The Ely miner., 1937-09-30

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NJ EW YORk.-George Wngheld,
y who has been rolling "snake
eyes" for the last seven or eight
years, is now making six or eight
Wingfeld don't know wheth-
Again "in er the news has
The Money! reached the East,
but the word from
Los Angeles is that he has regained
ownership of the Golden and River
side hotels in Reno and is again
looking out from behind a tall stack
of blue chips.
The one-time buckaroo and faro
dealer who gained a fortune of
$50, 100000 and owned and operated
the sovereign state of Nevada for
! quite a few years, quietly faded out
in 1888, told the court he was broke
and relinquished the state with a,
sportsmanlike gesture. He implied
that the croupier had stood him on
his head. His friend, William H.
Crocker, had a mortgage of $780,
900 on his two hotels. He owned
mines and ranches all over the
state, in the somewhat metaphys-
ical way in which people owned
things then, but his equities came
to just couple of white chips to be
tossed into the kitty. He did this
gracefully and started out to get an
other stake, Senator Nixon of Ne
vada told me how he got his start.
"He walked into my Office" said
the senator, "and tossed something
on my desk. 1t was diamond
ring. l haven't any idea how much
it was worth. He said he had locat-
ed good-looking outbreak south of
Goldfeld and wanted me to grub
stake him on the ring.
I'm not running a hook shop
I said. There's a three-ban joint
around the corner
"He picked up the ring and start
ed out. Before he got to the door,
sudden hunch hit me like mule
kick. 1 called him back and gave
him $500 on the ring"
Wingfeld had already staked his
claim, and started a prospect hole.
49,. -, A little more dig
Nifon ALSO ging, and there
Profted in was the Consoli-
Nine Ventura dated mine, and
riches for both
Wingfield and Nixon. Also the start
of Goldfield, a ghost town now, half
buried in sand, but roaring desert
metropolis for few years. Wing
fields winning streak was on in
those days and it was only a few
months later that he broke the bank
at the Tonopah club.
He joined the Montezuma club,
got himself some nice store clothes,
polished up his grammar and moved
into circles of finance where the
house percentage is doubtless sitter
than that of faro. But it seems that
he is beating even that.
a FRIEND of this writer, who
"A lived several years in Japan,
suggests that, if, by accident, For
eign Minister Koki Hirota should
find himself dressed in spats and
pin-stripe trousers, but with an Ori-
entail robe instead of a morning
coat, he would find middle way
and solve the dilemma of Japan's S
half feudal, half modern industrial
state.
"He hates his morning coat and
striped pants" said my friend.
Jap Minister home at night. he
Works Best in never loses a min
No.;,e Attire ute in getting into
Oriental clothes.
In the dress of an occidental diplo-
mat, he works like one, as willy as
the best of them, given to strategy
and trick reasoning. At home, in a
beautifully embroidered Japanese
gown, he reads Confucius, as a
pupil of the aged scholar, Mitsuru
Toyama. l cite this duality of mind
and dress merely as symbolic of the
internal contending forces of Japan,
vestigeal feudalism and Twentieth
century industrial imperialism. In
a very literal sense, this dead GEN.
ter of old and new epochs accounts
for much in current Japanese state
craft that is bewildering to the mod
ern mind.
"Hirota is not of the Samurai
CASTE" he said, "but he stems from
romantic old japan and goes only
part of the way with the Mitsuis and
Mitsubishis of the great industrial
dynasties who think they can shoot
their way through to vast Asiatic
empire. In his youth, he was a
jealous leader of the Zen sect,
tonsured Buddhists, whose gospel
was humility, pacifism and turning
the other cheek. Suddenly, he
switched to the Black Sea- society,
a fire-eating outfit of militarists and
jingoes.
GLE WAS stone mason's son,
II apprenticed as a stone cut
ter, and educated by the Geneyosha,
a fervid patriotic society, with sim
plicity' for its
otoHe Cutter motto. In his first
NoD Shapes effort, he failed to
Inn Poy;c;e. pass his examina-
tions for entrance
to the Imperial university, but tried
again and was successful. He be-
gan as government clerk, was ad-
vanced, entered the diet and finally
the cabinet. He is an intelligent
man, keenly aware of the anomalies
and anachronisms of Japan's poll
tics and social structure.
q Consolidated News Features.
WNU Service.