Mohave County miner., 1906-08-11
The MilIionaires of Old.

New York trust company. In jan
uary of this year the deposits in the |
Trust Company of America amounted
to over 81, 1000, ,000S, an increase of over |
$4,000, COOS since 1900. These deposits
belong to every class of soci-
ETY.. Some depositors' checks would !
be good for cool, calm l,OOO,OOOS at
any time; other depositors are widows,
orphans, clerks and smaller money
savers, who could not make out a
check for more than three figures.
When we read of such vast amounts
of money and of the powerful financial
leaders who control the great corpor-
ations of the country, we are want to
think that there are more and richer
individuals today than there ever has
been before, and, perhaps, if investi-
cations continue, than there ever will
be again. But the millionaire is older
than history, and the wealth of an
clients was in many individual cases so
great that It's splendor still glimmers
through the ages down to the present
day.
According to the Book of Kings, the
total quantity of gold collected by
King Solomon of Biblical and matre-
monial fame, was 900, 3 score and e
talents in a single year, or about l.
500, COOS. In the holy of holies of Solo,
mons temple over l.O0O,0O0S worth of
gold veneer was used. His throne
was of ivory overlaid with the best
gold: all the drinking vessels were OF
gold none of silver, for that metal was
not accounted as of value in the days
of Solomon-in fact, ''the king made
silver to be as stones in Jerusalem"
1t is stated in the records of Diodo-
rus that Queen Semiramis, who built
the wicked city of Nineveh, among
other stupendous works erected in
that city a temple to Jupiter upon
which were placed statues of Jupiter,
Juno and Rhea, all of beaten gold.
That of Jupiter was standing upright,
forty feet in height; Rhea was the
same height, seated upon a throne of
gold, with a gold lion upon either side
and another at her knee, besides two
huge serpents of gold coiled about her
throne: Juno was standing, nearly as
tall as the others. With the trim
mings of the altar, this entire affair is
estimated to have cost about 55,OOO,-
OOOs.
When Julius Caeser was captured
by the Sicilian pirates, who demanded
a ransom equivalent to 25,S33.3OS he
laughted at their modesty and tossed
them 43,055.5OS. 1t would be difficult
to imagine anyone doing such care
less, openhanded thing now, with
mems souls so centered in the round
rotundity of the almighty dollar. Be
fore he was in any public Office, Cae-
ser was in debt to the amount of l.
lI9.443S. No man today would dare to
enter politics with a debt of even half
such an amount-not if the people
knew it.
The notorious tyrant, Nero, was so
rich and extravagant that he never
wore the same garments twice.
When he travelled l,OOO carts were
necessary for his baggage. Tiberius,
another Roman emperor, in an airy
mood one day gave 7,000S to the au-
thor of a dialogue between mush-
room and fgpicker, and between an
oyster and a thrush. Would that
there were such patrons of the pen
today.
As an example to the youth at the
time, Marcus Crassus, commencing as
poor man, soon by means of shrewd
wars and thrifty fires, amassed a for
tune such that after he had consecrat-
ed a tenth of his estate to the god
Hercules, had given an entertainment
to the entire Roman populace and a
supply of corn to each citizen. He
still had left the snug little sum of ~
5OO,OOOS, besides the ownership OF
about tenth of Rome. 1t was this
self-made man who enabled the great
Caeser to accept the government OF
Spain by securing him to the amount
of ia, ,72IS. When Caeser was first
appointed governor of that province
he would have been unable to leave
Rome without that financial assistance
from "Crassus the Rich.
Alexander the Great did things IL