Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-23
DOES Big VEAL TIL PA12
What Famous MiIlionaires Say
About 1t.
RUSSELL SAGE INTERVIEWED
Says 'They Have to Work to Keep
Anything"
CHAUNCEY DEPEW'S VIEW
The Expressions Of Peter Cooper,
Cyrus W. Field and Mrs.
Elizabeth Thompson.
,HAUNcEY DEPEW's VIEW
Written for The Star.

Is the owner OF 500 100000 really worth
any moro than the owner OF 81. 000.000f
I have interviewed several well-known
milHonaires. asking for answers to the
above questions-Russell Sage, Chauncey
Depew, Cyrus w. Field, Peter Cooper and
others. I called one day and asked Russell
Sage about this matter. He was no more
difficult to get at than he was before the
dynamite crank sought to effect loan
without security. He was worth q good
deal of money and had recovered the mill
lions which he lost in that scramble In
Wall street one morning twenty-five years
ago. He was worth probably at the time
of my call fifty or sixty millions-it isn't
worth while to be too exact.
1t was a very warm day--as warm as to-
day. He had his coat OF, and wiped the
high reeeding front of his business occiput
with red silk handkerchief as he handled
the marked envelopes OF puts and calls"
on little table before him, and replied:
Yes" NO" to the clerk who came In
every minute so and asked him for OPP
tons in figures and symbols which were all
Greek to me.
You seem to work hard to keep ahead
of the boys Mr.. Sage I said. There Is
prevalent idea that millionaires don't
have to work at all"
They Have to Work.
sound of revolt and disapproval from the
upper part of his larynx-a kind of chuckle,
strangled in its birth-and added, They
have to work. guess, If they keep anything
on this earth. Everybody clutching to get
1t every minuter'
You have enough money. haven't your"
asked. las much as you can user,
es, as much as can use, believe he
answered. turning and looking at me. Eyes
4 have as much as can use today, sup
pose"
An idea suddenly struck me. IF 1 were
you. l would stop work. / boldly con-
tinued. ''If you have money enough you
are not now getting any wages Why don't
you stop work? You haven't child In the
world you are eighty years old or more;
you are worth, they say, eighty or ninety
million dollars-one million for every
He interrupted me once more with the
same old sound of dissent and repeated
ironically, They say!
why l don't stop work. III do 1t, If you
will answer me one question: What other
job can go at that will do as much good
and give me as much satisfaction
He paused in distributing puts and calls"
long enough to say, We'll. you can't an
swer it. Nobody can. I can't answer it
myself have thought 1t over. This is
my trade One other thing: every man likes
to excel Every man likes to be worth as
much as folks say he is worth. Hardly any
man sold out suddenly would measure up
equal to his reputation. Men take the
same pleasure In accommodating as boys to
In running races and climbing trees. 1
don't believe l should be happy IL I left
the street, and there are thousands of men
down yonder who are depending on me for
work What would they dor"
AS I took leave the old gentleman turned
and said, NO. to the offer of caller
to purchase a privilege" 1t then occurred
on wrinkle in ten years. and that his
clothes had improved-the latter fact, per-
haps, indicating a weakening OF his finan-
cial ability. Uncle Russell was always far
better and more generous than the reputa-
ton given him by newspapers Sixty or
seventy years ago, he was member OF
Congress. He was probably not worth
5000, but he buckled to bravely and secured
to purchase Mt. Vernon. He lived to be
worth scores Of millions-how many scores
nobody knows-he never spent hundredth
part of the interest of 1t. He never saw
his money and never had 1t, excepting
bare pittance, for most of 1t was wholly in
the hands and Golfers of others, used by
them for their own benefit. And they are
chiefly the ones who called him "skinflint."
Chauncey Depew.
called on Chauncey Depew at the Grand
Central and put to him the same questions
that Russell Sage had tackled. At the end
OF the business that induced my call, l
asked. docs 1t pay to be very rch?''
st don't know" said Mr.. Depew. II have
never been it, but should imagine 1t did.
wouldn't you? Or folks wouldn't be It,
would they?"
millions and was not very rich,s accord
ing TO metropolitan standards.
However" he continued, after min
ute, ''they may think 1t Is going to pay
hive and bye and afterward find themselves
mistaken Man never Is. but always to be
blessed: perhaps that's what you mean"
well, Mr.. Depew. If you please. this is
what I intended to ask: rs fortune OF
800 coo 900 any greater than fortune OF
yes" he said. sit requires more care.
time and anxiety and tires man more
to keep It, but 1t will not buy any more
of the things man wants. Whether II
really brings any greater enjoyment-weH,
probably not. Riches do not generally con-
fer happiness or necessarily even comfort.
It depends on how a man feels and what
he does with his money. l know man
who has the income of just about 100000
per year and he gets a heap of salts
faction out of It. He spends 1t ALL On
others, of course. for there Is no other
self interest. He gets his pleasure by max
ing others happy. But 1t must require
great deal Of time and a great deal OF anx-
iety. To know how to give away money
wisely man needs to be inspired 1t
is about the most difficult trade there is
that OF philanthropists. A great many
more people would work at it and work
real hard If they were certain that their
money would do good when given away.
Cyrus W. Field.
Cyrus w. Fields immense fortune was
squandered by his son. and fortunes of
several of his relatives enguifed also. Inn
me,iiately after the death OF the two who
were dearest to him In life. He had been
worth 100000 or $4,000 Coo Before the
submergence asked him some of the ques-
items that stand at the head of this let
ter
'@rhe value of money can easily be ex-
agaerated.'' said Mr. Field. TT Is really
worth only what 1t will fetch In the things
a man wants. and for that purpose $40
a day is worth just about as much as 81
600 day. In fact. il he wants the things
he had better not have. $40 is worth more.
In addition to this. there is only the graft
fed pride arising from having made what
mel, generally call a great success I have
no doubt Mr.. Gould experiences about the
same sort of satisfaction that his neigh
Dor. General Grant, does-the satisfaction
of having beat-of having come out ahead
the satisfaction the girl has who marries
well or stands at the head OF her class
Now that is all there is TO it
Mr.. Field was cheerful then and even
jovtal and jocose. He lounged on q leather
sofa and chatted and laughed and certainly
49, a