Personalities,

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 403, 28 January 1904, Page 2

Personalities,

THE MEAT MILLIONAIBEB. SKSKOUR great men in America to-day qtwTp are Nelson Morris, Gustavus JK£& Swift, Michael Cadaby, and Odgen Armour. They are the beef 'barons' who are controlling the Western supplies. Morris had many ups and downs. He once worked as a charcoal burner, then he got to cattle droving

at twenty ahffling* * month, later he] started on his"own^andjatlengthfound himself able to b»y by the- ] i thousand. Gusteyus" Swift* m really the ■origiiSttoiof'ro&preseht system ana refr%efftsrigmeats for- long-dißtanoe Bhipmei& , '3Ele nevjfcletsau opportunity slip;aatfiualneßs, and\:iib^li ; W wby heifl •rich the dreams of avarice. poor Kilkenny boy to /be"*a r p^tnlpflhe, elder -Armour before he began to run his own- immensely prosperous concern. Upon Odgen Armour, a young man, has fallen the task of carry* ing .on the, great business developed by his father, who, at the time of his death, was employing 30,000 men all over the world. The father rose from humble surroundings, but Ggden Armour entered the stockyards * university graduite and the heir to a great fortune. For fifteen years he has reported himseif at the yards every morning at half-past seven, and he is fully maintaining the Armour traditions. \ '"■■ .'' :

MQBGAN, FATHER AND SON. Mr John Pierpoat Morgan, who seems as though he would like to eneompaas the world in hia schemes, owes the foundation of his great wealth to. his father, J S. Morgan, who,'gave'hia name to the wellknown firm of J. S. Morgan and Co. J S. Morgan'was torn in Massachusetts, and he was the son of an ordinary farmer. Ha began his commercial carrer as a clerk in a dry-goods store, and then he became a bank this latter, situation he was able, out of his savings, at the age of thirty-eight, to establish in Bostons commercial house which soon took the first place in the Fnited States. At fortythree years of age he viaited London, where he made the acquaintance of the great millionaire philanthropist, George Peabody. The latter was so impressed with Morgan's ability that he offered him a partnership in his banking firm of George Peabody and Co., whose firm on Peabody diath became J. S. Morgan and i ■ Jl he^ J Mor f a -i refcarned t<> America, which he did in 1877, he was entertained by some financiers to a banquet, at which were present, so it was said, guests, who, though few in number, represented a total wealth of a thousand million dollars. J. S. Morgan died at Monte Carlo 12 years ago; and left behind him a colossal fortune, which the energy, of his son has since increased beyond belief.

A BOTAL SOLDIEB. _,i u *PJt« of his German origin, Prince .Edward of Saxe-Weimar has been aa inghshman all his life. He was bora at Jiusbey House, where his mother was staying with the Doke and Duchess of Uarence (afterwards William IV. and Ujaeen Adelaide) in 1823, and has lived in tnu country ever since. Princess Edward S a M^ r of the D «»te of Bichmond. rnnce Edward married morganatically in •CI * at tne Bame ti me> renounced his right of succession to the Grand Ducal throne of Saxe-Weimar, to which, had it not been for this, he would be the present neir. Princess Edward is only ranked as a countess i H Germany; but is England ane was rawed to princely rank by a special decree of Queen Victoria, though for 30 years her late Majesty refused to recognise her ss a princess. Prince Edward has had a notable military lt ie ™' i a time when commissions in the English Army for money he elected to enter by competitive examination, and the Bame spirit of thoroughness was always a feature of his army career. In the Crimea he distinguished himself by more than one act of gallantry. He was oße 0* the moat popular Commanders-in-Chief Ireland has had, and hia Field Marshal's baton was thoroughly well earned. Prince and Princess Edward are a charming host and hostess, and do a good deal of entertaining.

MISTRESS OP WHITE HOUSE. President Roosevelt is a remarkable man, and in her sphere of life Mrs Roosevelt is equally remarkable. In America the mistress of the White House occupies a much more important social position than does, for instance, the wife of the President of the French Republic. In Mrs Roosevelt the American nation see their ideal of a woman 3 she is a devoted wife and mother, while jet an accomplished woman of the world, highly educated, and able to hold her own with the Royalties, of Europe. Mr Roosevelt is her brilliant husband's second wife, and she is the step-mother of the clever young lady whose _ sayings and doings arouse bo much public interest on the other side of the Atlantic. Mrs Roosevelt has often been to .England, where she has many intimate friends. Few American women have led a more interesting life, the only shadow being the months of anxiety spent by her when Mr Theodore Roosevelt was fighting in Cuba at i the head of the Roughrider Corps organised by himself.

A LORDLY SAILOR. Admiral Olanwilliam has reached the allotted span of years, and he has seen some strange sights in his sailor's life. The first experience of war came to Lord Olanwilliam so long ago as the blockade of the Oulf of Finland by Russia. The future,. Admiral was then a boy on board ! the Imperieuse, and, distinguishing'himself in this capacity, he rose rapidly in favour, and was present when twenty-five at the storming of Canton. A commander at twenty-six, and a captain at twentyseven, the same rate of promotion went on until 1876, when he became a rearadmiral. In ten years more he was Chief Commander on the North American and West Indian Stations, and in another year he became full admiral. For three years after he came home he was Com-mander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, and he is a Commissioner of the Patriotic Fund. One of the most ludrioous spectacles he remembers was the arrest of the notorious Commissioner Yeh, who was hunted down in ignominious fashion by British seamen. Yeh, who was said to have ordered the beheading of a hundred thousand rebels, resisted all attempts to arrest him, and the only way in which the British sailors were able to effect his capture was by dragging him through the streets by his pig-tail. It was this incident—or the event of which this incident was a part—which brought Lord Salisbury (then Lord Robert Cecil) for once in his life into line with Richard Cobden. The seizure of a Chinese boat had led to a crisis with China which evolved into a second China war, and when,Mr Cobden moved a vote of censure on the Government Lord Robert Cecil was among the majority which carried it.