THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, APRIL 7. 1907.
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7"(9 27" THEIR,
Sudd en 4 Growth of
Xov.eJor Art That Often
Comes to the
New . Rich of America
Harriman's.Failure
to Get Social Recogni
tion and How
He" Took His Revenge
RT DEXTER MARSHALL,
"S"
i EE that chap on the other side
of the street? -Well he's set
ting to be a millionaire," said
a. rather cynical man to a friend on
Broadway the other day. It won't be
long, before you'll hear of his buying
a few famous paintings, or a delicate
ly tinted peach blow vase or two or
an exquisite groupe of statuary, Just
for the name of It; simply to win
recognition In circles ihaf are sup
posed to care nothing for a man just
because he Is rich.
"Possibly he won't turn to art col
lecting, however; he may go Into the
endowment line, beginning on a few
beds in a hospital, if his Impulses are
charitable, or' a scholarship In a uni
versity If he wishes recognition form
the scholarly. If his efforts to get his
name up take the form of buying pict
ures, or vases, or statuary, it will be
because he likes artistic things of
course; If he enters the endowment or
cliartiablo field It may be partly be
cause he wants to help others less
lucky than himself, but most folk will
believe his chief motive a desire to
get his name up, whatever he does.
It Is good for the world that men are
moved In order to force recognition
and the praise of their fellows to do
many things which they need not do.
The desire for the world's attention
has resulted In the enormous enlarge
ment of the world's knowledge. In the
endowment of schools and universities,
hospitals, museums and art galleries.
In the establishment of many of the
most useful and necessary charities.
This desire has Impelled men ot
wealth to use their money to pay the
salaries and expenses of scientific in
vestigators ; to equip and send expedi
tions to 11 tie known region In order
that the secrets of geography and geo
logy might be sought out; to estab
lish astronomical observations that
the mysteries of the heavens might
lie revealed; In a thousand ways the
almost universal desire for recogni
tion has worked out to the great bene
fit of mankind. y
James Lick's Way.
Some men who want recognition are
so constituted that they are willing
to wait for It until after death. James
Lick was ono of these, and his way
was highly successful. It will Insure
recognition from astronomers as long
as they continue to study the stars,
and from the rest of the world as long
as Mount Hamilton, on the summit of
which the Lick Observatory stands,
escapes the California earthquakes.
Lick started out In active life witn
a grim determination to win recogni
tion, not from the great world at first,
but from a queer old Pennsylvania
Dutchman, a miller for whom he
worked when a boy. The miller had
money In plenty and a pretty daugh
ter. Lick had no money, but he
wanted the miller's daughter and told
the miller so. The latter wouldn't put
up with any Buch nonsence as His
daughter marrying a poor young man,
even If she was In love with him. To
impress the situation upon Lick's mind
he reminded the young man of the mill
and asked;
"You see that mill, Jimmy? When
you can show me through as good a
mill which you own then you can come
to me and talk about marrying my
daughter, but not till then.
Young Lick had nothing further to
say about the girl. He learned the
trade of piano and organ building and
went into business for himself In Han
over, Pa.; Baltimore and Philadelphia
successively, after which he aband
oned nis native country nnd located
In Buenos Ayres. He worked like a
i-i at tils business to get enough
money together to convince the old
miller that he was well enough off to
knarry the girl. Not progressing fast
enough, he added stinginess to his
hard work and became close almost
to miserliness. He remulned in Buenos
Ayres some years and got moderately
head of the game. In 1847, hoping to
do better, he returned to the United
States, settling near San Jose, Cal.
He was then a year past 60, a soli
tary, sulky sort of Individual, who had
no friends to speak of and about whom
nobody even dreamed that there was
a shred of romance.
Before he had been In California
long, however, ho showed that he had
never forgotten the girl he had lod
SO years earlier, and. also, that the
overmastering idea of his life had been
to make her father sorry for the
course he had taken. Lick's method of
cirrrou out his Idea took tho form of
a flouring mil!, which was admiring
ly termed "palatial" by the Callfor
nians. since he spent $200,000 or more
upon It, laying floors of mahogany,
putting In dividing walls and ceilings
of other rare woods, and lavishing no
end of ore and attention upon Its ma
chinery and construction.
