NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 32, 1 August 1911, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL.

JOHANN ORTH'S FORTUNE. LAST CHAPTER IN THE MYSTERY OF AN ACCIDENT. Vienna, June 0. The last testamentary dispositions of the Archduke Johann Salvator, better known as "Johann Orth," were read today to a special commission by Prince Montenuovo, First Grand Master of the Court. "Johann Orth" left no properly attested will dealing with the bulk of' his property. Ilis last dispositions had to do only with legacies. Therefore, according, to the laws of Austria and the dynasty, his legal heirs—the Prineess of "the Tuscan branches and certain of the Austrian branches—will inherit his property. The legacies referred to were in fav&r of the dead Archduke's mother and Milly Stubel, who is dead.

The Archduke Johann Salvator, son of Leopold 11., Grand Duke of Tuscany, disappeared twenty years ago after quarrelling with the Emperor Francis Joseph, owing to his too candid criticism of tke Austrian army, his aspirations to the throne of Bulgaria, and his projected ■'marriage 1 to Milly Stubel, a Viennese dancer. ~..

The Archduke renounced his rank and,! title, assumed the name of Johann Orth,! and married Milly Stubel in London. He bought the sailing ship SL Margarita, j acted as hisr'own skipper, I and sailed her between Sonth American ports. The vessel left Buenos Aires for [Valpariso on July 12, .1890, and was -never' heard of again. It is assumed that she. foundered during a storm. There have been fantastic, rumors in recent years that Johann Orth was still alive and living in South America, but they have never been proved. His estate,.,the income of which .has accumulated for twenty years, is now valued at over £1,000,000. t

"TAINTED" MILLIONS.

ROCKEFELLER'S GIFT OF HIS .FORTUNE DISDAINED.

New York, May 31. Mr. John D. Rockefeller will not be permitted to organise the gigantic Rockefeller Foundation, "to promote the advance of civilisation," to which he had intended devoting the greater part of his £100,000,000 fortune. The scathing denunication of the methods of the Standard Oil Trust incorporated in the recent verdict of the Supreme Court declaring the trust an illegal combination has served to accentuate popular disapproval of the public use of money earned by this unlawful monopoly. Public opinion objects to the perpetual consolidation of the Rockefeller millions for any cause whatever, fearing that in some way the money may be used against the national welfare. Mr. Rockefeller will have to find some other way to dispose of his money. If he is given permission at all to establish his foundation, the amount of - money he will be permitted to apply to it will be limited to a comparatively small amount. " It is now fifteen months, since Mr. Rockefeller applied to Congress to incorporate his foundation, and Congress has taken no action whatever. It was mtimated at the time t.ha£ Mr. Rockefeller intended making an initial gift of £60,000,000 to the foundation, so invested as to produce an annual income of £4,000,000. His son, Mr. John D. Rockefeller, junr., was to have the actual management of this great fortune, and was to devote his entire life to the work.

Scarcely any praise has been given Mr. Rockefeller for his intended gift. On the contrary, criticisms have been aroused in every part of the country. It has been ■asserted that the articles of incorporation, as originally drawn up, would lodge in the ha'nds of the trustees of the foundation greater power than Congress itself possesses. No limit whatever was made to what constituted the "advance of civilisation.'' ] If the trustees believed civilisation could be advanced by disbanding the American navy or by inveigling America into a war with some other Power, for instance, there was nothing in the original charter to prevent them devoting the entire £4,000,000 a year for such a purpose.' These objections were advanced so-per-sistently tliat, six months ago, Senator Gallinger, acting for Mr. withdrew the original articles of incorporation and substituted new ones. They provided that the maximum capitalisation of the foundation, excluding natural increases in value of the property bequeathed, should not exceed £20,000,000. None of the income could be added to the principal, and it must be expended for the purposes of the foundation. ■Congress was given the power to im- [ pose at any time such limitations on the objects of the foundation as the public interest demanded. At the end of fifty years the trustees of the foundation were authorised to distribute all or any party of the -property, by a twothirds vote, and at the end of one hundred years this authority devolved upon Congress.

Even the limitations thus voluntarily accepted by Mr. Rockefeller have not served to popularise the idea of the foundation. Both the public and Congress are indifferent to the changes in the charter, and the people continue to show a reluctance to aecept any money from the head of the Standard Oil Trust. The Congressional Bill of incorporation sas not been reported out of committee. If it ever is reported there will follow lively debates on the floor of Congress, and speeches will be made about fortunes accumulated by trust manipulations that probably will result in the rejection ef the proposed charter.