Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-10-28
,"OM JONES has inherited a mil
lion dollarsw exclaimed Post
master Jenkins He had

master Jenkins He had
closed Lincolnville's post off,
nee for the night and moved a chair
nearer the stove. His uncle in New
York died and left all of his money to
Tom," added Mr.. jenkins, though the
colonel. the judge and every one in
Lincolnville knew all the details.
"Well, Tom deserves it. He's a good
boy; %and wish him all kinds of luck''
II don't exactly see what Tom has
done to deserve million dollars more
than have dozen young men in Lin
colnville I might name" remarked the
colonel. He happened to be the only
heir, and this money comes to him. No
one knew that Samuel Jones was
worth more than a thousand dollars,
and Tom never dreamed of getting a
dollar from the old man. Tom is a
good boy, as you say, but what has he
done to deserve more money than he
could earn as a clerk in Benson's drug
store If he lived and worked 1000
years? If he had been struck by light
ming instead of a million, would you
say he deserved it?''
"Well, I wish had it, said jenkins,
with sigh. IA million dollars!'
wishes are cheap, and you might be
more extravagant while you are wish
ing" observed Colonel Monroe dryly.
"You might initiate the man mentioned
by Rabelais, who wished Our Lady's
church brimful Of steel needles from
the floor to the top Of the roof, and to
have as many ducats as might be
crammed into as many bags as might
be sewed with each and every one Of
these needles till they were all either
broken at the point or the eye That
is quite a prodigious wish, and yet
believe there are men in this country
who would resharpen the points and
weld new eyes on the broken and worm
out needles. I confess an absolute in
ability to understand why a man
should long for a hundred million or
even a million of dollars any more
than he should long for thousand
dishes Of ice cream at a church fes-
tival. The craving for inordinate
wealth is as much Of a disease as Is
the craving for liquor or opium. Our
age does not recognize this as truth,
but time will come when the money
drunkard will be deemed as vulgar as
is the whisky inebriate. But that Is
another question. What is our young
friend Tom Jones to do with his SO
easily acquired million?"
HE says he is going into business,
answered Postmaster jenkins. HE is
going to New York next week to look
around and decide what to do. Think
of what a chance he has! He is only
twenty-one years old. Armour at his
age had nothing, and look at what he
had when he died.
"Mr. Armour did not go to New York
and look around when he was a young
ster," said Colonel Monroe. "He struck
out for the undeveloped west. Like
| myself, he found a thousand oppor
tunities lying across his path. A vir
gin empire was at his feet. Chicago
was a village when he began his ca
reer. He had no capital but good
health. energy and a brain to perceive
the possibilities Of the then unexploit
| ed meat trade. 4 thousand Of the
young men who headed for the wes
amassed their Millions Some of these
| grasped wealth, others had wealth
thrust upon them. But in that process
what became of the undeveloped west
1t had vanished. There are those who
say that there are as many chances tt
rapidly acquire wealth today as there
were when the first great waves o.
immigration swept from the Ohio tt
the Rocky mountains. Such statement:
are not true purchased a Thousand
acres of land near Lincolnville for les:
than a thousand dollars. Where car
a young man go today in this country
and secure title at such a figure
I4incolnville sprang into existence, ant
without lifting hand my property en-
hanced in value hundred times. Thou
sands upon thousands have had thu
same experience. Where upon the mar
Of the globe is an undeveloped country
which in fifty years from now will con
tain popula ton Of 100000 people
with fifteen cities ranging in popula
ton from 100000 to 100000? Ar
there any continents yet undiscov
cred p
II presume there is none," said Judge
Sawyer, "but that fact does not prove
that the young man Of today does no
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