The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-07-26
John W. Mackay.

HE NEWS OF JOhn w. Mackay'
death in London last Sunday wa.
the subject of general comment by
the press of the country on Monday. A.
far as known. the verdict was favor
able. His immense wealth created nc
! ill-feelings or jealousies. This is uni
versal, and the reason is obvious. He
acquired it all honestly and dealt it out
unsparingly to worthy causes. 1t never
gave him the "swelled head MOI
caused him to frown on honest labor
ers. from whose ranks he graduated
with supreme honors. Their cause he
always espoused. and between him and
his employees there never was a hitch
His motto was to do to others as he
would have others deal with him. This
Christian principle won for him the
esteem, love and affection of an army
of wage-earners, who sang the praises
of the uncrowned bonanza king. Mr.
/ Mackay was born in ireland, came to
America when a boy, began life with
limited education, depending solely on
his grit and muscle, which were his
only stock in trade in entering the bat
tie of life. His history up to the time
1 that he became part owner of Vir-
glnia's rich bonanzas is no different
! from that of thousands of hardy miners
who brave hardships and expose them
selves to numberless dangers in search
of hidden treasures. He succeeded
where countless miners, equally brave.
/ failed. His great success was not in
his new discoveries, but in being able
TO retain what he honestly found. From
an humble follower of the pick and
shovel he became a financier, and in
that capacity he has acquired national
fame comparing favorably with the
highest class of European financiers
who have reduced the accumulation of
wealth to a science. In all his financial
enterprises there were no secret ma
chinatiCns, no trusts, no conserted eff
forts to wiring from the masses of the
people their hard earnings. 1t was all
on the square. All his schemes,
whether mining. railroads, biography
or real estate investments We're John
Mackay's. If they succeeded, as they
invariably did, the success .wasdeck-
avs, and il he lost, the loss was not
borne by the public. but by John w.
Mackay. who bore his reverses philo-
sophically. In this respect his honesty
and integrity present an object lesson
which might be wisely initiated by
finaciers whose greed and avarice are
the cause of so much contention be-
tween capital and labor
John w Mackay survived all his
partners of Comstock fame William
O'Brien died many years ago in San
Rafael, Cal James Flood, in Germany.
and James Fair in California All four
We're Irish, three were Catholics and
one, James Fair, a Protestant. Will
liam O'Brien and James Flood, who in
life were not practical Catholics, re-
ceived from the church all the honors
of Christian burials. The former, on
his deathbed, was attended by the
Most Rev. Joseph S. Allemany, then
archbishop of San Francisco The dis
patches do not tell of John w Mack
avs last hours in this vale of tears, or
of any spiritual consultations which he
may have received. Though in the
eyes of the church he was simply re-
.garded as a nominal Catholic who
ceased to practice his religion. yet it
was well known that he loved the faith
of his forefathers, and tenaciously
chung to it. Every year the joyous
feast of Christmas would remind him
of the old faith, and he never failed in
dispatching his greetings and felicia
tons to the archbishop of San Fran
cisco on that ever-memorable feast. A
few years ago Archbishop Riordan
met him in New York and reminded
him of the necessity Of returning to his
old allegiance on the approaching
Christmas, which was near at hand.
Touched by the gentle reminder and
reproof of the distinguished prelate.
Mr.. Mackay said: My heart is there
and 1 win soon be able to attend to my
duties" We hope the wish was real
lied, if not before his last illness, at
least before the final summons came.
Flood and O'Brien, Mackay and Fair
formed a quartette that win be long
remembered on the Pacific slope.
Mackay' was the noblest Roman of
them all. His contact with princes and
royalty rubbed off all the rough cor
ners of the rugged miner and in the
princes palace or rulers waiting room
he was at ease and as much at home
as when sitting on rock on the hillside
of Virginia or discussing the apex,
spurs and angles of a rich ledge with
his fellow miners in log cabin. Kind
gentle and charitable, he avoided noto-
riety, literally followed the advice of
the gospel by concealing from his right
the good works which his left hand did
Once he incurred the displeasure of a
politician for espousing the cause of a
friend. The irate pledged himself to
send Mackay out of Virginia, as he en-
tered with his blankets on his back
The threat was repeated in Mackays