The Press., 1911-10-18
TWO FORTUNES Both Came Suddenly to the Same Person and One Was Many
 Millions By DAVID WALTER CHURCH
By DAVID WALTER CHURCH
Copyright by American Press Asso-
 citation, 1911.

Copyright by American Press Asso- 4
 citation, 1911. <
 
 Why should we read fairy stories with marvellous happenings when there are such occurring in real life? The imagination is not capable of creating the possibilities that occasionally occur among persons who are made of flesh and blood and have souls. What imag- 1natiOn a century ago in long strip ling ulinoisian could detect the lead CT of the greatest political crisis the world has ever known? And in the acquisition of wealth, what more won derful development in fancy than the story of real Mexican peon who came into an income of $1O,OOO,OOO a year7
 In a town of northern Mexico, in an adobe house lived an old man, Pedro AlvaradO by name, peon, who, with his Indian wife, worked and saved till he had accumulated, $1OO With the money the couple bought a piece of land on the top of a rocky hill near by the town in which they lived.
 Why they put their hard earned sav- ings in this barren and not very ac- cessible summit and continued to save and to pay $40 year taxes on 1t when they needed the very necessarieS of life is not known. It is possible that the wife, having been an Indian, had heard a tradition handed down from her forefathers that there was treas ure buried there.
 Be this as 1t may, there must have been some reason for the old couple putting all their money in barren rock, and this view is borne out by the fact that old Alvarado, having willed his purchase to his son and three neph- ews, called upon the former to swear that he would never part with his in- terest in 1t. When we remember that this legacy bequeathed to young Pe- drO was supposed to be worth but $25 we cannot but assume that his father must have had an inkling that its value was much greater.
 After the old couple died the summit of the barren rock was not divided among the heirs, but kept as one prop erty. Then came men who believed that there might be silver under the rock. They had plenty of money and were ready to risk it in an investiga- ton. They offered the heirs a large sum for the property, and Pedro's cous- ins were willing and anxious to sell. But Pedro, true to his oath, refused. to part with his share. In vain the oth- CTS begged him not to stand in their way of taking advantage of the offer. Pedro stood firm. But after awhile a friend loaned him the money to buy out his cousins interest and make the investigation as to what the property contained.
 One day men began to work on the top of the hill with pick and shovel. A month passed and nothing but ordi- nary earth and rock was displaced, The cousins came to see and jeered at Pedro for fool. But Pedro had been loaned sufficient money to pursue his Investigations to the end and worked Nn. Another month passed and yet ab- other with the same result. Then one day in a tw1nkling all was changed. A vein was struck indicating that the Palmilla mine, as 1t was called, was the richest silver mine that had ever been opened.
 And now this story takes on a won- derful change. Pedro Alvarado, son of a Mexican peon father and an In- dian mother, heir to a beggarly estate supposed to be worth but $25, sudden ly springs into an income of $3O,OOO 8 day. The fairy waves her wand and the adobe hut in which Pedro was born is changed into a sumptuous pal ace furnished from the manufactures of the old world. Money without Him. it 1s given away, thrown away. What ever the silver king fanc1es he buys. Those in his employ are loaded with luxur1es.
 It seems to be the desire of all men to live in a palace, for all men who ac- Qu1re immense fortunes build such structures to live in. Nevertheless their abOdes are typical of their Ori- gin. Pedro built his palace, and when he got 1t finished and furnished it was wonderful to behold, especially in the latter respect. The furniture all came from abroad. The most costly bed steads, chairs and cabinets were ship ped from Paris; rugs came from the orient, and Pedro, instead of walking on the wooden foor-or, more likely, the dirt hoor-to which he had been accustomed, sank in the soft sub stances manufactured by Persian workmen.
 But the most curious freak of this suddenly enriched man was a mania for pianos. His palace was filled with them. They, too, came from those fac tories where the most skilled work men were employed in their building, and their mechanism was encased in the most costly woods, often beaut1- fully 1nlaid. They were in his par lors, in his living rooms, bedrooms anywhere. everywhere where there was room for them, and room in Pe- drO'S palace was abundant
 Singularly enough but one selfish motive guides this suddenly enriched man. The rest are all altruistic. He IS besieged by persons eager to buy his mine, or if they cannot do that at least part of it. By selling and permitting educated business men to work it the income could be greatly increased. But no argument, no amount of cabling, could move the man who had sworn he would not sell.
 Then it was represented to him that by certain simple business reforms he might himself make his mine pay more largely. All the ore taken from 1t was carried down the hill on mules Why not build little railroad for the purpose, which could be operated at much less expense? But what would those do who now make their living by driving the mulesY' asked Pedro. The simple business scheme is re- fused. Wastefulness continues. The owners employees draw immense sal