The Oregon daily journal., July 21, 1912, Page 58, Image 58

THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 21, 1012
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GE-TTy lO
She Is .Miss Sybil S
aau
ft , "-wr
Wh
sbon,:
Mad
ose forbears
Tremendous
Fortunes as Bankers in
Orient
'E'LL just omit queens and prin
cesses, although there are plenty
bf them ho couldn't pass muster
tMth a European matrtmonial agency that
'makes its rent marrying olf heiresses.
'.With royalty excepted, the richest heiress
hi England, if not in all of the eastern hemi
sphere, is still to wear her bridal wreath and
plushes, which will be vastly becoming to her,
for she is one" of the prettiest girU pver thete,
.." 'andlheiLtoi'elinesj . is yet so young that only
this season was the world's admiratidn due to
'pay it open homage. Her name is Sybil. A
ypar or so ago, people used to think that it
xoouldZieZhard to: beat the front name of
Margarettct as the proper label for girlish
loveliness, the loveliness being at that time
personified in the ravishing Miss Drexel, now
Viscountess, Maidstone. But beautiful SybiFs
Advent into British society has been accom
panied by so much gilding that, for the pres
ent Ishe resembles t some dazzling, argent
Statue of Diana, blinding male beholders into
it mere daze of worship that makes them
unable to scrutinize too closely the contqut
iff her chin or the pinkness of her dainty
'ItttU ear.
Her last name is Sassoon Sybil Sas
ioonf The combination is so awful that there
isn't an eligible bachelor or widower in all
England who isn't passionately eager solely
in, the interest of nomenclature -to change
it for her.
And yet that appalling family name, so
" ttglf'it spite of its sonorous sweetness, has
clustering about it one of the most entranc
ing' family romances the world remains igno
' tent tov -!
G HARMING Bybli SaMoon has com Into mor
thn normal prominence g;reat aa that wa
; by th death of her father. Sir Edward A.
- 'Eassoon. Thle wti her coming-out seaion. the
season when a girl already famed for her budding
beauty and her expectations of enormous wealth was
to be eligible for courtship In a society that can set
100 further than Americans can see f 1.000,000.
Wkfls her -father lived, her prospect of half his
enormous fortune, which she shares with her brother
Paillp, was a prospect only. But his death in the
latter part of May made her Inheritance a tangible
reality; and now she may be truly said to be the
cysoaur of all eyes that are free to pledge to her
devotion for the eternlty.her millions ought to last.
;. Pretty Sybil herself, fondly attached to a father
wh was all that was kind and Indulgent to her, la
mourning his loss and thinking ah Is cruelly unfor
tunate to be shadowed y death at the very .time
irlrC"!'ths - "wealthiest -debutante England - has
Created for many years, she should be most happy.
...i:f.;;r,Bnt. h ha.i-.no. ideat-how. extremely lucky, la her
Jot that she was born toward the end of the Jjlneteenth
11 faMad of lta baainnlnr. Bealdei-Jtfllng-noad.
;jbr"thU time, she would, have been exposed then to
rnacbinatlons -ot , fortuna hunters whose methods In
that cruder day make the modern heiress-hunter look
as admit and rtnrtfut it a MachJavlll. She would
' probably not have dared cross the Irish channel, for
It was one of the fine, free sports of the period to
kidnap any heiress whose attractive figure made her
worth a greedy suitor's while. They manage things
better now, nd the field of operations seems to hava
fcaen transferred to the United States,
Bvitfiybil'S father, Elr Edward Albert Bassoon, was a
young man to be called away from a wealth and
splendor of life which equaled that of any monarch of
ZSuropo and exceeded in power that of not a few. He
was born June 20, 1856, so that he was not quite 62
years old when he died. Hls'rank was that of baro
ntk and he succeeded bis father In the title when he
wal 40 years of age. His enormous riches did not
maka him neglectful of what he considered the duties
of JLU English gentleman; he had served a term In the
f)0U8 of commons as a Conservative member, and he
bald the rank of major in the Middlesex Yeomanry,
lb duke of Cambridge's Hussara
,V FRIENDS OF ROYALTY
f ,1. ' '
These positions, little more than the level of th
' "simple country gentleman, would seem to argue no
vary Impressive social status. But that is where the
social outsider In England would egregiously err. The
Bassoons have been the intimate friends of royalty
for years, especially while the jovial, pleasure-loving
Edward was king.
