The times., 1898-07-10
FORTUNES OF WAR.
Some Who Grow Rich While War
Taxes Prevail.

There are fortunes..of war other than
its chances and misfortunes Our pres
ent war with Spain has already shown
the very handsome profits it has in hand
for certain classes of citizens Wholly
legitimate profits-as those of the physi-
clans who examine the intending yoIun-
teers, or the still more numerous class
which is In haste TO secure life insurance
in the face of impending military prob
abilities
But their share is small by contrast
with the lucky individuals who chanced
to be large holders of commodities
whose value the war in some cases has
trebled Sulphur, for example. which
comes from Sicily, and is an essential
ingredient of gunpowder, has been de-
clared by Spain TO be contraband of war.
In March it sold at about $22 the ton
The price is now we'll over $4O-and stiIl
rising There are American sulphur
mines in Louisiana and in Utah but so
far the expense of working them has been
too great for successful competition with
the foreigners Beyond question if pres
ent prices prevail for six months, those
same mines will return their owners a
very pretty penny-and, 1t may be, be
put In such trim that hereafter we shall
be independent of Sicily and all its sui
phur works.
Harking back to the civil war times.
fortune came TO very many people
through that upheayaL Not alone the
contractors and the shoddy men, who
have passed into history and into lam
guage-shoddy, il is perhaps worth while
/ to explain, was, in the beginning, tech
nical term for cloth woven Of old gar
ments ground to powder. mixed with a
little fresh wool, and respun. 1t cost
almost nothing to make, and was sold at
the price of honest stuff. OF course it
held together but little longer than the
garment got upon the back of some luck
less soldier. But the shoddy maker had
| his money, and reveled In II. without a
hindering thought of the men whose lives
were endangered, often sacrificed, by his
| cheat
Perhaps the oldest and most notable of
! the war fortunes were those for which
| it gave occasion only remotely warlike.
The occasion needed to be supplemented
| by far sight. At least two men had that
| far sight. They were DR.. D. and Mr..
| B., already reasonably rich. owning land
| and slaves to the amount of something
! over 800 900 dollars each. They lived in
| Middle Tennessee, and ran in conjunction
| with their plantations big tobacco stem
4 meries. wherein they put UP leaf tobacco
| for the English market. When war and
the blockade threatened, each of them
! had 100. 900 pounds of tobacco in English
warehouses. A blockade they knew meant
| a cotton famine-at once they wrote their
/ factors TO sell the tobacco and invest the
money in cotton. The factors obsyed
| bought cotton in 81 at u cents, held il un-
| til SO and sold IL for very near 81 a pound
BY that time ii was possible to com
| municate with the owners ef the cotton.
! All middle Tennessee was under Federal
occupation Those gentlemen turned their
sterling exchange into greenbaeks, get
| ting $3.50 for 81. invested the gTeenbacks
/ in per cent United States bonds at some
! thing under par-and found that after
| peace was made that although they had
lost their slave property, they were
| good deal richer than they had ever hop
ed to be.
A famous Southern woman. Mrs. Ack-
len. of Nashville and Louisiana. whose
| life was throughout a romance. had
| somewhat the same experience. There
were 5000 hands tosrwork her louisiana
pianta tions. The land was rich, the crops
| enormous. Three of them were stored
there awaiting a market when word came
| to the owner that Gen Butler had seized
| and meant to conhseate them. II was a
time when men could not stir. Mrs. Ack-
| len had made fair weather with the Fed
eral commanders at Nashville. BY theiT
help. accompanied only by woman reia-
tive, she made her way to New Orleans
| rescued her imperiIed crops, brought then
| to New York city, and sold them in q
lump for the neat sum of $l,IGOGO0 Like
| the tobacco men, she found in the en-
| hanced price of her cotton hnancia
| equivalent for the loss of her slaves. al
| though she had something like 5000.