Fifty years in Wall Street
Honor.—How the “Boom” was Worked up in Favor of
Grant.—The Great Financiers and Speculators all Come
to the Front in the Interest of the Nation’s
Prosperity and of the Man who had Saved the
Country.—The Great Mass Meeting at Cooper Union.—Why
A. T. Stewart Refused to Preside.—The Results of the
Mass Meeting and how they were Appreciated by the
Friends of the Candidate, Leading Representatives of
the Business Community and the Public Press
Generally, Irrespective of Party
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE TWEED RING, AND THE COMMITTEE OF SEVENTY.
The Ring Makes Itself Useful in Speculative Deals.—How 327
Tweed and His “Heelers” Manipulated the Money
Market.—The Ring Conspiring to Organize a Panic for
Political Purposes.—The Plot to Gain a Democratic
Victory Defeated and a Panic Averted Through
President Grant and Secretary Boutwell, who were
Apprised of the Danger by Wall Street Men.—How the
Committee of “Seventy” Originated.—The Taxpayers
Terrorized by Boss Tweed and his Minions.—How
“Slippery Dick” got Himself Whitewashed.—Offering the
Office of City Chamberlain as a Bribe to Compromise
Matters.—How the Hon. Samuel Jones Tilden, as Counsel
to the Committee, Obtained His Great Start in Life
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.
How Tilden began to make His Fortune in Connection with 337
William H. Havemeyer.—Tilden’s great Fort in
Politics.—He Improves His Opportunity with the
Discernment of Genius.—How Tilden became one of the
Counsel of the “Committee of Seventy.”—His Political
Elevation and Fame dating from this Lucky Event.—The
Sage of Greystone a Truly Great Man.—Attains
Marvellous Success by His own Industry and Brain
Power.—He not only Deserved Success and Respect, but
Commanded them.—How his Large Generosity was
Manifested in His Last Will and Testament.—The
Attempt to Break that Precious Public Document
CHAPTER XXXIV.
COMMODORE VANDERBILT.—HOW HIS MAMMOTH FORTUNE WAS ACCUMULATED.
Ferryman.—Steamboat Owner.—Runs a Great Commercial 345
Fleet.—The First and Greatest of Railroad Kings.—The
Harlem “Corner.”—Reorganization of N. Y. Central.—How
He Milked the Street, and Euchred His
Co-Speculators.—His Fortune.—Its Vast Increase by Wm.
H.
CHAPTER XXXV.
WM. H. VANDERBILT.
A Builder instead of a Destroyer of Public Values.—His 355
Respect for Public Opinion on the Subject of
Monopolies.—His first Experience in Railroad
Management.—How he Improved the Harlem Railroad
Property.—His great Executive Power manifested in
every stage of advance until he became President of
the Vanderbilt Consolidated System.—An Indefatigable
Worker.—His habit of Scrutinizing Every Detail.—His
Prudent Action in the Great Strike of 1877, and its
Good Results.—Settled all misunderstandings by Peace
and Arbitration.—Makes Princely Presents to his
Sisters.—The Singular Gratitude of a
Brother-In-Law.—How he Compromises by a Gift of a
Million with Young Corneel.—Gladstone’s idea of the
Vanderbilt Fortune.—Interview of Chauncey M. Depew
with the G. O. M. on the subject.—The great
Vanderbilt Mansion and the Celebrated Ball.—The
Immense Picture Gallery.—Mr. Vanderbilt Visits some
of the Famous Artists.—His Love of Fast Horses.—A
Patron of Public Institutions.—His Gift to the Waiter
Students.—While Sensitive to Public Opinion, has no
fear of Threats or Blackmailers.—The Public be
Damned.—Explanation of the rash Expression.—The
Purchase of “Nickel Plate.”—His Declining Health and
Last Days.—His Will, and Wise Method of Distributing
200 Millions.—Effects of this Colossal Fortune on
Public Sentiment
CHAPTER XXXVI.
“YOUNG CORNEEL.”
The Eccentricities of Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt, 375
and his Marvellous Power for Borrowing Money.—He
Exercises Wonderful Influence over Greeley and
Colfax.—A Dinner at the Club with Young “Corneel” and
the Famous “Smiler.”-“Corneel” tries to make himself
Solid with Jay Cooke.—The Commodore Refuses to Pay
Greeley.-“Who the Devil Asked You?” retorted
Greeley.-“Corneel’s” marriage to a Charming and
Devoted Woman.—How She Softened the Obdurate Heart of
her Father-in-Law
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE YOUNG VANDERBILTS AND THEIR FORTUNES.
Remarkable for Physical and Intellectual Ability.—The 387
Mixture of Races and the Law of Selection.—The
Wonderful Will and the Wise Distribution of Two
Hundred Millions.—Tastes, Habits and Social
Proclivities of the Young Vanderbilts.—The Married
Relations of Some of Them.—Being Happily Assorted
they Make Good Husbands.—Their Property Regarded as a
Great Trust.—Their Railroad System and its Great Army
of Employes.—The Young Men Cautious About
Speculating, and Conservative in their Expenses
Generally
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE ROTHSCHILDS.
