The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-23
GREEK MILLIoNAIREs
They Have Donated Large sur,s
Various Noble Purposes.


Various Noble Puruose.
From the New York Commercial A..
dser. e''
Greece is a poor country. hut -
sesses number of very wealthy me,
who are devoting their fortunes to natr,a
tic and philanthropic purposes. In ~.
present war for example, thew have
tributed large sums, which have an,b,.,
Greece to mobilize it's troops. The fors
most Greek millionaire is George Avsroe,
of Alexandria, who is said to have oou
tributed 100000 to the Greek war fr,,
He gave 10000 drachmas to restore The
famous Stadion in Athens, WHERE N.
Olmypian games were held last wear II.
was born in Mezoro, a village near 1an,
ma. In his youth he went to Alexand-,,
and won the favor of the Khediva Tsr,aoI
He laid the foundation of his nn1ersn
wealth by number of real estate ana
other speculations. He was enabled tbers
Dy 10 estaolsh important commercial re.
latlons with London, Bombay and Tndis
and largely through his efforts Alexan5ria'
became the leading commercial center ~
the orient. His fortune is estimated al
1O1WO,OOO drachmas. Through this i'm
mense wealth he has been enabled 70 d.
vote large sums for various noble mn
poses. He founded Greek schools in Alav.
andria and established a number of char
table and educational institutions in
Athens. He gave large sums for the ma.
rine school where the officers of the
Greek armies receive their education. M
man of modern times has done so nuob
for the political and social developuent
of his country as Averoff He was an in,
innate friend of the great Prime Minis.
ter Tricoupis, and when this Statesman
endeavored to raise a loan for his coup.
try Averoff guaranteed these sums on his
own responsibility.
Averoff leads a simple and retired IPa
in Alexandria. His clothing is the plain
est, and he has continued the same modest
mode of living shown in the beginning of
his career. He did not attend the Olym-
plan games. However, a number of en-
thusiastic kilograms were sent to him. to
which he replied: Il am happy at the
magnificent success of the games and
hope that the political and military af-
fairs of my country may reach the same
condition" He contributed $1,000 drach-
mas to the Cretan fund. The city Of
Athens erected a monument in his honor
and last December a silver laurel crown
was presented to him by a deputation.
The majority of the rich men of Greece
have made their money in foreign coun-
land with great wealth. a large part %
which they are spending for public pur-i
poses. All public institutions, hospitalsJ
Libraries and universities of Greece have
been established by these men, and even
the marble sidewalks of Athens have been
built by their munifcence.
The University of Athens has recently
been especially favored by the philanthro-
pists. Demetrius Benardakis contributed
100000 drachmas, 5000 drachmas were
given by Plataghinis, and $1,000 drachmas
were received from Papadakis. Dumps
gave $1,000 drachmas to pay for the cree
ton of the outer portico of the new uni
versity building. Benardakis also contrib
uted 2.000.0O0 drachmas to the National
Museum, and the widow Sturnara gave
1900 drachmas to the same institution.
A wealthy family named Tositzas gave to
the Polytechnical School of Athens 100000
drachmas, and the late Viennese Baron
Simon Sina spent vast sum on the mag
nificent academy building of Athens. The
Rail- family, merchant princes, who do
large business with India, England and
America, subscribed 900 for the building
of national theater.
A favorite son of the Greek people Is
Andre Sangros, who made his money in
Constantinople. He established a peoples
theater, hospital, church and central priS-
on. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS gave a Byron
group to the city, and hundreds of Others
have done much to make Athens one Of
the most beautiful cities in the old world.
Many of the Turkish cities have large
Grecian populations, and Greek million
aires are to be found in Constantinopa
Smyrna, Salonica, Myrtilene and other
cities on the Mediterranean.