He knew that he couldn't win the
hand of his oldtlme sweetheart then,
for she had long been married, but as
soon as the mill was completed he
had a whole series of photographs
i.ui'ii which he sent to the miller.
Apparently Llek was unsatisfied
with his long-deferred and empty
triumph. At all events he planned the
observatory which boars his name with
direct reference to winning the recog
nition of the entire world. This was
shown by the wording of the first
Lick will drawn up that contained an
observatory clause, since It stipulated
distinctly that the observatory should
contain "a powerful telescope, superior
to and more powerful than any tele
scope yet made '' He was so anxious
that there should be no hitch about It
that he had the will redrawn repeated
ly. It served Its purpose In Its final
form, although the executors had to
m:ike big concessions to his brother
before they got through with him.
Lick made a dosen other bequests,
varying from $5000 to $300,000 for less
spectacular objects, one ot which was
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the erection of a monument in San
Francisco to the memory of Francis
Scott Key. author of the "Star
Spangled Banner," and another to
found a California school of mechan
ical arts. None of these other bequests
carried with It a stipulation that the
Institution benefited should bear his
name, but such a clause did go with
the one providing for the observatory.
Nobody ever knew why he decided
upon an astronomical observatory for
his monument; it wasn't because of
any special interest he had either in
the stars or telescopes, but he could
have selected no better way of get
ting his name up after death than
by doing exactly as lie did.
Lick's entire fortune did not ex
ceed M.030,000, so that his benefac
tions were small compared with the
benefactions of Carnegie or Rocke
feller distributed during life and not
withheld until after death, as he with
held his.
In 1S7S, however, when Lick died, at
70. the size of his telescope bequest
was ' almost unprecedented. To this
day nobody else, either before or after
death, has given a million in a lump
to further astronomical Investigation.
Explorer by Proxy.
Morris K. Jesup, who has been giv
ing freely to all sorts of philanthropic
and scientific purposes for many years,
has got his name up chiefly as an ex
plorer by proxy. He stopped trying
to make any more money 23 years ago.
In 1SS4. and since then has devoted
practically all his time to spending it
in the ways that suit him best
It would not be fair, probably, to
speak of Mr. Jesup's course as a
planned out campaign for recognition,
but his activities have brought It to
him In great parcels. He now Is only
three years less than 80. He was
bom at Newport, Conn., In 1830, found
his way to New Torjt when only a lad,
and went o work in the office of
Rogers, Ketchum Grosvenor, of the
Paterson Locomotive Works.
The only knowledge he got of what
a college or university is like, during
tho years that he might have been a
college student, was got from the out
side and from hearsay, although his
father was a college man. Morris K.
Is now entitled to write A. M. and
LL. D. after his name, however the
degree of master of arts having been
conferred upon him by three of the
oldest, universities in the country
Tale, Williams and Columbia and the
degree of doctor of laws by Princeton.
Thus he may properly be termed
"doctor." but he doesn't like the title,
and it Is seldom used in connection
with his name. Besides these academic
nonors. he has received unusual recog
nition from abroad In the form of the
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9 C0l-:CT0V Jskovt Hy Hoxsi he ALASKA WATVZS
ter iHe expeditions ss-ii ou.i Oy JWoRJ?S AT, ysvZ3 ,,7
order of St. Stanislaus of the first
class, conferred by the reigning Czar
of Russia a little less than two years
ago, and he is held in the highest
esteem the whole world over because
of the "way he has spent his money to
push along scientific investigations.
The Jesup name Is certainly "up"
among the scientists, and almost as
much so as in artistic, philanthropic
and religious circles.
The movements financed by Mr. Jesup
which have won for him such exceptional
recognition have covered an extraordi
nary range. He began giving to the Pres
byterian Church, of which he has been a
member since boyhood, years before he
retired. He was one of the founders of
the Young Men's Christian Association.
