Evening star., 1901-02-09
VICTORlA'S INVESTMENTS
FIRST WAS PARTNERSHIP WITH A
SCOTCH TRADEsMAN.
Profoundly Interested I'm EneIand's
Commercial SupremRcy-Sbe
Was n Great Financier.


England's wealth and her disposition of IL
by will is sure to remain always a purely
family affair. but it is perfectly safe to say
that her savings and the earnings Of her in
vested capital have rolled up one Of the
great twentieth century fortunes.
1t was practically after business hours,
after disposing of the affairs of state.
that the queen gave time and thought to
her private property, but when she bent
her energies TO the consideration of invest
ments and to sales or purchases OF hold
ings she displayed always for woman a
perfectly unrvaled business acumen.
Here in America we may point to Hetty
Green as a wonderful feminine financier,
but ii Is true that in England the first lady
of the land showed for years as much posi-
tive genus in that direction ever Mrs.
Green has displayed. 1t was the conduct OF
her vast estate that kept the aged queen
interested and fully occupied through many
hours of her later years. She developed her
enthusiasm for financial matters only after
her husbands death, and when she looked
about, with the determination of a vigorous
and philosophical intelligence, for some ef-
fective and worthy diversion. Then IL was
she began to study the commercial great
ness of her empire and the English trade,
manufactures and banking systems were
thoroughly mastered by the sensible lady.
Her late majesty came TO feel a tremen-
dous pride in the British merchant marine,
ana, Dy q curious coincidence, she Nentured
quite unadViSed to make her own first in
restment 1t was a good many years ago,
and during a summer when the royal house.
hold was at Balmoral, that the queen COM
manded one of the most prominent Edin-
burgh tradesman to send to the castle a
quantity of his wares. from which she
wished to make selections and purchases.
He Knew Business.
The head of the house and his trusted
first man of business. both of whom had
taCtfully negotiated sales at Balmoral many
times before, We're both III. so that the
business Of presenting the goods to the
queen was given into the hands of trusted
young clerk. The smart young ScotchInan
knew a lot concerning trade, but very little
about the etiquette that hedges sovereign
when she goes shopping in her own home,
so when the goods were arranged for the
queens inspection he hung about the room.
irstead of absenting himself while the lady
examined the articles and made her selec-
tons Nobody noticed him until 1t was too
late to hustle him out, and though he kept
well in the back ground at first, when the
queen happened to ask a question of her
attendants as to the possibility of having
certain quality of cloth woven, the young
tradesman, blind to winks and frowns from
the attendants, presented himself with a re-
specvful bow and replied so clearly and
sensibly to her inquiries that she asked an
explanation of the whole method of wool
weaving. There was no gainsaying the
young mans accurate knowledge, intelli-
gence and respectful bearing, and when
the queen kindly inquired something Of his
private affairs he frankly confessed that
it was his ambition to establish mills on
his own and to introduce some improved
machinery in which he firmly believed. The
queen asked what capital he would need,
graciously thanked him for his inforna-
ton and dismissed him.
Backed His Enterprise.
A few weeks afterward he received an
offer from a banker to lend him the money
to put up his mills and establish his ma
chinery. The offer was so unexpected that
the young man insisted on knowing now
il came about and then he learned that
the queen had ordered the investment on
the strength of what he had told her ON the
occasion Of the visit to Balmoral she hau
also ordered an investigation of his char
acter and condition, and, receiving n SAT-
isfactory report, determined to venture
gCodly number of pounds In the enterprise.
The result proved highly f1attering 10 mo
lady's Judgment and the young mans aDlii-
ties, for the mills were put up ana proved
enormously successful. After drawing q
handsome revenue from her nyer III wooi'
the silent partner in the firm sold out AT q
huge profit; but her first venture gave ner
courage to go into many other things. Her
holdings in real estate, in steamship lines
and banking firms have been taken soiely
on her own judgment. With POSITIVE
genius for figures, she mastered easily all
the higher mathematics. the science Of
bookkeeping, and kept large portion OF
her personal accounts with her own hand.
The Golden Sovereign.
Though an aristocrat to her finger tips.
the queen always honored the power and
benefits Of trade, and she held the same
opinion Andrew Carnegie has expressed
that the existence Of great millionaires IN
a country argues well for its prosperity anu
thriving industries When some one ASKED
her which of her many portraits pleased
her the most, she picked up golden SOW.
ereign and indicated her own prohle raised
on lis bright surface. II like it best she
said .because 1t stands for the integrity OF
the great trade OF England that has Drought
her so large a part of her glory In peace
and in war. a.,
Besides so shrewdly encouraging he
growth of her fortune, the queen, with
thrift, partly inherited from her mother
and partly the result Of her own simple
childhood days, when shilling was eN-
pected to go a very long way, had always
exercised q most rigid economy IN her
household management. In the Gays OK
Prince Albert the horses OF windsor were
among the wonders of the place, but when
her husband died state functions no longer
interested the queen, and, at one stroke OF
her pen she cut down her household eX-
penses a hundred thousand year. When
the Prince Of Wales was married there were
rot horses enough for the state carriages.
but the queen never expanded her style OF
living and though her children often grum-
bled and the nation was surprised at what
was sometimes called her parsimony. she
preferred to expend a large portion of her
savings In charity and roll up the rest into
an estate that is conspicuously big In this
age of millionatres. NJ. A.