself of his opportu
mites, and when the war between Chile
and Peru broke out found an opening for
H1CAO hSAAbhs LIZ XIV OOL-
troll OF the railway, water and gas works
and other corporations, which he man
aged most successfully and made pay ying
properties. After the vast flow of wealth
which tumbled into his pockets be re-
turned to England, leaving his business
interests in good hands, and then pro-
ceeded to enjoy himself
Although he is a chief figure at the
race tracks now, he is too busy man to
simply sit down and look on. He is in
terested IN many new schemes, most of
which have proved more than profit
able. His recent defeat for election to
Parliament he takes calmly. He scatters
money lavishly. The Prince of Wales
has become his Intimate friend. His
racing stables are among the best in Eng
land. His country house is in Marvel.
THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER.
The Duke of Westminster, who has
enormous interests in London property,
is not only the richest of Great Britain's
peers but also one of the best liked men
in England. His popularity with all
classes has been gained not altogether in
politics or in the tangled webs OF diplom-
ecy, but in the hunting fields. lie would
as soon race with his tenants as with
lot of princelings once he was master OF
the GLORIOUS Cheshire Hounds" and
once won the blue ribbon of the day. No
other living man is better judge OF
horses.
Grosvenor is his family name, and his
descent is traced 10 an iliustrious house
which fiourished in the times OF the Nor
man conquerors He Is over 20 years old,
but is as young, apparently, as spring
chicken. His father was a Marquis,
and he himself was created a Duke
in 1874. His income Is variously
estimated at from five to seven
hundred thousand pounds year. If
even the smaller figure Is accepted, it
means that two millions and a half OF
dollars is his annual income. lie owns
the land on which many OF the principal
markets in London are situated. His
ancestral seats are many and his hos
pitaiity unbounded.
Some years ago he inherited an addi-
tional fortune OF $4,000 year from his
mother, who was ninety years old when
she died. The heir TO his wealth Is
grandson, boy of eighteen, who is now
at Cambridge. The vast property he
owns in London was bought by
one of his ancestors in the sixteenth
century, when it was only an outlying
farm of London. 1t was Gladstone who
made him a Duke but since then he and
the Grand Old Man have differed and are
not friends politically.
RocKEFELIER, THE OIL MAGNATE.
Years ago, when the oil excitement was
the talk of the country, fortunes were
made and lost. The days of Coal-Oil
Johnny may never return again, but
in all the history OF the world there
never was an instance when paupers
became millionaires so rapidly as
them. John d. Rockefeller made his
vast fortune, which is estimated at over
$50 600. 600, out of oil as easily as the
farmer's wife gets pin money from her
chickens. His golden eggs were laid by
obliging refiners, who had to do as be