The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-17
LOUIS LOMBARD IS HUMAN LIVE WIRE Climbed From DireSt Penury LANDED HERE PENNlLESS Is Now Reputed to Be Worth at Least $50, ,ooo ooo-Vast Interests In
 Mines, Music and
 Railways.
LANDED HERE PENNILESS

From the New York World.
 This is the story of a real live un- Insulated human wire. That's how Louis Lombard. who arrived here from Cher bours on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse tbis week, is described by his friends One of the newspaper notices of his ar rival referred to him as Count Lom- bard" Another spoke of him as count Lombardi."
 "Cut that out, forget it. eliminate it. said MT. Lombard when World reporter addressed him as Count.
 Are you Count Lombard?' inquired the reporter.
 "No!' answered the jovial Lombard, laughing, Pm not a count"
 MT. Lombard has a luxurious suite of apartments at the Waldorf Astoria. With him is his wife, who was the daughter of Tom" Allen, who built the Missouri Pacific railway and then sold it to Jay Gould. Also with him in the suite are eight young Lombards They came from various portions of the world to join their father and mother in a Christmas feast. One of them. Russell, an athletic boy of 19 came from his work bench in the plant of the Allis-C Chalmers company in Cincinnati. He is working there as me chanic. He speaks seven languages Italian, French, Spanish, German, Eng fish, Japanese and Chinese. He reads and writes all of them. He cannot handle the Oriental tongues fluently, but he is get ting on with them and likes his linguis- tic studies.
 Judith Lombard aged 1S, speaks five languages. Loma, 15, also speaks five; Bradford, IT, speaks seven, including Chi nese and Japanese. The younger chil- dren are studying languages also. Their parents insist that they not only learn strange tongues, but learn how to work with their hands as well as with their brains.
 Noted as Lingust.
 Louis Lombard the father of this in teresting group, speaks nine languages himself He owns the Chateau de Ire vano, at Lugano, in Switzerland. He is the leading stockholder in the Italo- Argentine society of Buenos Ayres, which controls the leading opera houses of South America. He owns the Costanzi opera house in Rome The syndicate of which he is the leading spirit the Societa Teatrale Internazionale, has the follow ing theatres on it's list: The Adriana, the Argentina and the Costanzi of Rome; the Carlo Felice of Genoa, the Opera in Bari. the Opera in Parma and the Regio in Turin. In Argentina. Uruguay Brazil, Chpi and Peru this organization controls the IA leading opera houses.
 Mir Lombard likes music. He has a private opera house in his palace in Switzerland He has an orchestra that he maintains there the year round that he conducts himself and with which he entertans the friends who call to see him. He is the owner of zinc iron and lead mines in this country and in other countries. He is the owner of vast auan- titles of railway stock.
 He is interested in so many projects all over the world that he himself ad- mits it would be hard for him to emu merate them without consulting his rec ords. recent writer in the Swiss Sum mer Gazette credits him with a fortune of $100O0 GOO. It is safe to say that he is worth more than half of that In his own right, not taking into consideration the millions that his wife brought to him.
 He is not yet 30. He is a native of France and speaks with a slight French accent. But he is a naturalized citizen of the United States and is proud of his adopted country as a man could be.
 What is your present business, NJ Lombard?' asked the World reporter
 His Educational Ideas.
 My present siness-ah-well-let see. My present business is to mak, good, useful American citizens of lny children. Yes, that is it. Can a man have a better business? Noi Neverl That Is the best business on earth. My children-all of them who are old enough-are being educated in Ameri- ca. This is the only country to educate children in. There is something In the atmosphere here, something that is in deflnable but nevertheless potent and necessary. that makes this true. In Europe they are too slow. They drag They cling to custom and to tradition They are not quick to opportunity, to advancement, to progress. I am an American, and I am glad of 1t.
 q know Europe and I know Amer fca and I train my children here. That is a testimonial, is it not? l want to make good American citizens of my children. They will not be spoiled by wealth and I want them to cultivate the habit of work. The curse of boys and of girls is idleness. The habit of idleness Is the worst of all habits. I do not mean that men should work for gain-monetary gain only. I mean that they should work to elevate themselves Intellectually and usefully. That is the idea. The worst thing that can happen to a young man is that he should have an indulgent father of wealth and an indulgent mother of position, each of whom desires to smooth the pathway for the child.
 "The parents do not remember their own struggles as having moulded their characters and made tn em of worth. They only think of the hardships that they had to undergo And they try to keep the children from enduring those very hardships without which the pa rents themselves would have been drab and gray and of no moment. My child ren will have to work. I want them to work, not for gain, but for character. want them to develop. If you give man crutches the muscles that should be exercised become atrophied. What is worse for that man? What can be worse for a child than to be brought up as a leaner? He ought to be an oak-not an ivy
 Arrived Here PenniIess.
 And Remember that Mir. Lombard is speaking from experience. This little bundle of nerves came to America when he was IA years old. penniless orphan
 NO, didn't have cent when l started out in the new world" he said yesterday He said 1t modestly and would not dwell upon that phase of his career; but he did land here ''broke."
 He had a fiddle He knew how to play it. He played it. He won friends. His native city was Lyons, France. He did not know the English language when he landed on this continent He had some