He built the Boy's Lodging-house for the
Children's Aid Society In New York near
ly 20 years ago. Merely to list the other
Institutions he has founded or helped
would be to write a catalogue, and to tell
how much money he has spent upon them
would involve a table of figures the ag
gregate of which would be decidedly Im
pressive. His pet is the American Mu
seum of Natural History, and he has won
widest recognition from the exploration
parties which he has sent out as presi
dent of that institution and paid for out
of his own pocket.
There have been lx or seven of these
expeditions and they have penetrated
some of the most remote parts of the
earth. One of them went to Northern Si
beria, where the traveling scientists
learned a good deal in support of the
theory that North America was originally
peopled through a great tide of Immi
gration from Asia.
The scientists also visited the island of
Sakhalin, or Saghalien. which Russia
held through seizure for many years, but
now holds jointly with Japan. There the
Jesup explorers rediscovered the rumored
hairy, aboriginal, Ainu race. Another
Jesup expedition visited Alaska, where
painters and photographers and writers
made graphic and" written records of the
things found by the scientists. Other ex
peditions visited other strange lands,
everywhere studying men and women,
their ways of life, the traditions, their
folklore, their songs and their ways of
living, as well as the physical features
of the country, to which the observations
of nearly all the earlier explorers and
some of the modern ones have been con
fined. The halls and rooms of the Museum of
Natural History contain many trophies
brought back by these expeditions, some
of which have been away years at a time.
Their collections have been so large that
important selections have been presented
to many other museums. It was a pre
sentation of much interest and value to
the Academy of Sciences at St Peters
burg which brought the recognition of the
Czar. In the form of the order of St.
Stanislaus. Jesup furnished Peary with
the good ship Roosevelt, on which the
latter made his recent famous journey to
the "furthest north." As a proxy ex
plorer, Jesup has added more to our
knowledge of out-of-the-way places than
any other living man.
Jesup amassed part of the wealth
which has made his remarkably wide
recognition possible In the banking busi
ness, but a part of it was got together
in the building and financing of railroads
at a time when railroad building in this
country was very profitable. He got out
of his railroad directorates, however,
soon after quitting the occupation of
banker. The South Carolina Central was
the last road with which he retained of
ficial connection.
Morris K. Jesup seems to be quite
ready to suffer the greatest publicity of
his exploring expeditions, but he is un
usually averse to seeing anything about
his own personality in print. He is a
handsome man for one of his age, and
full of dignity, with heavy mustache and
luxuriant old-fashioned side whiskers.
He is a man of great suavity and is de
cidedly in earnest with regard to any
thing and everything which he under
takes. He Is nearly as fond of the New
York Chamber of Commerce, witji which
he has been connected since 1863 and ot
which he has been president for years,
as he is of the Museum of Natural His
tory. He dresses with extreme care, and,
despite the almost. Invariably decorative
design of his neckwear, in excellent taste.
Fight for Social Recognition.
The two greatest railroad leaders now
In this country, J. J. Hill and E. H. Har
riman. have sought, apparently, to win
the recognition for which both have been
undeniably eager, chiefly along the lines
of their business activities.
Tet there is a story which you have
seen in the news columns, no doubt,
within the last few weeks, that Har
riman's ambition for the social recog
nition of hi8 family, at least, has be
come as keen as his desire for recog
nition as a king in the transportation
world. This story has it that he de
sired Mrs. Stuyvesant Fiah, daring, not
to say eccentric, society leader, to in
troduce his daughters Into New York's
most exclusive social set; that Mrs.
Fish declined decisively, not to say
rudely, and that it was because of her
declination that H&rrlman relentlessly
forced her husband out of the Illinois
Central presidency.
Such a course would seem too trivial
for a man of Harriman's caliber. The
knowing ones say they see no reason,
if Mr. Harriman has really entered the
lists for social recognition, why he
should not succeed in winning all he
goes after, even if it should Include
the social humiliation of Mrs. Fish.
The Boys' Club in New Tork. of
JrOC Mivse Oy o
.., L.. J
which Harriman was one of the found
ers at 28, more than 30 years ago, was
not in all probability started as an aid
to the recognition of anybody, but
simply as a good sort of thing to have
a hand in. as indeed it was and is.
