The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-11-19
Man Having 800 Millions Says
Some of Richest Men Are
Most Stupid

New Orleans, Nov. 19.-(NEA)-
With a personal fortune estimated at
between 300 and 400 million dollars
that he has accumulated in his own
lifetime, Julius Rosenwald, now 60
years old, today looks back on his
career and says:
1T YVES luck-ten per cent WORK and
common sense, maybe, and ninety per
cent luck"
The worlds greatest merchant
smiles, his gray eyes twinkling be-
hind his rimless Spectacles, and then
adds reflectively:
mo, I think I ought to revise those
figures; it was IS per cent luck"
In his first personal interview-dis-
associated from public affairs or
philanthropy-that he rel gave, the
chairman of the board of Sears, Roe
buck e. Co. unfolded his life story tC
a representative of NEA Service. He
came down from Chicago to visit his
daughter, Mrs. Edgar B. Stern, and
the reporter found him at luncheon
in a mellow mood.
Money VS.. Brains
He expressed his views on million
aires in this way:
Il never could understand the popu-
lar belief that because a man makes
a lot Of money he has a lot Of brains.
Some of the richest men I have met
in my life have been the most stupid.
There are men in America today, IL
..nancial failures. who have more real
brains than I will ever have. I had the
luck to get my opportunity; their OPP
p~orrunity never came"
Rosenwald talked of his early days.
He was born in Springfield, ILL.,, Aug.
IL, 1852. His father came to Spring
field the year after Abraham Lincoln
left. but his two uncles knew Lincoln
we'll.
Tells a Family Joke
went back to Springfield recent
ly to visit the old house where I was
born" he said. II wa telling my
daughter about it the other day. /
told her I found there was a tablet
on the house.
ooh my daughter said, instantly
What did it say on it?'
"'No Parking I told her."
Rosenwald chuckled at that fam
lily joke.
Il was never poor in the sense that
I suffered from lack of anything ]
really needed" he went on, but !
cannot remember just how far back
I set out to make money for myself.
My father encouraged 1t.
1.-THE first Job I remember was a
newspaper route I had while attend
ing the public schools of Springfield.
During vacations I took odd jobs
wherever I could find them"
Chance led this boy to seek work in
a racket store'-about the same as
a five-an-ten, but without such an
arbitrary price limit. So his career
as a merchant began.
Goldfish First Sale
I'll never forget my first sale"
smiled Rosenwald. ut was a bowl of
goldfish for 40 cents"
His father ran a small clothing
store and Julius Rosenwald, leaving
high school at 16, went to work in it.
Then his father backed him for a
small clothing store in New York
City; he thinks $4,000 would have
covered the whole business.
In NewsYork, Rosenwald progressed
to the wholesale clothing business,
making a specially of summer togs
for men which were then-in the
'eighties-just coming into style. Then,
in 1885, he went to Chicago and form
ed the firm of Rosenwald g. We'll. 1t
prospered. Not phenomenally. But
just like many other progressive firms.
There he met a man named Sears
and his life was changed.
Sears had a small mail order bust
ness. He needed more capital. He
talked it over with Rosenwald. It
wasn't. the first mail order business
in America, but both had ideas and
they got together.
Sears Famous Slogan
Rosenwald, still chuckles as he re-
members the only business slogan he
found framed over Sears desk:
Honesty Pays. I've Tried Both:
Ways"
But don't take that too literally
about MI. Sears" he smiled.
The firm was capitalized at $780,
600. Sears held $4,000 of that. Young
julius Rosenwald put in $35 900. An
other man put in $35 600. They let
the remaining $4,000 stand as good
will"