The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-02-11
OUR MILLIONAIRES.
LIKE OTHERS BEFORE THEM SOME
ARE DOOMED TO OBSCURlTY.

The Only Way TO Create Distinction by
Wealth Is % Use It--Some Who VIII
Not lie Remembered Thirty Days After
They Are Dead.
The London Spectator once published
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 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 in itself, by its
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 more than in Europe,
wealth exaggerates its own consequence.
It is natural that it should, for here,
more than there, it is personal mat
ter. The American millionaire has
"made," as he says, his own millions.
They represent his own shrewdness, in
dustry, tact, perseverance or "gooa
luck" He is fond, it may be, of re-
minding us all that it is so He is
"self made man," and recur5 to the
time when he was barefoot boy, or
penniless youth, with some pride, as
proof Of how bright man he is III hav-
ing changed by his own unaided powers
the early poverty for the present wealth.
He feels in his heart he has done O
noble work and that he deserves the
commentator Of mankind for doing 81.
He is liable to disappointment, as we
all know, and it is somewhat strange
that, shrewd rs 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 man can
: claim it's 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 a sudden re-
yulsion 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 it may be very unimportant.
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 II
very Just and forgets all but its bene
factors. The millionaire who uses his
millions for his own benefit is like thu
officeholder who uses his office for hi
own benefit. or the man OF genius wht
exhausts his genius for his own selfisl
ends, or, indeed, like any man who, en-
dowed with trust, uses the trust for III
, own exclusive use and behoof
Men possessed Of other trusts are no
, as apt to make this mistake as the me-
, possessed Of money. Genius, intellec
3 tual power, high spiritual gifts, we ar
all loud to claim are conferred for To
good of humanity. We stand ready {
! condemn relentlessly the men who, Ell
: dowed with such gifts, use them mainl
, for their own advantage. But grea
wealth, especially if a man has himseI
won it, is less apt to be considered
trust The greed for it is great. 1t
often sought not for itself, but for til
r supposed distinction it confers. Whe
t the young man of energy and ambitlo
j. looks forward to the attainment OF 1t
j. the end Of his endeavors, he is not lie
:. by any misery desire for money in i
o self. He has rather the nobler desire
70 winning distinction and Importance
l. its possession. 1t is means and m
II an end. Pity he should in the years
J, his pursuit SO often change his motion
y for his first opinion is right. Wealt
Il can confer distinction. 1t can bril-
ts honor and high consideration. 1t ca
{ make O mans memory fragrant WI
2. blessings for centuries. But to do o
n this it must be used.
" There are millionaires in our ov
country WQO WILL u6itHSi 10 1879
% ed nor cared for 80 days after their cos
n " funerals. Their passage from amor
Nv living men will leave no void, for &
" stocks and bonds and shares which alol
s. gave them their consequence RENAL
re- Mankind has lost nothing. misses not
ing. There are others who will he mis-
u ed in 1000 places and by thousands
4. hearts, for though the millions RENAL
the heart that made the millions bles
ing is gone. The man in this case is &c
to us, and he was more than his none
u. There are again some few who SO d
ed pose of their thousands that their nam
% and memories are linked for years, I
We centuries, to the monuments OF benz
icence they leave behind them, famo
el the land over, not for their wealth, b
C. for the good deeds their wealth was Us
for. The millionaire is nothing, his i
portance nothing, his consequence not
" ing. We want to know what he d.