The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
A METEORIC MILLIONAIRE.
Barney BarnatO's Success Not Due TO
Mental BriIliancy.


LONDON DAILY MALL
There is peculiar fascination about the
memoirs of a man who had made his mil
lions. One wants to know how ne dld II; II
there was any royal road in his methoqS
worldly success if his good fortune was
gained by the exercise Of splendid ana
SURPRISING genius, or if it was the result OF
mere accident and perhaps complnauon oI
business alertness and good luck. Could
one make ones millions If one did as he ala!
1t is hard to be poor, and there is a glamour
about gold. Money means SO much IN tnls
In reading Mr. Harry Raymond's Memoir
of B. /. Barnato," which has gust Deen
published, one realizes that Barnato was,
after all, a very ordinary sort of man. HIS
story gives the lie direct to the theory that
in order to make money one must nave tne
power of knowledge and the inesumaple
benefits of sound mind and SOUND Dody.
He had no great mental capacity, no great
physical fitness
was ignorant of the very names OF CharleS
Kingsley and George Dawson; ne never
read books, and only occasionally SKINNED
the newspapers. He considered reading
waste of time, and pictures only appealed
to him when they told a story or mace MN
laugh. In his opinion Mr.; Louis wan was was
a finer artist than Michael Angelo or Velas-
quez. He had an absolutely commonplace
intellect, devoid Of all refined culture. Ana
yet there was something about MN wnlcn
distinguished him from other men FOR,
with all his lack of the qualities when ecu
cation and culture give, his abilities brought
him more money than o Shakespeare or New
PERHAPS he owed much of his financial
success to the fact that he belonged to
also to his peculiar untutored prescience;
He had q gift of foresight when enapled
him to find a fortune in fields which other
men, similarly situated, had forsaken as
worthless. AT the diamond dlgglngs OF Kim
berley other men had trusted to the opln-
ions of scientific experts Barney Barnato
trusted only to his own instincts, and ms IN
stints were true, while the opinions of better
educated men were entirely in error.
One calls him by the familiar r,d name 4o, OF
US that his given and family names were
Henry Isaacs 1t was not with the distinct
view of gaining fortune at the mines tha at
with the hope of making living as a con-
jurer and public entertainer, for which pur-
pose he lightly assumed the name Whlch
subsequently became so famous in the nnan-
cial world.
He made no Roadway as an entertainer,
although he seems to have had some skill as
an actor. Failing as a conjurer, he became
a kopje-walloper and sought for diamonds
amid the waste refuse of the diggings
His initial capital was represented by six
ty boxes of cigars. He soon became a dealer
in diamonds, however, and directed the
whole of his energies to the accumulation OF
money. His first big operation was a stroke
of Jewish genius.
In 1876 it was believed at Kimberley that
the diamondiferous yellow ground lying
above the volcanic blue rock contained the
final possibilities of wealth. Barnato'S for-
tune Law i'm his persistent belief that richer
deposit of diamonds would be found deeper
down, under the blue stratum. He had no
scientific reason for the belief, which was
contrary to the accepted opinion or practi-
cal biologists: But with careful ana excel
lent judgment, he bought up many claims
which were supposed to have given out and
he held them with the determination to go
on until his purchase SHOULD either MAKE OF
spised blue rock was itself the true home OF
the diamond, and that, as he had antlcl-
than all the yellow surface ground con-
tanned. He added operation to operation,
fioated his companies, and by capable man
agement acquired such far-reachlng inter,
ests as effectually to control the diamond
output of the whole world.
Much of this interesting volume is in the
operations, which should be instructive
reading to business men. sums or seven
and eight solid numerals begin to De prom
inent on Mr.. Raymond's pages, and those
who take pleasure in reading or money ah9
markets, of riches and resources, will hnd
plenty to satisfy him here.
The personal story of Barney Barnato,
apart from the satisfaction it will surely
give to those who are curious on matters
of finance is not particularly edifying to
the monumental mind. There are anec-
dotes of Kimberley elections and expert
ences in the Cape Parliament, and many OF
them are highly amusing. Mr.: Louis
Cohen's "reminiscences of his late friend and
business partner are among the most enter
tanning sections of the book. Both Mr..
COhen ana MI. ftdyInOilu give iiiuiiilllde iiS
flashes of information on Barnatos habits
and characteristics, revealing instances or
his unwearying energy, his strange super
stitions, his generosity, his caution, his love
of his wife and children, his love of boxing,
of acting, of horse racing, and, also, one
must add, his love of whisky and soda The
chapters relating to the development of the
Rand and the revolution and raid in the
TranSvaal contain little that is distinctly
new. The closing scenes of this narrative
the falling market and the falling man
point the eloquent moral of the story. They
impress one with the irresistible feeling
that if there is one thing harder to bear
than absolute poverty it is to be weighed
down, as the late Mr.. Barnato was weighed
down. body and mind, by the responsible
ties and the cares of incalculable wealth.