The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-07

but he still possessed the same charm Of manner. the same bright and clear-see- ing eye, perhaps little more deliberate In conversation. Fame and fortune have not injured him as 1t has so many who have during the last twenty years climb ed to the summit of their ambitions
 
 Inventors. spring poets and artists are nothing If not imaginative. They, too, have dreams of wealth and hopes of names burinshed with achievement which are destined to illumine the annals of the century. Among their visions of wealth come the figures of designing men who plot to withhold from them the rich fruits of their labors. They brood on fancied wrongs and drop into lawyers offices. Lawyers listen and request in- structions Fees are paid and the suits begun. As litigants they feel they have taken a bold step on the ladders which lead to the heights of their day dreams. Nonsense suits they are called by the practical men of the day, and of non- sense suits there seems no end. In- ventors with stupendous propositions and without means of developing them haunt the offices of financiers and promoters. Lewis Nixon is now being sued for B. 000,OO0 by one Walter Yolney, who de- c1ares that he invented a smokeless pow der and organized a company known as the International Smokeless Powder company. If I recollect alright. year ago, when Nixon was interested in the formation of the United States Shipbuild- ing company 2 suit was brought for sS,- OO0O00 in New Jersey. The company has never been heard of. his powder has never been heard of, and his object In suing Mir Nixon no one seems to know or care anything about. As suits so often re- suit from listening to inventors stories, flnanciers become timid.
 
 Speaking of Nixon reminds me that Miss Alice Roosevelt has ordered of the U. s. Long Distance Automobile compa- ny, of which Lewis Nixon is the presi- dent, very handsome machine. It is quite 'the thing now to have one of these automobiles which have become so deservedly popular.
 William c. Whitney has laid the found ation of a long enduring fame years ago when, as a member of Mir. Clevelands cabinet, he began the construction of the new navy, which with it's magnificent ships and skilled officers, has maintained the proud traditions of a proud service from the first shot fired on the high seas in the Revolution down to Dewey's con quest of the Philippines in the Bay of Manila. When MT. Whitney's political career came to an end for the reason that he would not sacrifice principle to political expediency. many fields of en- deavor opened to him. He went into the race in many ways and the crown of highest achievement he has won in the conflicts of industrial progress. MT. Whitney's amassing millions Is one thing. It does not concern anyone particularly outside himself and his financial coterie. One of his amusements, however, has a certain public interest, because in one way or another he in 1t touches elbows with thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow men. It Is that of the turf. William c. Whitney, within a decade or so has become one of the great figures, national and international in a sport that, before the American millionaire age set in, used to be characterized as exclusively for kings. In many a hot contest, the Whitney colors for years and years have evoked the resounding cheers of thronged race tracks and car ried off substantial financial reward that went little way toward paying actual expenses.
 Tn the full tide of his success this po- tentate of racing who barely missed the nomination for the Presidency of the Republic, was pulled up in a recent con test on his chosen field with a check that
  letting the breath go, the actual loss was in few seconds, s1s,o0O, the amount of the stakes. and the victor over him was his own son. Never has there been a more dramatic situation on the turf. Put the situation into a novel and no one would believe 1t. By the way. there are family racing colors on this turf of ours that are older than are the flags of many very powerful nationalities. The Belmont colors, for instance. saw tha light long before the flag of United Ger many was unfurled. or before that of the Italian Kingdom flew over Rome. The Keene colors carried off the blue ribbon of the English turf so long ago that we have to refer to some dictionary of dates before we venture bet on 1t. Bel mont, Keene. Whitney-these, according to the outlook now, are the three heredi- tary turf families of the Republic. In the cases of all of them the succession is assured.