That the big railroad man coasiders it
an asset now, however, seems to be
borne out by the circumstance that the
institution received plenty of attention
in a recent article about him, the only
one which, he has ever authorized. He
sometimes tells his friends with pride
that, as president of this organization,
he is at the" head of the biggest club
in the world. This Is true, since its
membership includes nearly 10.000 of
the Fast Side boys who by and by wilT
be voters.
Harriman's push for social recogni
tion is not. being made along lines sim
ilar to those adopted by any of the
other big railroad men with a hanker
ing for society. George J. Gould, it
may be remembered, found It Incon
tft!?-sissBtfW' Tc(rrM&5jff& sVCy? &wJbf
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venient to win his social fight on
American soil, and so fought it out in
foreign waters, sailing yacht races
with the Prince of Wales, wow King
Edward VII. Jay Gould knew he could
not win social place and never tried;
neither did any of the Vanderbilts un-i
til William K. and Cornelius, grand
sons of the Commodore, were big fig
ures on the stage.
The Rockefellers, Carnegie. John W.
Gates, H. H. Rogers and many others
who have became abnormally rich In
the last twoscore years or less have
not yet made any effort whatever for
social prominence. Washington Is a
bigger battleground for that sort of
recognition than New York nowadays.
It was at Washington that Levi Z.
Lelter. illiterate, but rolling tn wealth,
won social place for his family by slop
ping his dollars all around in ways
which brought about the marriage of
each of his three daughters to a for
eigner of such "exalted" social rank
.,-Tur'vfCfdRy.
TH'untiuseu
JLCK OBSERVATORY
. I yVbif Zfam i 'Mozi.-jCei.
that New York's society folk had te
take them and all the others of the
family up whether or no.
No not all the family. "Joe" Lelter
never was a society favorite, but that
is probably because he preferred to
get his name up as a wheat pit king
and in other ways than In society,
spending a million or so to learn that
he didn't carry quite guns enough.
The social campaign now being
waged at Washington by Thomas R.
Walsh, the gold miner who made such
a tremendous strike some years ago. is
one of the most interesting that has
been organized for years. Like George
Gould, Walsh began his campaign
abroad, making friends with Leopold,
the amazing Belgian King, whom he
entertained in Paris at several ban
quets whl h cost so much money that
the French Journalists were confirmed
In their strong suspicions that the
Americans were all crazy as well a
too rich for their own good.
Walsh's entertainments in Washington
last Winter "were hardly less spectacular
than those which he gave In Paris. Bets
are freely made that, although he and
his wife have not penetrated the real
inner social circle, they will ultimately
arrive.
Although J. J. Hill never has made a
move for social recognition once. Indeed,
his wife administered a decided snub to
some society women of St. Paul who tried
to conciliate her he has made a strong
effort to get hls name up as an art con
noisseur by the lavish purchase of paint
ings, and. being a better judge of pictures
than most millionaires, has won his point
decisively.
Morgan. Hill's great ally In the financial
transportation games In which Harriman
and the Rockefellers have played for
years on opposite sides, has striven hard
er for recognition as an art patron than
Hill, having assumed about the same at
titude toward the Metropolitan Museum
of Art that Jessup has toward the Mu
seum of Natural History- Morgan's In
vestments in pictures, vases, statuary,
wonderful wood carvings and almost
every other form of art have cost him
millions more, perhaps, than has been
expended along similar lines by any other
living man. Both he and John D. Rocke
feller haVe made big olds for recognition
abroad by spectacular traveling, but ap
parently not with ulterior society mo
tives. Thomas F. Ryan's chief efforts for rec
ognition, outside his business of gather
ing In all the traction and insurance In
terests in sight, have been in the way of
cathedral building.
Some Unusual Ways.
The most astounding move made by an
"exalted personage" for social recognition
was made by Napoleon when he divorced
his wife Josephine, whom be bad married
for love, to marry the daughter of a
Hapsburg.
Napoleon had supposed thathe winning
Concluded on Page 11.)
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