| Show I D DlO o. o MILLS It was most appropriate for D. D 0 O. Mills ills to di die in in to California with the ar- ar ar ar- San Francisco lie He went ent and d b bank bankin ok lk okill At first fit he opened a little store a counties of California his hig in ill ono one of the southern chief business being buying gold gohl dust lIe Ho made madea a a. little fortune orune writ went to Sacramento and opened a the tho bank The old Californians will all remember banking house of D. D 0 O. Mills When Mr Ralston organized the bank of California he wanted a n man whose character accomplishments and amI record would be a factor in the bank and and gave the place i to D. D 0 O. Mills 1 ills The bank was a success from the first and made macic mone money rapidly After the Comstock had bad been r ing two years ears and the demand for monc money there all th the tho capitalists in that region Mr l Sharon Sharo l went th there therewith l' l with the thc result that in a a a. few days das a. a branch California bank was Avas started The rhe camp at the state because because because be be- time was in a halting almost prostrate cause local bankers had loaned jaB all their surplus and nd could neither get the money back ck nor advance the tile needed monc money to go on Mr 1 Sharon took up UI fhe hc l indebtedness reduced interest from 5 per cent centa a month m nth to 12 l per pcr cent a year invested ted plenty plent r more the mines mine and at the end mone money in the opening of OL l the year had out That was before the millionaires and was days of very velT m many n ii vast ast sum sura a l As president of the bank hank Mr lr Mills called a directors directors' meeting and proposed that the business i- i ip p Virginia City should he be wound up the losses charged up to profit and loss loss and that th t thenceforth th this the bank should be run run-on ban banking bankin ing principles principles' Mr k Sharon opposed him him and Mr 11 Ralston st stood od by Sha Sha- ron rIm Sharon at the time said if they would let him would back all the money jl he not only get got a year but make mal e them plenty more He lIe kept his word That is wl where cre Mr r. r Mills won his great groat fortune Associated with the bank as he ne' ne knew more l ut the condition of the great 1 dC 1 those upon it it for Mr Ir Sharon's Sharon s 's lieu lieuten- lieuten tenn ten ten- n s reported every ver day d and he reported in turn j headquarters to in Sa San l Francisco It It Itis is a long stor story it it is enough to say that 1 Mr Mills ills made a great I f fortune V In the meantime antime Mix h had ad beco become lle president adent dent of o the parent par nt California hank bank and being b ing by pa nature a plunger rhe he had gon gone too far He lie had put K lit 50 so o much h of ok t the ll money of the bank that when r Con COli Virginia Cal Virginia product began to weal weaken en and nd the he stocks began to fall it was was possible impossible to f re recover Io c the tremendous outlays that h had d b been f 2 ide b by bS' Mr Ralston and the thc bank suspended d. d Mr 1 t. t of the fhe board oard of directors went yent i into Mr lr 1 Jal- Jal g private office ollice and and asked him to resign resi n. n Ral- Ral ti bri wrote his lesi resignation th then ll went to to North worth n took eal-took 3 took k a powder and sprang into the ba bay The k k-a k after ter a few fw months was vas restored but hut it w was s fr t h the effo efforts ts ts of Mr lr Sharon He lie was wag the 1 ni 1 I spirit r Shortly after that Mr h Mills moved tt ei York and I t once became of I the prom prom- t of the cit city I s lie iIO was a born gentleman well vell educated ren re rc- rc n. n f j i he- he understood all the thc rules of polite so- so sO-I sO J ti His career in New I York lor save for one great I IJo Joss J which involved so many mani in hi a railroad deal doal some sonic f or twenty years ago has mis been one of marked it Ii sJ and counting what he has ha given his chil- chil r. f n and what he has left the aggregate must be he sum bum V i T. We e notice the papers paper refer to hulk him as a philan- philan r p pis We Ve do not believe that is fair fail Ho vas was bin with a perfect hankers hanker's temperament he was was- absolutely tely just but bu there was no tin tinge e of mercy y bey be be- l y If lf he owed a man 10 his II i 1 ck for payment covered the exact amount If a ajan jan a owed owell him hint would not do do- do dOt dohe he hel hethe l d the theother other oilier 7 cents some years years- ago ago in New York a hotel h ran n i it on eli the tho same same plan it tl the e old What cm r house was conducted on so long in San Sun t q si The hotel was to gi give a p poor or man a t gp d supper ra a good breakfast and ancl clean room with the appurtenances all for a a price so low tow that it looked like an impossibility The papers said s id that the tho house was built in iii charity charit- that Mr i Mills did no not expect to make fair Jail returns for se cral eral years to conic come We v do O not believe a n word of Jf hat V We believe the hotel was so n never cr started flu nu- tj Mr Mills had figured wit out t exactly how much revenue r it would produce and and what interest t t would pay on the the- capital invested IIo lie he ho hoC C could ld more than keep even en the thc advance in inthe inthe inthe the land in twenty five twenty rears ar would nay 1 ov 1 over r an nh iL ii I over again the original investment It It did better bette than titan that and while doing that it was all the time tim increasing in iii value and by this time the ground under the building must be e worth as much a as th the ground ground and and the the buildings themselves were worth wort when the house was finished It has been so with cr c everything thing else With a 1 firm lip Mr Ir Mills is could state to n It client that th the bank had absolutely exhausted th the thC limit of invest meat ment given b by law Mr l Mills i was one of or th the shrewdest thinkers in the world ivorid and Rud when he lie began hegan that thid hotel he did not mean to make any mistake and ho lio did not loot lie Ire was sure that it would pay him hint as much interest t as his idle money was paying pay las ing him in ill iii s savings ings banks and 1 he believed wit with his native shrewdness ness that th t the land under the ho hOe tel tol would double in value valne in iii twenty yea years 8 He lived for Mr r. r Mills and his family lIe He was wasa a kind husband and father he had the ability to appear appeal well ieli in Hn any society he lie was Avas a great financier financier finan finan- cier but the thinking lie lic did in the as A as for foi himself and his and not v very ry many men in the cabins in in California and and Nevada will Avill grieve for him as they did for Ralston Halston because from fr m the beginning be be- ginning he lie liv lived d for Mr Mills and the Mills family Lam fame ily and ami he had not much macli respect for any who had hada had hac a 9 higher ambition |
