The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-04
OBSCURE MILLIONAIREs.
The Only Thing the Rich Man Can Do
to Keep Himself Unknown.

CnurCh STANDARD.
The London Spectator once published a
list Of those 1t called Obscure million
aires who had died within the previous
ten years. The list was a rather long one.
This list sets one considering. The age is
a Shopkeeping age, 1T is true. 1t is apt, we
say, to velue men according to their prop
ton, and yet. Notwithstanding the exag-
gerated Importance of money and money
getting, 1T appears that wealth in the
largest measure redeems no man from OBJ
security: that money in 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 a matter
of distinction. in our own country, even
more than in Europe, wealth exaggerates
should, for here, more than there. it is a
personal matter. The American millionaire
has made. as ne says, his own millions.
try. tact. perseverance or good luck" He
Is fon1 it may be. of reminding us all that
it is so. He is a "self-made man," and re-
ours to the time when he was a barefoot
boy, or a penniless youth, with some pride.
as a proof of how bright a man he is in
early poverty for the present wealth.
He feels in his heart that he has done q
noble work, and that he deserves the COM
mendation of mankind for doing it. 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 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 in
terests.
The consideration given to him for his
money is given only to his face by those
eo@m ennsSt would vo "a lo sIf'e eompfae ey u poe
the matter if a sudden revulsion should set
him to sweeping the streets tomorrow,
would consider him indeed quite as i'm
portant 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 it may be very unimpor-
it's owner, is sure to be.
The only way to create distinction with
wealth is by it's use. What a man does
of his obscurity. The world is very just,
and forgets ali but it's benefactors. The
millionaire who uses his millions for his
his office for his own benefit. or the man of
genius who eXhausts his genius for his
who, endowed with a trust, uses the trust
for his own exclusive use and behoof.
Men possessed of other trusts are not as
ant to make This mistake as the men pos
sessed of money. Genius. intellectual pow
er. high spiritual gifts, we are all loud to
mainly. We stand ready to condemn relent-
lessly the men who, endowed with such
Want: But But great wealth, Especially if
a man has himself won it, is less apt to be
considered a trust. The greed for il IS
great. 1t is often sought not for itself,
but for the supposed distinction it confers.
When the young man of energy and ambi-
ton looks forward to the attainment OF it
as the end of his endeavors, he is not led
by any misery desire Tor moaey in IlSeif.
He has rather the noble desire of winning
distinction and Importance by it's posses
sion. 1t is a means and not an end. Pity he
should III the years of his pursuits 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 a mans memory fragrant for
centuries. But to do all this it must be
used.
There are millionaires in our own country
who will neither be nor cared
Their passage from among living men will
leave no void, for the stocks and bonds and
shares which alone gave them their conSe-
quence rem il. Mankind has lost nothing,
misses nothing. 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 millions
a blessing 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
and memories are linked for years. for
centuries to the monuments of beneficence
they leave behind them. famous the land
over. not for their wealth, but for the good
deeds their wealth was used for. The mil
iionaire is nothing, his Importance nothing,
his-conSequence nothing. We want to know
what he does with his millions before we
care to remember his name. AS a mil
lionaire merelv he is like the great poet
who never writes. the great orator who has
wfo 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 millions" That is
all. We stand by his grave and think
what a fool he was" Another Obscure
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