Two of the Wealthiest "Thrift Gardeners" in the United States
These Holders of Many Thou
sands of Acres Are Now Us
ing Them to Advantage In
the Great WorM-Wide Cry
for Food.
JAMES BEN ALI HAGGIN has
jjseen called the greatest breeder
of thoroughbred horses that
ever lived, the greatest farmer in Amer
ica, and the greatest miner in the world.
Through these three pursuits, he has ac
cumulated a fortune that is variously
estimated as "between $50,000,000 and
$100,000,000. He is certainly one of the
wealthiest residents in the United States.
Few dukes of Great Britain possess
as much He has one enormous
ranch of over 400,000 acres in Califor
nia, another of 8,000 acres in the heart
of the Blue Grass region of Kentucky,
and one of the most palatial residence.!
on Fifth avenue, New York. He owns
large interests in mines extending from
Alaska on the north to Chili in the
south; in Kentucky he has more thor
oughbred horses that can be found on
any other farm in the world; in Cali
fornia he raises more hops than any
other one farmer in the world and he
has one of the largest flocks of sheen
on the Pacific coast.
Haggin • was born ( at Harrodshurg,
Ky., in 1827. In his veins flow not only
the blood of Virginia and Kentucky
pioneers, but also strains from England,
Greece and Turkey, the latter evidenced
by his middle names. He was given as
good an education as could be obtained
at the time, studied law and practiced
in Shelbyvillc, New Orleans and
-
James Ben All Hoggin and Some of the Yearling Thoroughbreds on His Farm in the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky.
Natchez. In 1850 he yielded to the
lure of California *and joined the gold
rush. He was cojitent to let others dig
for the yellow metal and formed a law
partnership with his brother-in-law,
Lloyd Tevis, who' later became the
recognized leader of the California bar.
With Senator George Hearst and
Marcus Daly' he invested in many val
uable mines. Although these three men
had had no technical education they
were recognized as three most able
mining experts of the country. With
Hearst, Haggin acquired control of the
famous Homestead mine in the Black
Hills of Dakota of which he is now
president and treasurer. With Daly he
bought control of the in
Montana and some years later he sold
his own shar* in this one mine for $9,-
000,000. Gold, silver and copper have
all paid him tribute.
Many years ago he acquired over
•
s 400,C00 acres of land in Kern county,-
r California, containing some of the best
t farming land in the state. The metli
- ods by which he got possession of this
. enormous tract subjected him to sharp
- criticism but he later earned the grati
• tudc of the farmers by carrying on, the
1 fight for irrigation privileges against'
the claims of the stock raisers. Had it
not been for his single handed contest
in the courts, Southern California ,and
the San Joaquin Valley would not* to
day be such prosperous communities.
Haggin is perhaps best known, how
ever, for" his work as a breeder of
thoroughbred horses. Within 10 years,
his colors had flashed past the wire as
1 winners of practically every important
! ' stake in the country. Firenze, the queen
of the turf as 3-year-old, won the cov
eted Kentucky Derby, and in 1888 Sal
vator carried the Haggin fame to its
zenith. Firenze, Salvator and Miss
Woodford won over $350,000 for their
' owner while racing for the Haggin sta
ble. The death of his son, Ben Ali
Haggin, induced Haggin to withdraw
from the race track, but lie continued to
raise thoroughbreds on his Blue Grass
farm. In one year, 201 yearlings were
sold for $233,925. The sale of thorough
bred yearlings at the Haggin farm has
been the principal event of its kind for
many years although the war upon bct
! t:ng at race tracks has recently some- "
what obscured its fame.
Charles P. Taft, half brother of the
cx-Prcsident, came into national prom
inence by his ability to contribute enor
mous sums to advance the political career
of his famous relative. He was well
able to do so, for he is one of the
wealthiest men in the United States. He
owns onfc of the best paying newspapers
in the Middle West; he is said to own
controling interests in the Chicago and
Philadelphia baseball teams of the Na
tional league; he has* two ranches in
Texas, of which the smallest hps 160,-
000 acres. Also he has one of the finest
galleries of paintings in the country,
surpassed by only three or four private
collections. His Texas ranches alone
arc worth between $7,000,000 and $lO,-
000,000, and his heavy investments in al
most countless industries probably bring
the total of his fortune up to $40,000,-
000.