The Beginning of the Financial Career of the Great 397
House of Rothschild.—The Hessian Blood Money was the
Great Foundation of their Fortune.—How the Firm of
the Five Original Brothers was Constituted.—Nathan
the Greatest Speculator of the Family.—His Career in
Great Britain, and how he Misrepresented the Result
of the “Battle of Waterloo” for Speculative
Purposes.—Creating a Panic on the London Stock
Exchange.—His Terror of being Assassinated.—His Death
Causes a Panic on the London Exchange and the Bourses
CHAPTER XXXIX.
TRAVERS.
The Unique Character of Travers.—His Versatile 407
Attainments.—Although of a Genial and Humorous
Disposition, He was Always a Bear.—How He was the
Means of Preserving the Commercial Supremacy of New
York.—He Squashes the English Bravado, and Saves the
Oratorical Honor of Our Country.—Has the Oyster
Brains?—It Must have Brains, for it Knows Enough to
Sh-sh-shut Up.—The Dog and the Rat.—I d-d-don’t want
to Buy the D-d-dog; I will Buy the R-r-rat.—Travers
on the Royal Stand at the Derby.—How He was Euchred
by the Pool-Seller.—My Proxy in a Speech at the Union
Club.—If You are a S-s-self-made Man, Wh-wh-y the
D-devil didn’t You put more H-hair on the Top of Your
Head?—Other Witticisms, &c.—Death of the Great Wit
and Humorist, and some of His Last Witty Sayings
CHAPTER XL.
CHARLES F. WOERISHOFFER.
The Career of Charles F. Woerishoffer and the Resultant 425
Effect upon Succeeding Generations.—The Peculiar
Power of the Great Leader of the Bear Element in Wall
Street.—His Methods as Compared with Those of Other
Wreckers of Values.—A Bismarck Idea of Aggressiveness
the Ruling Element of His Business Life.—His Grand
Attack on the Villard Properties, and the Consequence
Thereof.—His Benefactions to Faithful Friends
CHAPTER XLI.
WOMEN AS SPECULATORS.
Wall Street no Place for Women.—They Lack the Mental 437
Equipment.—False Defenses of Feminine Financiers.—The
Claflin Sisters and Commodore Vanderbilt.—Fortune and
Reputation Alike Endangered
CHAPTER XLII.
WESTERN MILLIONAIRES IN NEW YORK.
Eastward the Star of Wealth and the Tide of Beauty Take 447
their Course.—Influence of the Fair Sex on this
Tendency, and Why.—New York the Great Magnet of the
Country.—Swinging into the Tide of Fashion.—Collis P.
Huntington.—His Career from Penury to the Possessor
of Thirty Millions.—Leland Stanford.—first a Lawyer
in Albany, and afterward a Speculator on the Pacific
Coast.—Has Rolled Up nearly Forty Millions.—D. O.
Mills.—An Astute and Bold Financier.—Courage and
Caution Combined.—His Rapid Rise in California.—He
Makes a Fortune by Investing in Lake Shore
Stock.—Princes of the Pacific Slope.—Mackay, Flood
and Fair.—Their Rise and Progress.—William Sharon.—A
Brief Account of His Great Success.—Wm. C. Ralston
and His Daring Speculations.—Begins a Poor New York
Boy, and Makes a Fortune in California.—John P.
Jones.—His Eventful Career and Political
Progress.-“Lucky” Baldwin.—His Business Ability and
Advancement.—Lucky Speculations.—Amasses Ten or
fifteen Millions.—William A. Stewart.—Discovers the
Eureka Placer Diggings.—His Success as a Lawyer and
in Mining Enterprises.—James Lick.—One of the Most
Eccentric of the California Magnates.—Real Estate
Speculations.—His Bequest to the Author of the “Star
Spangled Banner.”—John W. Shaw, Speculator and Lawyer
CHAPTER XLIII.
RAILROAD INVESTMENTS.
Vastness of our Railroad System.—Its Cost.—Fall in the 475
Rate of Interest.—Tendency to a Four Per Cent. Rate
on Railroad Bonds.—Effect of the Change on
Stocks.—Prospective Speculation.—Some Social
Inequities to be Adjusted through Cheaper
Transportation
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE SILVER QUESTION.
Its Fundamental Importance.—Dangers of Neglecting 481
it.—Attempts at Evasion.—How it must be Finally
met.—Silver Paper Currency Schemes, and their
Futility
CHAPTER XLV.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
Harmony Between the Representatives of Capital and 491
Labor Necessary for Business Prosperity.—If
Manufacturers should Combine to Regulate Wages the
Arrangement could only be Temporary.—The Workingmen
are Taken Care of by the Natural Laws of
Trade.—Competition among the Capitalists Sustains the
Rate of Wages.—Opinion of John Stuart Mill on this
Subject.—Compelling a Uniform Rate of Pay is a Gross
Injustice to the Most Skilful Workmen.—The Tendency
of the Trades Unions to Debar the Workingman from
Social Elevation.—The Power of the Unions Brought to
a Test.—The Universal Failure of the
Strikes.—Revolutionary Demands of the Knights of
Labor.—Gould and the Strikes on the Missouri Pacific,
&c., &c.
CHAPTER XLVI.
AN IMPORTANT SYNOPSIS.
A Resume in Brief of the Leading Events Connected with 503
Wall Street Affairs for Seventy-seven Years
CHAPTER XLVII.
INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BARTHOLDI STATUE.
Great as an Achievement of Art, but Greater as the 525
Embodiment of the Idea of Universal Freedom the World
Over.—It is a Poetic Idea of a Universal