The Washington herald., 1912-11-10
MILLIONAIRE IRON MAGNATE BUYS FARM
AND TURNS ATTENTION TO AGRIGtI TURE
Earl w. Oglebay, Partner Of Rockefeller,
Looks for Pleasure and Finds Work that
Takes Up Most of His Time.
D. JAMES .. MORROW.

~ JAMES y. MORROW.
New York. Nov. a-Two prophetic con
victions have come into the mind Of Ear
w. Oglebay. The first one made him
rich. Q millionaire. in fact. The second ons
will make . great many other personi
rich, or. II not rich, comfortably well on
at least.
Years ago. Mr. Ogiebay. then . younl
man-and he is far from being an old mar
now-heard q vague hint that had found
Northwest. It was q challenge to hif
Imagination and his adventurous spirit
and was answered forthwith.
At Duluth, after his exploration OF the
Lake Superior region. he said. pointing
his hand toward the back country: In
there lies the heart Of the steel indus.
try" Straightway he bought ore lands
and, moving from Wheeling. In West Vfr-
ginis. where he had always lived. to
Cleveland. on Lake Erie. engaged In the
commission business.
In those days, Andrew Carnegie. the
Illinois Steel Company, and other manu-
facturers Of pig-iron. bought their ore
from middlemen. Mark Hanna was q COM
mission merchant At the same time-he
was never anything else. though he owned
ships and coal mines. Carnegie had not
tice that all profits should now into q
single treasury-the profits Of mining. OF
transporting, and Of manufacturing.
Mr.. Ogiebay was selling ore to furnace
men when John D. Rockefeller. with the
sure instincts of a money-getter, began
accommodating iron lands in the Northwest.
Rockefeller works and he makes his
money work. He saw the future more
distinctly. perhaps, than any one else, but
in the meanwhile he meant that his in
vestment should pay its own way as II
went along. Mines we're opened, there
fore. against the day when the iron and
steel business, as he discerned. would be
brought together into an immense organ
ization.
How He Made His Millions.
knowledge Of opportunities. Mr.. Rookie
Teller is also wonderfully wise in choos-
ing men to help him. He sent for David
z. Norton, now president Of one Of the
largest savings banks in the country, and
asked him to become his sales agent.
Look the city over" he told Mr.. Norton,
land get the strongest and ablest man
nershtp. known then and ever since as
Oglebay. Norton & Co. was formed i'm
mediately thereafter. 1t was in every
way a great success.
By and by. exactly as Rockefeller had
foreseen, the big iron and steel works
Of the country were consolidated. He
sold his mines. Oglebay. Norton & Co.
sold theirs. So ended. most profitably.
Mr.. Oglebay's first conviction. The heart
Of the steel industry. as he had said. was
back there" amid the forests Of Minne-
sofa He was still young and a multimil-
lionaire- The old partnership maintained
its ofilces and did some business and Mr..
Oglebay went into the directories OF
banks and manufactures, including the
Republic Iron and Steel Company, but
his days Of toll were over. Then up
from the past came a dream Of his boy
hood. He would buy a farm and raise
blooded horses and cattle. And thus began
in the twilight of a merely selfish and
sentimental purpose. his second convic-
ton.
Many farms were inspected in Ohio
New York. and Pennsylvania Finally
Mr.. Oglebay returned to the country where
father had been a banker, merchant, and
He had always called West
Virginia his home In that State, seven
miles from Wheeling. among rolling fields
covered with blue grass. he bought an old
mansion and twenty-five acres of land.
The estate. in colonial days. had been a
mile and a half long and slaves cut the
wheat and harvested the white corn. Some
Of the land. years afterward. was pur-
chased by an ale brewer named Smith. He
built solid stone house. planted fine
gardens and pred horses for hunting and
racing. His two breweries were closed
by the civil war. however. and he re-
turned TO Canada. The mansion fell into
ruins: the fields became snarl Of briers and
underground.
Would he q Rural Gentleman.
After the house had been restored and
improved Mr.. Oglebay built roads, fences,
and fine gates. He had seen estates I'm
England and meant to have one of his
own His objects were personal and or
so far. He intended to rest. now
that his work was done. II the farm
pleased HIM and his family. he would live
on II three or four months Of the year.
He would abandon 1t, on the other hand.
If II failed 10 measure up to his imagina
tinn. Thus ran his mind in the joy Of an
old idea that Was now taking form. rac
fact il that instead Of living on the farm
only a part Of every summer Mr.. Ogie-
bay IL there most Of the time. Instead
Of resting. he has become one Of the busi-
est men in the United States. The story
as he told II to me. shows that a rich
man can really be happy and useful II he
will stop grubbing for more money and
quit worrying about the possible loss Of
his fortune or his health.
II was to he a gentleman farmer" he
said, land, therefore. sailed for England
to purchase horses and other live stock.
Fortunately, I met F. g. Peer. an Amer
lean, in London. He is a great horse
man and we Travelled together, visiting
many fine estates. I learned that the
hest sheep, the best cattle. the best
horses. and going down the animal line,
the best dogs are bred in England. That
set me to thinking. Presently I discover
ed the reason. 1 saw that the ablest
and most famous men in the kingdom are
landowners. Business principles, conse-
quently. have been applied to British
agriculture. No matter II the land is let
out to tenants. 1t is managed by the
owners. Then I remembered that WASH
ington and Jefferson were careful and
successful farmers. Jefferson inherited
]. 800 acres Of land from his father and
at his marriage had increased his estate
to 5000 acres. from which he derived q
yearly income Of 5000. . very large sum
In the lean days following the Revolu-
ton.
Goes to England fer Live Stock.
TT seemed to me. as I studied English
methods, that intelligence, along with
patient attention to details. accounted
for the pre-eminent position held by
Great Britain as an exporter Of fine live
stock. The management Of an estate
there il not left to the tenant or the
hired man. The master Of the land lives
by the land and he gives the land the
same attention that Americans give to
banks storeS mines, and factories
TT II an honor in ENGLAND to be q