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Show THE KEITH-O'BRIEN & CO. i The Spirit Behind the Great Investment. if The opening of the new Keith, O'Brien & Co. 1& store next week is looked forward to with much 1 Interest. It is expected to be something as fine 1 as money 'and taste and good judgment can pre- 1 pare. I The general features the public will judge. 1 There is, however, one feature that the general public will not much consider, but which is really jj the finest one of all. It is to be a particularly Utah jl) store. In the old days the Alchemists wore out jj their lives in trying to transmute base metals into m gold. This store, when it opens, will reveal a re- ffl versed transmutation gold into the rare fabrics m which men and women covet. Had anyone seen 1 Davy Keith thirty years ago when he was sinking I, the old Coledonian shaft on the Comstock or I Shaft No. 2 of the Sutro Tunnel, or Johnny Judge I delving at the same time in eastern iron mines, I his vision would have been dimmed and he never J would have dreamed that could great wealth come 1 in the way of either, he would, in investing it, I keep in mind that more serious duties come to I men in handling wealth than in acquiring it. Just 1 as the sunlight of a great fortune began to shine H upon John Judge, he was called away, but the 9, influence of his high motives remained an im- 1 pression upon his family and with them as with I Keith and Kearns and Mrs. Holmes, the bulk of 1 their profits in Silver King have been invested in R a way where, beside bringing them a generous II return, the state of Utah has received a part of m the profit. In the early days when men made for- j tunes out of Utah mines they sent the money to make San Francisco or New York or some other city east or west grow brighter and richer ! because of it. It has been different with the Sil- I j ver King people. In establishing this new store, i the circle has been widened, some scores of men and women who have made fortunes in Utah have combined with the Silver King people to create one of the superb mercantile establishments establish-ments of the west. 8 The merit of the enterprise comes in through the fact that not one of the shareholders needed ! to vex himself or herself with business. Their 1 1 money invested in the lowest rate government bonds would have given them royal incomes. As it is they will be subjected to sharp competition, 1 much risk, much care and vexation. But in doing what they are doing they are adding much to the taxable property of the city and state, they are l giving a host of employees generous salaries; they . are reducing the cost of much material to con- J I sumers, and their work will eventuate in improv- j ing the taste and increasing the knowledge of ' thousands of people. They are transmitting the treasures of Utah mines into something of use to all this people and while behind it all there will j be a sharp eye to business, the fact will remain ' that a lofty public spirit was, after all, the great moving thought in founding the enterprise, for it ' ? is clear that if the money had been the primal l thought, the investment of a like amount would I fiave brought richer returns in either of a dozen I cities of our country. The above is a tribute to the public spirit i shown in the venture. It is not meant as a re- flection upon any of the high-minded merchants I of our city, merchants who have devoted their I lives to their business and in the pursuit of which 1 they have earned and wear most honorable hondrs. It is the spirit which is the moving one if behind this one enterprise and which reduced to I language, says: "This money wrung from the stubborn mountains is at least in part a trust, and f it is a duty to use it in a way which will accrue m to the benefit of the state and to as many of the mj people as possible." |