The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-01-29
OUR MIILIONAIRES.
LIKE OTHERS BEFORE THEM SOME
ARE DOOMED TO OBScURITY.
Tho Only Way to Create Distinction by
Wealth Is - Use It-some Who Will
Not BE Remembered Thirty Days After
They Are Dead.

Not He Remembered Thirty Days After
They Are Dead.
The London Spectator once published
q list of those it called "obscure mill
ionaires" who had died within the pre-
vious ten years The list was a rather
long one. This age is shopkeeping age.
It is true. It 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
ii 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. il may be, Of re-
minding us all that it is so BE is
"self made man." and recurs 70 the
time when he was a barefoot boy, or
penniless youth, with some pride, as
proof of how bright 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 thai he deserves the
commentator CT mankind for doing II.
He is liable 10 disappointment, as we
all know, and IL j. somewhat strange
that, shrewd IS he i 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 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 a 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 mar
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 is
very just and forgets all but its bene-
factors. The 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 arc not
as apt to make this mistake IS 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 relentlcssly the men who, en-
dowed with such gifts, use them mainly
for their own advantage. Bat great
wealth, especially if man has himself
won it, is less apt to be considered a
trust The greed Ter it is great. It i
often sought not for itself, bat Tor the
supposed distinction it confeTs. Whom
the young man Of energy and ambition
looks forward TO the attainment Of i5 Gs
the end Of lis oEdcGvors, 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 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 q mans memory fragrant with
blessings for centuries. But to do all
this it must be used.
There are millionaires in 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 1000 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, fol
centuries, to the monuments Of benef
icence they leave behind them, famous
the land over, not for their wealth, bu
for the good deeds their wealth was useC
for The millionaire is nothing, his i'm
portance nothing, his consequence moth
ing. We want to know what he doe
with his millions before we care to re
member his name. AS "a millionair
merely he is like the great poet VIII
never writes, the great orator who ha