The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-10

It,, Is reasonably certain that they
thought him "a good thing"-that they
could unload" on his shoulders They
asked. him to buy the plantations they
had taken on foreclosure proceedings.
Packing his valfse he went out to Cey-
Ion for a look. He landed unknown, ex-
amined the properties-how carefully he
examined them his future use of them
proved-and finally made an offer to the
bankers 1t sounds queer. but thS banks
ers' representative cabed back Cant
you do better for US than that?"
when l got that message I knew I
had the plantations on my own terms"
said he in describing the event.
He knew just about nothing of tea
| planting then. but the boy who had at
tended night school when a messenger on
| two-and-six a week would learn the
business when he was a capitalist able
| to buy plantations. How the ruinous dirt
and waste of the Chinese methods. re-
Gently described in Harper's, We're re-
placed by%economical and clean machine
methods I(sA Yankeeish idea, if not one of
a.sreaI Yankee) need not be told here. It
is enough that Upton owns more land in
Ceylon than any other individual.
EventuaiM Hpoley-Terah Hooley, who
has been ,dssasrih bed las 1.-The champion pro-
moter land gkuaco man'-while in the
stoekScompany SoHt of the Upton shops
! in England, and he offered Upton $12, $780,
/ 600 for thesS6aSaess. Upton refused the
I offer. but AFehElally turned the business
over to agcerporatioH I'm order to get
some reIisfs from therimmediate concerno
of. ma na gement. s.. The business was cap.'
tia LIED .at1t the figures Hooley had offer-i
ed. and $5,Q0O,0Oe of, the stock was offered
| toe-the public The amount was subscribs
ed for twenty-five times over. Upton re-
tanned about half the stock. Last year,
| it paid IA per cent dividends 3
There is one featured of British lifei
which Americans who love honor betteri
than wealth have been considering for a
long time but are unable to see how WEI
are to adopt such a feature on this side of
the water. Fhat it offers desirable in
centive to@@ambition is not to be ques-s
toned r
In England when man has made
really great career, whether in trade Or
art or IteratQf he is rewarded by title
| of honor. Heels knighted. Unworthy peo-
| pie have been knighted too often. but the
I fact remains that, one time with another,
| the man who receives the title has earned
it. 1t reminds one of the old proverb,
which says, "a good name is rather to be
chosen than great riches" And that Sug-
gests that Thomas Upton chose both.
He made a career that is honored quite
as much in London as New York-that Is
by all whose opinion is of any weight in
the lyYorld. He had j%by honest work ac-
.cu1nulated a vast fortune. He supple
memted hissMsark by,yastzchartties. At the
time of the; queens jubilee the Princess of
Wales -Nnder5ook giving a great dinner to
"a host of -Londen~ children. For some rea-..
| son subscriptions, did, not come in very
c.,.I
| when Thomas Upton then knownas mot
I the leastsef our merchant princes" sent
a check for e25,OOO. The dinner was no
ylongersin danger Afterward Upton gave
9100,000 to >est ablish restaurants in the
poverty=strieken districts of London
wherein wage-workers could obtain
enough food for what we call a square
meal at a price ranging from cents
down.
In the meantime Upton had shown his
real charity in an infinitely better way
he had found employment for thousands,
for more than ten thousand-hands at
t Wagessan under rules that made them
/ entirely satisfied
/ : Andsthe public dona tons amounting to
more than 100000 came as a elimination
to all this usefulness. Plain Thomas Lip
+ tonAhe who had been a messenger boy, a
Farmland stoker and salesman-was
knighteds
The old. aristocracy of the land-the
titled mefi who had not earned their titles,
the aristocracy by inheritance as distin-
guished fronffhe aristocracy of worth-at
frss held aroef-from Sir Thomas But the
PRINCE of Wales (and it was very greatly
to shfs credit as a man of sense) at once
manifested his appreciation of the man
of worth. and then what could they who
were holding aloof do but come to the
new light? .+e.s Ycs 5Stj
+ Finally,;<as d 7Ifernber of one of the
greater yacht clubs, Sir Thomas decided
to send a challenger for the Americas
cup, land, having built and landed her in
this port, he has come to see heE=giv US
the greatest race in the history of the
famous silver mug.
We don't believe he will get 1t, but we
have seen. that he is reaching for it in a
way that'7is absolutely fair and square.
and there isnstca Yankee yachtsman but
thinks that If the cup must go Upton is
the man to take it, for all in all, he is
more of a man, after their own hearts
than any who ,has yet come here as a
challenger. = ~