Forbes v. Duke

B. C. Forbes, onetime Scotch printers devil, now editor of the financial bi-weekly which bears his name, penned many a hard word anent the late tobacco millionaire, James B. Duke, and published them in his latest issue a fortnight ago.

Mr. Forbes declared:

"Nearly every outstanding American business leader, no matter how little schooling he may have had originally, manages to become respectably well educated. Duke palpably failed to do so. . . .

"One constantly had the feeling while in Duke's presence, that he was an unhappy, disgruntled, soured mortal. . . .

"He could not 'bear to be crossed or criticized. When he cracked the whip everybody must jump.' . . .

"He died an unhappy, dissatisfied mortal, super-abundantly rich in millions but bankrupt in friends. He was so engrossed in battling fiercely for money that he took no time to acquire education and nursed such a nature that he became incapable of attracting troops of friends. The last time I visited his native state, newspapers were full of condemnation of alleged tactics on his part to relieve him of certain taxes. His own people apparently regarded him in the same light as he was regarded in the financial and business world."

Editor Forbes then went on to say that during his first interview with the millionaire tobacconist, Mr. Duke lit four or five cigars in the course of the afternoon, without ever offering one to his guest. On another occasion Mr. Duke canceled his subscription to Forbes Magazine, because it had carried an attack upon certain of Duke's speculative operations.

Having weighed well the fiscal achievements of tobacconist Duke and added in the University which he founded with an endowment of $30,000,000, Scotsman Forbes summed up Mr. Duke's contribution to the world as follows: "His life yielded him little satisfaction and he was, in my judgment, a failure."