Sybil, the new heiress, has In her aunt, Mrs. Arthur
' Bassoon, the wife of Sir Kdwarfl's brother, a social
protectress who has often played hostess to King
George as well as to his royal father. It would.
Indeed, be hard to find any family less famed for its
social powers and more genuinely Influential with the
, few Wke really make English society,
i Mrs. Arthur .fc'assoo'n's home at Tulchan Lodge, in
i Scotland, Is .famed as the most luxurious country
house north of the, Tweed. It makes no boast of size
aseompared with the mighty Strongholds owned by
- the Scottish nobility. But the Immense wealth of its
: owner made it a sybarite's dream and the moors and
loths eurrounding it were among the best-stocked
preserves In the United Kingdom. When, to such a
' combination, the host an.d hostess added perfection in
assembling guests who should meet their royal visit
or,' together with surpassing achievements in delights
ef the table 'and all the other c. tatur .comforts hos
ltaUty, can provide, there la small wonder that the
' sport-loving, pleasure-loving, comfort-loving Edward,
its prince-and king, made his autumn sojourn at
' Tulchan Lodge' one of the bright dates in his year.
1 1 Nor was there any wonder that his son, now
- King George, should enjoy the Sassoon hospitality
just as keenly. The intimate favor accorded the fam-
v Iiy never aroused the smallest jealousy among other
lu the court circlea for the time when they were
"climbers" was many yearjt back, and their title to
in sly consideration is now as good as that of jhe
I ii4ttMan)mg. fc'.n g 1 a nd'a nobility..
tot. ail tola wealth and grandeur was but the
flowering, In Kngland'e ehlll and foggy clime, of a
r.nanctal dynasty which rooted Itself In the rioh fields
ef the orient more than 200 years ago. Behind the
i-rnt luxury 'which serves as the setting for the
nofiestiy. born dignities of the fiassoona there has
the
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always lain a grip of steel on the finances of the east.
King Edward knew that, when be was showing favor
to one of that house, he was assuring to himsulf the
influence and loyalty of potentates far more vital in
Importance than gaekwars and rajahs. They have
been, for centuries, the very sinews of war, the very
mainsprings of power.
I
N THESE days of enthusiastic attacks on
trusts and all their kind not a word has been
iaid of one of the most powerful, tight, rigid,
cerfectly organized little trust3 in existence.
Th3t maj be because it's not in the United
States, but in Europe, where you can have a com
pany or a corporation and go on doing flourishing
business in some brand of monopoly, like steam
ships, and find nobody except the hungry Social
ists to kick about it.
This particular trust is not only one of the
most copper-riveted, solid little affairs in the
world, but it controls the very last commodity that
one could.lmagine to be monopolizable music.
"! You hearken to the' most dulcet strains that
have ever ravished the ear; you think of whirling
disks and cylinders, as the machines in thousands
of homes ripple forth reproductions of your ear's
delight ; and you can't possibly surmise how music,
of all the fleeting creations of the brain of man,
can be made the property of a trust, and that
without the singularly trustworthy genius of some
American organizer to do" the trick.
Well, it has been done, and by men who come
of a family of artists, not financiers, over in
Milanj in Italy. The most widely acclaimed com
posers of our own era have been as much owned by
a music, trust as any actor who has appeared on
the stage within th last fifteen years.
T
HE musio trust i the famous Cafca Rlcordl,
the Italian house of musio publishers, with
whose conquering Imprint such great names
as Verdi and Puccini have been Identified.
And for slave, neither of these gifted composers
har shown any parrteiitarptiairrirr ever his -servitude,
Such Is the way of all successful trusts. They exist
because they can keep their own, particular benefici
aries habitually contented; and it is only when some
disgruntled protege or some wroth competitor hap
pns to ctep In th road and get a kick In the res'u'af
course of business that the trust Is denounced for
of roe
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SsmMmma Wmmmm
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i A
or
of Tf.
