The sun., 1896-09-20
OBSCURE MILLIONIIREs.
The Only Thing tho Possessor OF Mililons
Can DO to Keep Mimseir Unknown.

FROM the Church Standard.
The London Spectator once published list of
those IL called "obscure miilionairss" Who had
dicd within the previous ten years. The list WAS
rather long one. This list sets one col siderIn
The ago is o bookkeeping age. 1t 10 true 1t Ia
apt We say. 10 value men according to their
property. Great wealth gives great considera-
tion. and yet, Notwithstanding the exaggerated
Importance OF money and money getting, 1t
appears that wealth in tho larges: measure
redeems no map from obscurity; that money
In itsolf. by It's nero possession, -confers
no distinction which oven this age values.
lts use, and not Its possession, is all that
can make 1t matter of distinction. In
our own country even moro than in Europe
wealth exRGReratea Its own conseq Itis
there, 1t Is personal matte. Tic S Amer.cSn tsS
milton They 81. S own aHSS i Hss
He Is ioud, 1t may be. Of reminding us all that il
is 30. He'll "self-made man" aud rscurs TO the
youth. with some pride as proof OF low bright
man no 10 In having changed by his own pow
S Heaqt aqt the hs donS
OF mankind for doing It. Ho Is liable to rsIn d,snp
strange that, shrowd rs he is in money matters.
ho is SO blind In others. For tho rest Of the
itself about HIS success or his failure. Neither
can other people ace on exactly what grounds a
taken good care Of hs oMn Ss Tor having
l., Tho consideration given TO him for his money
Is given only to his face BY those who .expect 70
look oomplacently upon the matter IL "A sudden
revnlsion should set him TO sweeping the streets
Important IN tho last occupation as In That OF
rSSkins hts heaIs higher. In other words, u IS
any in .fSs Is there I.
IL may be very unlmportan;; In fact. II ho 10
content 70 be merely its owner, Is sure TO he so
WRst @sn aoSs M Tth RES. Es"ss Ss
ha mas determines the question Of his ohscurity.
TRS tOTfS WSa u.a. S s Hs m H.
i,9ns Tor he own beneht y like tho ofilceholder
man OF genius who exhAusts his genius for his
own seldsh ends. or indeed like any man who,
endowed with trust uses the trust for his own
Men possessed Of other trusts are not as apt to
MAKE MAKE thls I mistake % as the men possessed Of
ituai efts. we are ali loud 10 claim are con- con.
ready ready TO Sondsma relen,lessly the men who. on.
ssy has Simss EoS Tsq. psss apl SspS to
asss @ not rs' Esssf s .si 1s sFes fSr
The supposed distinction II confers. When
10 81 ssd
S 81 hls s%ndeAvors. % he is not led by any miseriy
aesirs aeS fSs S money in itself He has rather the
oA "'hh'nb uiotiHOtiuu anu lIn-
not an end Pity he should in the years. % Of 1nS his
llrsnit so often chang, his notion. For his hrst
Sflnion is right. Wealth can confer d istinction.
IL can bring honor aud high consideration. il
can make mans memory fragrant for CEN
turies, But to do all this IL must be- used.
There are millionairos in our own country
who Will neither be remembered nor cared for
thirty days after their costly funerals. Their
passage from among living men will leave
no void. for the stocks and bonds and sharos
which alone gave them their CONSEQUENCES re-
main Mankind has lost nothing. isses moth
Ing There are Others who will be missed In a
thousand places and by thousands of hearts.
for though the millions remain, the heart
that made the mil Ions blessings is gone. Tho
man In this case iA lost TO us, and he was more
than his money. There are again some few
who SO dispose OF their thousands that
their names and memories are linked for
years, for centuries, TO the monuments OF
pehencence they leave behind them, famous the
land over, not for their wealth. but for the good
deeds their wealth was used for. The mIlilou-
Afro 10 nothing, his Importance nothing his con-
sequence nothing. We want to know what he
does with his millions before we care TO remem-
6Sr bis name As a millionaire merely, he Il
Ike the great poet who never writes the great
orator who has never made q speech. the great
inventor who has never invented anything He
had grand opportunities. He could have done
90 much with hia money. He did nothing He
- =, died worth 80 many milllons" That Is ali,
we stand BY his grave, and think whaa q fool
ne "as!" Another obscure millionaira