The Topeka state journal., 1905-11-16

Esf3.e.SI .ige.39A VEN If she were not
the richest woman in
America Hetty How
land Robinson Green
would still be inter
esting. She is such a
sII55II IlII.II75ti decided variant from
the species that her
IscR Of uniformity must have made her
conspicuous. Nothing could have rob
bed her of the distinction Of being total
1y unlike any other woman Of the pres
ent generation. Not, indeed, that she
has developed masculinity in her ways
Of doing or even in her business meth
ods. In the final analysis Of her opera
lions all of them appear to be woman
ish both in conception and in exeeu-
ton, but Il is not the femininity that
comes easily within the definition of
the term.
Mrs. Green's unique individuality is
best set forth by comparison with
that of some notable contemporaneous|
anancier-J. Pierpont Morgan, for ex-
ample, who is only a little over a year
her junior. Both inherited fortunes
from their fathers. Morgan fell heir to
an estate OF s10,0OO.000, and Hetty Rob
inson, sole heiress Of her father and
also Of a millionaire aunt received
about the same amount as a nest egg
Both proceeded without delay to culti-
vate the process of expansion and have
never since relaxed in their efforts to
accumulate. From the moment when
these two well prepared and eager
searchers for material prosperity en-
tered the financial arena all further
comparison becomes impossible. Their
careers are so strangely unlike that
there seems to be nothing in common
except the fact that both have become
phenomenal winners, the man by meth
ods which have become standard in the
modern financial world and the wo-
man by means which are unknown to
any other Individual of either sex and
which cannot be initiated. It is the un-
nistakable genius of getting, that elu-
sive quality which cannot be initiated
or evoked at viii
1t has been pretty well demonstrated
that appearances do not always tell a
truthful tale. Divested of their royal
insignia there are few reigning mon
archs who look the part. There are
scores of prosperous bunko men in
America who look more like financial
kings than does Carnegie or Rockefeller.
1t is not at all remarkable that no one
in the weekday New York throng that
cumbers Broadway between the city
hall and Wall street recognizes as the
richest woman in America the plainly
dressed elderly woman who so fire.
Quently trudges over that ground. There
is nothing at all characteristic about
her loOks-Just a commonplace old face
in a setting of snowy hair and rusty
black bonnet and veil Quite recently
a Chicago judge who had never seen
Mrs. Green was brought face to face
with her latest portrait without word
of enlightenment as to her identity. He
looked at it long and critically. "A
sweet faced, lovable, benevolent old
lady" he commented. Just the kind
of woman who is always trying to do
some one a good turn. I know the type.
God bless then!"
When ne was made wise he almost
collapsed, for all his experience cried
cut against his recently uttered opinion.
He shook his head sadly and sighed.
Another case of snap judgment" he
muttered.
Even when she is seen at her office"
"a desk in the little rear room of the
Chemical bank, New York at which she
sits for hours studying papers taken
from the black reticule which is her
wade mecun-and when one meets her
with the fOreknoWledge and prejudg-
ment which are inevitable in this age
Of newspaper publicity, the first i'm
preston cannot fail to be one of dis
appointment. If one has expected to
see sort Of skirted Russell Sage he
viii be disillusionized speedily There
is not a suggestion Of masculinfty about
her. Her face shows no sign of cum
ming, miserkness. or greed. It is pre-
cisely such a face as one might match
a hundred times in a single Sunday