Charlevoix county herald., 1920-11-05
Get RICH QUICK
IS OLDEST BAIT
Hope of Getting Something for
Nothing Springs Eternal in
Human Breast.
MANY Wild SCHEMES TRIED
Story Of Romance, Hardship and vIo-
ience, of Adventure, Despair and
Gullibility, With Sudden Trips
Abroad Made by Promoters.

BOSt0n.-Ever since the beginning or
things men have been trying In one
fashion or another to achieve their
fortunes over night. TO recover the
Midas touch of the fabulist, to "get
rich quick"
Sometimes they have succeeded.
Sometimes they have nurtured their
hopes only TO come back to hard re-
atty with a hard bump. Sometimes
In their haste they have been swindled
From the days of the sailing OF
Jason upon his long quest OF the
Golden Fleece. from the times of the
puttered out their lives among dusty
tones. seeking with tired but hopeful
eyes for the key to the enigma of sud
den wealth-the tombstone which
should transmute lead TO gOld-to the
days of mushroom fortunes In Inter
national reply coupons" isn't such
: far cry after all, James III. Powers
writes In the Boston Globe.
II is q story of romance and hard
shipa and violence. of adventure and
despair and sometimes absurd guilt
bility and sudden trips abroad made
by promoters with gripsacks stuffed
with cash.
Mad Rush for Gold.
In America the story really begins
with the mad rush across the prairies
and the mountains In 40 to the gold
fields OF California. There had been
other gold hunts" before this, but
none of them developed such nation
al fever as resulted from the announce
ment Of this discovery of nuggets
"weighing as much as half a pound
apiece" that percOlated through the
East and started that famous uproar.
Enthusiasm rose to unbelievable
heights. Families started out from
Massachusetts. New York and other
eastern seacoast states without even
bOthering TO sell their houses BY
horseback, farm wagon and by ship
the migration got under way. Parties
of prospective milliOnaires chartered
schoOners and sailed a'l the way
b around the Horn in their excitement.
And upon the retina of the inner
picture of marble halls" and a
"span," and the imagined luxury Of
doing nothing in particular, while
obedient lackeys lowered about for
ever after, like the genii Of Aaddins
lamp. awaiting orders.
The California gold rush enriched
thousands though at the price of vast
a L. .f
others il ruined when they became
stranded In q wilderness. 5000 miles
from settled civilization, on their ILL
fated claims. The best thing about
II wasn't the wealth IL produced at
all, but the fact that Ii began the
definite expansion of the United
States.
Capt Kidd and the klondike.
"Something for nothing" many
wears later, drew thousands more
Americans down In the Oklahoma ter
ritory when the government an
nounced that II would permit home
steads to he rushed" on certain
date. All the man who wanted to
become a property holder had TO do
was 10 ne OH Manu- WHtu the SlSnui
was given.
Government officials lined off the
start, as If 1t were a 40 yard dash OF
today. Fences were built and every
claimant had to be behind the bulwark
ready. Then, at a given signal. down
went the barriers and the swarm of
fortune hunters piled into the plains,
pellmell, to stake their claims and be-
gin their new careers. and be happy
ever after.
So, too, In the latter part of the
last century, when the Klondike be-
came q word Of magic. Just as In the
days of 40, there was a wild rush for
gold, the prospectOrs being In the
main. men who were doomed to fail
ure, although hundreds of them won
from the frozen rocks and river beds
the fortunes upon which not a few
American families base their ability
to purchase new seven passenger
car every year.
One CT the oldest and the most per-
sistently attractive lures Of golden