The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-04-14
WHERE DID HE GET ITq

m l w $3.50 AAA 01A
So far it a been plain sailing. But
answer to which will repay considera-
ton.
Where did he get IT.?
Did he make 1t In the Wall street Of
Jerusalem? No; in those days there
were no stocks or stock markets.
For q, like S he was president
of no banking nor insurance compan-
les.
Nor did he. like our Morses, Edisons,
Marconis and Bells. patent an inven-
ton.
Neither did he corner wheat, or ex-
plot a steel or any other trust.
And-though. credited with occult
powers.-he did not, after the fashion
of Medieval alchemists. make gold from
baser metals.
mystery as impenetrable as that which
veil~ the source of the weather Of
some of our political contemporaries?
Not at all: there is no mystery about
the matter.
All historians agree that Solomon got
his gold from the mines of Ophir.
Yes. he vas q miner,-this great
king; his wealth was clean, virgin gold
out Of the ground. He was wise enough
to get 1t in that way, and too wise to
try to get in any other way.
A wonderful place was Ophir; not
VAiAS supplying 6Olu anu SlNSI, IUul
diamonds and other precious stones.
peacocks, sandalwood, ivory, and apes.
But OF all its products. gold was the
chief.-24-carat gold, running to $780,
900 the on.
Solomon was a pioneer miner Of
That is where his 5000, 900, 900 came
from. :
THE GEOGRAPHICAL PROBLEM.
But where were. or are, the mines
Of Ophir?
They are like the Garden of Eden in
that respect: nobody really knows.
further side of India: n my friend,
Mr.. Rider Haggard. In his fascinating
romance Of "King Solomon's Mines"
places them in Darkest Africa.
One thing. however, we do know
about Ophir. and that is. h a it took
get there.
Three years-th.nk of it!
And-providing all went we'll. three
more to get back again. Allowing one
year for the digging. which. without
our modern quick action machinery.
mortal years for a single shipment.
That would be only about five ship
ments in the 40 years. They must have
been big ones.
And what appalling obstacles.
No trains or steamboats,; no tele-
graphs or wireless: not so much as a
postofice. Travellers tales were the
sole source of news; and the seas were
thick with the worst of pirates.
A mine three years away. Nowadays
you might as well tell your prospective
investor that III mine was in the
moon
why, Weston. the pedestrian, walk
ing three and a hall miles an hour,
takes three months to travel 1900 miles
on railway ties and motor roads across
this continent. At that rate, to cir
~curnambulate. the entire globe would
consume Is months.
And 10 months is only half the time
Solomon needed to reach the Mines
of Ophir.
Now, suppose a promoter (the most
eloquent one alive) got in touch with
the most reckless of all possible inves-
tors. and suggested to him the devel-
oplnent Of mine twice as far away
IA, all around the world afoot.
Would a committee Of alienists be
required to sit on such a case?
He would be voted to a padded cell
nv nopular exclamation.
Bot are you able to conceive of ar
s~E1nvestor agreeing to such a PROPOSE
M You don't have to conceive of it. for
sone such exists.
Not today-nevertheless. n did ~
let 5000 years ago.
was he fool.ot a maniac?
not exactly. Ho was universally &C.