By descent, the Sassoons were Mesopotamlan Jewa
As early a the seventeenth centirry theywere mak
lng their place as bankeni in that city of fable and
romance, mysterious Bagdad. There they built up.
Into a mighty enorlne of finance,- the banking bouse
which slowly but pitilessly reached out to clutch the
pursestrings of the Mohammedan east
t
rsfoir
WhartfUas heen'doIrtgrwItnlilgnpproVaC all along."
xne vuoa nicorui ig denounced Dy scores ol com
posers, who' have yelled "blood-suckers'' and "rob
bers" until they, haven't breath enough left to hum
the air of their own latest failures.
About 17S. In Milan, there was born a boy named
Giovanni Rlcordl, who was only half an artist on
I I r i s I si
At
Tuc?n ooc. Where, f? Ssoon
A hundred years of Bagdad and successive genera
tlons of study In 'the Intricate problems of oriental
politics ripened the genius of these unfamed wixards
ef finance and taught them to wait patiently for some
great political change which should afford them room
acoordlng to their strength. They were like crouch
ing tigers, perfectly aware or their resources, fearless
of all opposition, waiting only the occasion which
should be worthy of their most powerful spring. The
opportunity came when ligland made clear her
designs on India, a century ago.
Without hesitation, the Bagdad Sassoons flung
themselves Into the spoiling of an empire. Some one,
some group of financiers, was sure to take the heavy
toll of profit that must accrue in the exploitation of
that vast territory why not thlf y?
They transferred their main bank to Bombay; they
easily seized upon control of the finances ruling the
markets of Asia and Mohammedan Africa. They set
their grip upon that richest of all the commercial loot,
the Asiatic opium trade, which has lasted for a hundred
years, paying them untold tribute of riches, and even
yet pours Into their coffers the tainted treasures of the
storied Ind.
When the Bassoons determined on their quiet, unos
tentatious Invasion of the land of hoarded wealth and .
growing famine, the political power of the British East
India Company had been sternly broken by the home
government, and a cabinet minister, with a board of
control, was In charge of the ever-growing dominion.
The first Burmese war had been fought, and the sup
pression of thuggery was following the wiping out of
the dreadful practice of the suttee. The East India Com
pany Itself brought about the recall to England of Sir
Arthur Wellesley, afterward the duke of ' Wellington,
because he was following up his victory over the mahara
Jahs at Assays by extending the company's own posses
sions In northern India too aggressively to make cur
rent profits sufficiently remunerative. It was the dawn
of real trade and finance In India, and the Sassoons
were on hand to hall the golden sunrise.
REAPED HUGE PROFITS
Their shrewd forecast was not gainsaid by subse
quent events. Lord William Bentlnck, in ' his adminis
tration, from 1S25 to 183S, made the first attempt to put
Into practice the maxim of ruling the country for the
good of the governed, while conquest succeeded' eon
quest, with the Slndh and the Punjab added to the
British crown. The middle of the century brought the
beginnings of superb public works, the" Introduction of
railways and the telegraph, the establishment of cheap
and uniform postage and extensive social progress.
In such an era bankers of ordinary talent and re
sources could not fail to reap huge profits; a house in
spired by the genius and the capital of the Bassoons
harvested by the tens of millions. When the terrors of
the 'Sepoy rebellion ensued, flnanjhad to draw in its
horns; but the secret history oBThat awful period holds
. n. many stories of wealth gained at the expense, of. the
hated overlords." Whatever part the now famous Bom
bay bankers played. It Is certain that they suffered no
appreciable loEses; and they were the first to profit by
the establishment of permanent 'commerce and finance
utterly abolished and the final transfer of India's gov
ernment was made to The British cf Own: "
Royal favor enveloped the Sassoons In Its purple
mantle as the century tended toward Its close. There
were then two Sassoons, Albert and Reuben, and they
were at the stage of wealth which called for magnifi
cence in extreme. Albert's residence In Bombay, known
as Sans Souci, possessed worlj-wide fame as the most
beautifully poetic dwelling ever occupted by man.