_• -
Charles P. Taft, and His Ranch House at Gregory, Texas, Which is One of the Big Show riaces of the Southwest.
The father of the four Taft boys was
a d stinguislicd judge. He was not,
howcvcr_as wealthy as lie was famous,
but he was able to send all fo'us of his
sons to Yale, his alma ma t er. He left
but little money to his four boys, not
enough to enable Charles P. Taft to in
dulge in his ambitious desire to study
in Europe. But a family friend advised
the young man to invest all that lie had
in a business opportunity. Unlike the
majority of such chances for quick re
turns, this proved most fortunate and
yielded a profit of $6,000. Charles P.
Taft did not lose his head and risk the
sum that h? had made, but promptly
sailed for Germany, where he took a de
gree at Hcidclburg and also studied
languages in Berlin and Paris.
Returning to Cincinnati, he entered
into a law partnership with a popular
veteran of the Civil war, but the firm
was dissolved when the senior partner
was elected to the governorship and Taft
to the Ohio House of Representatives.
After 10 years in the practice ot iaw,
Taft had made a fair-sized fortune and
decided to enter the newspaper field.
This was largely the result of chance. A
friend who owned a German paper in
duced the young lawyer to take SIO,OOO
worth of his stock. It paid good divi
dends and the power of the press began
to appeal much more strongly than the
quieter realms of the law. With hi.-
profits, he bought an old daily newspa
per and among his first reporters was
his brother William, whom he paid $6
a week to report the court news. A rival
paper, attracted by the work of the'
young reporter, offered the future Pres
ident S2O a week to do similar work.
This was a larger salary than Charles P.
Taft could afford pay and he advised
his brother to accept the position. "By
the time I was prosperous enough to pay
William what lie was worth as a report
er," Charles Taft once said, "he was a
judge of the United States Circuit
Court and out of my reach."
After the paper began to pay well Taft
bought out another, erected a building
'for the combined jourpals, and attended
to little else for 20 years. His wife in
herited a large fortune from her father,
David Sinton, including valuable real
estate in Cincinnati and the 160,000-
acre farm in Texas. Of recent years
Charles P. Taft has not paid such strict
attention to his newspaper except in the
periods preceding elections but has in
vested more and more heavily in other
interests.
Probably his Texas ranches have becy
his greatest pride. The ranch that Mrs.
Taft inherited is valued at about $5,-
000,000; the other, covering 200,000 acres,
is said to be worth about $2,500,000. On
the former are grown vegetables in
'' *
Dollie's Great Hope
The Story of a Girl Whose Desire Was a
Good and Faithful Husband.
GRANDMA, dear, it's really to be
one of the very loveliest af
fairs, there has been this win
ter. It's my 'coming out' party, you
know, and mamma says it will be just
splendid, and Gertie Jacobs' was aw
fully swell. Now, grandma, don't look
shocked, that's only a piece of slang,"
and Dolhc Laigh looked such a sweet,
bewitching sinner* that grandma laughed
as she shook her head.
"Remember one thing, dearie," she
said, "you are only 19 and I don't want
my Dollie spoiled. Be sweet, frank and
simple; don't try to copy girls-in so
ciety, but be your own little self."
"J will, grandma darling, I .will 1 And
if I ever feel giddy and gay again, 1
will just come here and you shall preach
one of your nice sermons to make me
good," and Dollie kissed the true woman,
the chief mainstay of her life.
"Maybe, my darling, if I tell you about
my first party, it may amuse you a bit.
Yes, indeed, I did have a lovely party,
though they were not very common in
my day, but I was your Grandpa Ben
son's only daughter. I had two broth
ers, but no sister, and father and moth
er decided that their Dollie should have
a 'coming out party.'"
"Oh, yes, Grandma, do tell me," and
Dollie Number Tv.-o seated herself on
a stool at Dollie Number One's knee.
