The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-10-29
OUR MILLIONAIRES.
LIKE OTHERS BEFORE THEM SOME
ARE DOOMED TO oBSCURlTY.

The Only Way to Create Distinction by
Wealth Is to Use It-some Who viii
Not he Remembered Thirty Days After
They Are Dead.
The London Spectator once published
a list of those it called Obscure mil
lionaires" who had died within the pre-
vious ten years. The list was rather
long one. This age Is "A shopkeeping age,
it is true. 1t is apt, we say, to value
men according to their property. 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 redeems no man from OBJ
scurity; that money i'll itself, by its
mere possession, confers no distinction
which even this age values. Its use, and
not its possession, is all that can make
it matter of distinction. In our own
country, even more than in Europe,
wealth exaggerates its own consequence.
1t is natural that it should, for here,
more than there, it Is "a personal mat
ter. The American millionaire has
"made, " as he says, his own millions.
They represent his own shrewdness, in
dustry, tact, perseverance or good
luck" He is fond, it may be, of re-
minding us all that it is so. He is a
"self made man, and recurs to the
time when he was barefoot boy, or a
penniless youth, with some pride, as
proof of how bright a man he is in hav-
ing changed by his own unaided powers
the early poverty for the present wealth.
He feels in his heart he has done "a
noble work and that he deserves the
commentator Of mankind for doing 1t.
He is liable to disappointment as we
all know, and it is somewhat strange
that, shrewd as he is in money matters,
he is so blind i'll 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 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 the matter If IL sudden re-
vulsion should set him to sweeping the
streets tomorrow, would consider him,
indeed, quite as important IN the last
occupation as i'll 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
To-
In fact, if he is content to be merely its
owner, he is sure to be so.
The only way to create distinction
with wealth is by the use. What man
does with what he has determines the
question of his obscurity. The world is
very just and forgets all but its bene-
factors. Tho millionaire who uses his
millions for his own benefit is like the
officeholder who uses his office for his
own benefit, or the man of genius who
exhausts his genius for his own selfish
ends, or, indeed, like any man who, en-
dowed with trust, uses the trust for his
own exclusive use and behoof
Men possessed of other trusts are not
as apt to make this mistake as the men
possessed of 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, en-
dowed with such gifts, use them mainly
for their own advantage. But great
wealth, especially if Il man has himself
won it, is less apt to be considered a
trust. The 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
the end of his endeavors, he is not led
by any misery desire for money in it.
self. He has rather the nobler desire of
winning distinction and Importance by
its possession. 1t is "a means and not
an end. Pity he should in the years of
his pursuit so often change his notion,
for his first opinion is right, Wealth
can confer distinction. 1t can bring
honor and high consideration. 1t can
make mans memory fragrant with
blessings for centuries But to do all
this it must be used.
There are mllionaires i'll our own
country who will neither be remember
ed nor cared for 80 days after their cost
ly funerals. Their passage from among
living men will leave no void, for the
stocks and bonds and shares which alone
gave them their consequence remain.
Mankind has lost nothing, misses moth
ing. There are others who will be miss
ed in 900 places and by thousands of
hearts, for though the millions remain,
the heart that made the millions bless
ing is gone. The man in this case is lost
to us, and he was more than his money.
There are again some few who so dis
pose of their thousands that their Names
and memories are linked for years, for
centuries, to the monuments of benef
icence they leave behind them, famous
the land over, not for their wealth, but
for the good deeds their wealth was used
for. The millionaire is nothing, his inn
portance nothing, his consequence moth
ing. We want to know what he does
with his millions before we care to re-
member his name AS millionaire
merely he is like the great poet who
never writes, the great orator who has
never made a speech, the great inventor
who has never invented anything. He
had grand opportunities. He could have
done so much with his money. He did
nothing. He "died worth so many mil
lions. That is all. We stand by his
grave and think what fool he was,
II.