But theie were yet other helghtB to be gained, In
another land. Albert Edward, Britain's prince of Wales
having met the Sassoons during his travels, in India and
liked their ways as we! as their wealth, expressly in
vited them to make their home in England. The two
brothers obeyed.
(Trust
ar
of those maimed souls who intensely enjoy all that
is good and beautiful in music and themselves cannot
create anything beyond mediocrity. Most of them
become critics; but'Giovanni, who loved music so well,
refused to play Herod to the children of the muse.
At least, he could learn to be their foster-father.
Foster-father he becamerr-a publisher of the mUsJo
of others. Rather early in his career he descried
the beauties that lay In the "Fretendentl Delusl" "of
a composer, Mosca, long admired and now as long
forgotten. Such Is the fond delusion of genius as to
the influence, power and luck of a publisher once suc-
cussnii tnat ssignor Hicordl had thenceforth no diffi
culty In picking arid choosing among the most ad
mirable of compositions his time afforded. Being
what he was, only a maimed soul, not a dead one, he
needed only that opportunity, persistently presented,
to enable his trained ear to select all that was best
and most likely to prove popular when published.
He might have starved to death If he had been
whole-souled in his musical gifts, as many another
true musician has gone hungry to the grave. But
the very gap his genius held in music was occupied
by anqther gift for which thousands of born com
posers, in their years of dire extremity, would have
given all their prized Inspiration. That was the gift
of trade. He was the dilettante of music side by
side with the maestro of commerce. Of such stuff
trust builders are made. Before he died, in 1863, he
had established the Casa Rlcordl In the position of
first and most desirable publisher of muslo in Italy,
and the Gazetta Musicaie, tne Casa's own Journal of
the art, edited by Maxzacuti, was laying down the
law to composers and musicians as though it had
some patent from heaven on the earth's most heavenly ...
art.
His son, Tito, Succeeded Giovanni and extended the
business to the stag, where Its stock of music in
cluded more than B0,0,:)0 Items, embracing 40,000,000
-pngM,--whHe "the" cstaloir."tt' tar baHr-ae 1T,tt-'"
talned 738 pages of large octavo, which was some
business In music, publishing. Meanwhjle, the house
had held on to the original score of every opera and
other composition It ever published, so that It
nopsessts one ' ot the most valuable collections of
manuscript music existing at th present time,
. - . i
-mrt ' ft ' f !' ' S 'Usr
There the Influence of the prince of Wales opened to
them all the social opportunities which would hava Fees
haughtily denied to their- mere,' vulgar riches. Reubsa
was his favorite companion when th prince mad to
the continent those pleasure trips which alternated
princely popularity abroad with th various scandals h
so successfully scared up at home.
Albert Bassoon was mad a baronet by Queen Vic
toria In 1S90. His son, pretty Bybll's father, married th
daughter of Baron Qustav Rothschild, one of the chiefs
la th Paris branch of th great Rothschild Bank, and
so 'joined to his own enormous wealth the portion' al
lotted, to such a notable heiress. He, Ilk his father,
bad a penchant for grandeur and splendor in his dwell
lng place, and. when he came into his fortune, found
his dream mode ready to his hand. It was th magnifi
cent residence in Park lane, lrt- London, built by th late
Barney Barnato and known a Barnato's Folly. Bo that
latest of England's surprises In palaces has been- th
home of Sybil Sassoon.
She faces the world now, fatherless, but with such
wealth as no other heiress in all England can offer to
the man who may win her heart For 200 years genera
tions of men, the most astute th crafty orient has
produced, labored night and day, planned, sohemed, con
trived, threatened and cajoled. In order that their ever
increasing riches might rest in the lap of this dainty,
girlish creature for some lover to gather into hli
embrace.
Will It bring her a tlth of th happiness that should
balance all the pains and labor It has costT
Artificial Silk for Gas
Mantles
ARTIFICIAL silk Is now being used as a basis foi
gas mantles, taking the place of ramie fiber.
This Is Interesting, when It Is remembered thai
It Is only a few years sine that material sup
planted cotton, which previous to then had been used
exclusively In the making of the mantle.