"Well," began. Grandma, "I was just
18, one year your junior, but regarded as
older at that age in my day, than you in
your's. Father was one of the wealthi
est farmers in that district, and as I
was always fond of study, he allowed
me to take Latin of the minister, and
have a governess for French, mathemat
ics and history for a whole year, a great
advantage in my day. Oh, father did
very well by me, and 1 guess he never
regretted it, for I was quick to learn
and bright as a cricket in my youth."
And the old lady looked into those eyes
that looked so liviugiy into hers.
"Well, 1 had studied hard and the'
crops were very good that year so one
night, sometime in November, father
said to mother: 'Liddy'—(mother's
name was Lydia, but father never spoke
it so,) 'Liddy, don't you think we ought
to give our Dollie a party? She's gotten
to be quite a large girl and I think its
our duty, besides being our pleasure.'
"Of course, I was all interest in a min
ute, and mother as much as I. "That's
just the thing, David,' she said, 'we do
owe Dollie a real, nice party, 'sides our
pleasure, and if you're* agreeable, and
nothing happens to prevent, she shall
have it."
" 'Well, then, set the day,' says' father,
'for I'm morc'n agreeable.'
" "How would the sth of December
do?' says mother.
"So it was all decided. Father en
gaged the fiddler of the district; mother
enormous quantities, one great field or
1,000 acres being devoted solely to cab
bages. The larger ranch is used princi
pally for grazing, furnishing food for
thousands cf cattle. This has been a
boon to the towns in the vicinity, for
they are able to buy meat from Charles
Taft at prices considerably below those
charged by the trust.
Went to making goodies, and I, myself,
to writing invitations. I had lots of
friends. All the boys and girls came as
our house was large, and, my dear your
grandpa was the handsomest among
them.
"Well, they began to arrive in twos
and threes and sleighfuls, and mother
and I were waiting to receive them, she
in her best black silk and I in as hand
some a pale blue satin as ever you set
eyes on.
"Thomas Hayward—that's your grand
pa—was among the first, and mother
said that after he eame she had hard
work to make me receive properly, I was
so infatuated with him. Maybe I was,
for girls will have their day. David
and John, my brothers, were there; they
each had their sweethearts and we did
have a gay time.
"After they had all arrived, the fiddle
struck up a lively tune and we tripped
it gayly for two or three hours. By that
time mother had our feast ready. Wc
took a long time at that, and when
through, father proposed a game of
blindman's bluff, so your grandpa volun
teered to be the blind man.
"As I said before, I was spry on foot
in those day, but to my surprise, having
tried so hard to evade him, he caught me.
Taking off the bandage, he stooped and
whispered: 'You know what that means
to me, Dollie! Oh, if I could catch you
for life I' But I only tossed my head,
and took my turn as blindman, playing
so excitedly that I ran into a table, up
setting everything. Then, calling myself
an idiot, I calmed down, and after that
played more quiet games winding up
with Virginia Reel.
"Everyone said 'twas a great success,
and we went to bed, tired, but happy.
"The next morning as I was cleaning
the hall I found one of Tom's driving
mittens, which he had dropped in the
hurry of getting off, the night before,
and then I began to think: 'He will be
coming back for it soon and'—but I did
not get auy further, for there was a
knock at the door and 1 went to answer
it, my heart beating like a trip-hammer.
"Good morning, Dollie,' he said. 'I
think I dropped one of my driving mit
tens last night. Have you seen it?'
"I answered in the affirmatice, ran to
get it where 1 had dropped it on the hall
table, handed it to him, and he said,
looking into my eyes:
" 'Dollie, is that the way you mean to
give me the mitten?' And I foolihsly an
swered, 'No'; and that's about all; only
when father and mother came in he
boldly asked my hand, receiving the
promise he wanted, and I, blushing like
a pincy—"
Here grandma stopped and laughed.
"What a silly child 1 was, to be sure."
"Oh, grandma 1 I think it was splen
did, but my party won't have any such
ending as that, I'm afraid,"'and pretty
Dollie, the second, took her turn at
"blushing like a piney."
"I hope not, dearie; grandma can't
spare her sunbeam yet,' and as she
kissed grandmother she smiled at the
portrait on the wall, though there was
a drop in each eye as she said: "I hope
she will have as good and kind and
faithful a husband as my Tom."