Evening journal., 1896-11-07
OUR MILLIONAIRES.
LIKE OTHERS BEFORE THEM SOME
ARE DOOMED TO OBsCURlTY.

Not he Remembered Thirty Days Asssr
They Are Dead.
The London Spectator once pubhshed
list Of those it called "obscure nil.
honaires" who had died within the pre-
vious ten years. The list was "a rather
long one This age isa shopkeeping age,
it is true. IL is apt. we say, 10 value
men according to their properly. Great
wealth gives great consideration, and
yet. Notwithstanding the exaggerated
Importance Of money and money get
ting, it appears that wealth in the lar
gest measure redeumg no man from OBJ
fcurity; that money in itself by it's
mere possession, confers no distinction
which even this age values. It's use, and
not its possession, is all that can make
it matter Of distinction. In our own
country, even moro than in Europe,
wealth exaggerates its own consequence.
It is natural that it should Cor here,
more than there, it is personal mat
teg. The American millionaire has
''made, +" ~ he says, his own millions.
They represent his own shrewdness, in
dustry, tact, perseverance or "good
luck. He 10 fond, it may be-, Of re-
minding us all that it is so. He is a
"self mado man." and recurs TO the
time when he was a barefoot boy, or "a
penniloss youth, with some pride as q
proof Of hos bright man he is in hav-
ing changed by his own unaidcd powers
the early poverty for the present wealth.
He feels in his heart he has done a
noble work and that he deserves the
commondation Of mankind for doing it.
He is liable TO disappointment. as we
| all know, and it is somewhat strange
that, shrewd "a ho is in money matters,
be is SO blind in others. For the rest Of
the world is very busy, and has little
time to trouble itself about his success
or his failure Neither can other people
see on exactly what grounds a man can
claim its applause only for having taken
good care Of his own interests.
The consideration given to him for
his money is given only to his face by
those who expect to get something by
| it, The community would look compla-
Gently upon tho matter if q sudden re-
vulsion should set him TO sweeping the
streets tomorrow, would consider him,
indeed, quite as important in the last
occupation as in that of raking his
heaps higher. In other words, it is the
wealth itself that is important, if there
is any Importance in the case The man
who owns 10 may bo very unimportant
In fact, if ho is content to be merely its
owner he is sure to be so.
The only way to create distinction
with wealth is By tho use What a man
does with what he has determines the
question of his obscurity. The world is
very just and forgeta all but its bene-
fnctors Tho millionaire who uses his
millions for lis own benefit is like the
oficeholdor who uses his Office for his
own benefit. on tho man Of genius who
exhausts his genius for his own selfish
ends, on, indeed. like any man who. en-
dowed with Il trust, uses the trust for his
own exclusive use and behoof.
Men possessed Of other trusts arc not
as apt 60 make this mistake az the men
possessed cf money Genius, intellec-
tual power, high spiritual gifts, we are
all loud TO claim are conferred for the
good of humanity. We stand ready to
condemn relentlessly the men who. on
: dowod with such gifts, use them mainly
J for thoir own advantage. But great
wealth, especially il a man has himself
I won il, IS less apt to be considered a
trust, Tic greed for it is great 1t is
often sought not for itself, but for the
supposed distinction it confers. When
the young man Of energy and ambition
. looks forward to the attainment of it as
Z the end Of his ondoavors, he is not led
by any misery desire for money in it.
self. He has rather tho nobler desire OF
winning distinction and importance by
its possession. It IS a means and not
4 ON end. Pity he should in the years oi
v his pursuit so often change his notion,
0 for his FIRST opinion is right. wealth
= can confer distinction. It can bring
honor and high consideration. 1t can
K mako a mans memory fragrant with
blessings for centuries. But to do al
this it must be used.
There axe millionaires in our OWL
: country who will neither be remember
p ed nor cared for 30 days after their cost
4 ly funerals. Their passage from among
It living men Will leave no void, for IN,
p stocks and bonds and shares which alon,
l. gave them their consequence remain
Mankind has lost nothing, misses moth
ing. There are others who will be miss
ed in 1000 places ind ty thousands o
! hearts, for though the millions remain
N the heart that made the millions bless
ing is gone. Tho man in this case is los
to us, and he was moro than his money
There arc again some few who so dis
pose Of their thousands that their name
and memories are linked for years, 70
centuries to tho monuments of benef
icence they leave behind them, famou
the land over, not for their wealth, bu
Ia for tho good deeds their wealth was use,
for. The millionaire is nothing, his i'm
u portance nothing, his consequence moth
ar ing. We want 20 know what he doe
N with his millions before we care to re
member his name. AS a millionair
. merely he is like the great poet VIII
n never writes, the great orator who ha
:, never made y eneech. the great invento