One who is not well versed In the manufacturing ot
gas mantles would naturally think that this outside basil
was not of any consequence and that it serves simply
as a foundation for the crysUllineuMtflB54Jit fur
nishes the brilliant light. But this Is a mistaken Idea,'
for. though it Is true that the materia Itself vanishes,
It seems to partake In some degree of the toughness, th
durability and the resistance to shock of the fabtio. This
Is on account of the exactness with which the crystal!
of the mantle are Intermingled with the texture of the
foundation, and in its final form simulates the appear
ance of the fabric
For that reason considerable interest has been taken!
in the new artificial silk base for the mantles not only
In this country but abroad. Th Prometheus has this to
say on the subject:
"Experiments with artificial silk hare been carried o4
persistently since the beginning of the present century.
Until recently no thoroughly satisfactory results were
obtained, a chief obstacle being the fragility off the
artlfieial-etik--mantles,- whiten made them nnstiitabl for
transport. Now, however. It Ms possible to ptifchae
artlflcial-sllk mantles whicli are far superior to th best
ramie mantles. These artlflcial-sllk mantles are even
rougher than rami jantUs fhf
aTv&ea,'SO:lhat the Tadiating surface and the luminosity "
are correspondingly Increased. . They- are far more idura- .
ble than ramie manties. owing to the great strength and
elasticity of the artificial-silk fibers. Hence artificial
silk mantles are, especially desirable for use with com
pressed gas, for street lamps and in every cas where,
durability Is a chief requisite.
"The introduction of artificial silk not only improve!
the quality of the Incandescent gas mantle, but also
greatly simplifies its production. In the manufacture of
cotton and ramie maiiUes one of the most impor tan ...
operations consists in washing out all impurities which
would seriously impair the quality of the product These
tedious and costly washings are not required with arti
ficial silk, as this material already possesses the required
degree of purity."
When Tito Rlcordl became disabled by Illness hi
son, Giulto dl Tito, took over the helm of the business
and brought to bear the slow fruition of a breed
which, two generations earlier, had shown only th
taste for music, not the creative talent He was a
successful composer of drawing - room themes, a
practiced writer, a skillful draughtsman and a man
of broad culture, peculiarly qualified to perpetuate th
grip in which his house held Italian music and astute
in extending its influence through Paloschl's "An
nuarlo Musicaie,'' a calendar of musical dates, which
became the vade mecum of critics and ambitious
amateurs.
The policy of the Rl'cordls has for years been on
that was peculiarly gratifying -.to its composers, and
as exasperating to all others. They never back a
loser; and they never fall to pick a winner. But they
bade only one winner at a time, and so leave out In
the cold many others who feel they have claims to th
high consideration of the Casa Ricordi, almost ae
great as those of the thrice fortunate wight who
happens to have gained their all-controlling favor.
They did it with Verdi; they do it with Puccini.
They acquired the rights of the famous Lucoa from
his widow, and thus secured the control of the Wag
ner operas in Italy, together with a number of other
modern works that have proved of incalculable value
to them, ,
PUCCINI THEIR BEST BET i
With so many other composers rampaging around
outside of the rich fields, the Rlcordls have reserved
for their best bet in Puccini, and with practically the
whole musical world of Italy ready to call on parlia
ment to readjust the system of composers' and .pub
lishers' rights, it was natural that competitors with
out number should be ever ready to take a hack at
them as rivals.' The gonzogno firm seized on Mascagnt
as the young Saint George to slay this consuming
dragon of melody, and for a time such masterpieces
as "Cavallerla Rusticana" and "I Pagllacci" made the
mighty Casa of Milan feel like adopting every tune
less brat of muslo who turned up with a bundle of
music sheets and a bale of conceit. But they had a
century of experience and capital, behind them; they
just sat tight and kept on waving the baton for their
own dear little Puccini.
The Sonzogno concern couldn't secure enough new
hits to deepen the d"ent it had Btarted, and then i
1 Wew-uprene half frorng' -on-way-TBnnhtrTrtnertatt
lng the opposite course. The one rival now divided
against Itself and fighting like brother over the
crumbs the Casa Rlcordl had disdained, the ancient
firm has gone haughtily on Its way, more secure than
ever In Its monopoly of all that la most profitable la
Italian music.