Fifty years in Wall Street
current money of the country, so that he can make any dangerous use of
it, for it is merely an hereditary right, the enjoyment of it that he
possesses. It is inalienable, and it is so with all great fortunes in
this country, and thus, I think, we are better protected here in England
than you are in America.” “Ah, but like you in England, we in America do
not consider a fortune dangerous,” was the ready response.
The best proof of Wm. H. Vanderbilt’s great ability as a financier is
the marvellous increase in the value of the estate which he inherited
from his father during the seven years which he had the use and control
of it, and in which he did more than treble the value at which it was
estimated on the death of the Commodore.
The weakest financial operation on his part, known to the public, was
the purchase of the Nickel Plate Road, as regards the time of the
transaction, in which he was rather premature. It is now positively
known that if he had waited about a month longer the road would have
gone into bankruptcy and have fallen into his lap on his own terms. In
that case the West Shore would have followed suit.
In such an event I believe Mr. Vanderbilt would have been saved an
immense amount of money, remorse and mental strain, which, no doubt,
aggravated the malady which was the cause of his sudden death. He
realized his error when it was too late, and it was a source of great
mental anxiety to him in his latter days. He was very sensitive, and
nothing afforded him more gratification than a clean and successful
transaction, which drew forth public approval, and in the purchase of
Nickel Plate he was caught napping. It was a mistake for which the
Commodore, had he been alive, could never have forgiven him.
The syndicate that built the road had solely for their object to land it
upon either Gould or Vanderbilt, and it was upon its last legs at the
time it made the transfer to Mr. Vanderbilt. The syndicate laid a trap
for him. It had been coquetting with Mr. Gould in reference to the
purchase, and had made it to appear, through the press and other
channels of plausible rumors, that he had an eye upon the road. Mr.
Gould had occasion to go West about this time and the syndicate invited
him to make his homeward trip over the road, taking particular pains
that all these rumors and reports should reach the ears of Mr.
Vanderbilt, who was impressed with the idea that Mr. Gould’s trip was
one of inspection, with the intention of buying the road if he did not
anticipate him. This was just what the syndicate desired, and the
successful consummation of their financial plot.
The purchase was made solely in the interest of Lake Shore, as it was a
parallel road, and the road was afterwards turned over to the Lake Shore
Company.
The conception of the scheme was to build the road at a nominal price
and sell it to Mr. Vanderbilt as high as possible, and this was duly
accomplished. I am quite satisfied that if this road had not been sold
at this particular time it would then have gone into the hands of a
receiver, while a number of the syndicate, who had built the road, would
have failed, and a general crash would have ensued. This Mr.
Vanderbilt’s purchase averted for the time, and served to prolong the
period of its coming until May, 1884.
For a few years prior to his death Mr. Vanderbilt was in a weak
condition. This cause of mental annoyance came upon him at a time when
he was not robust enough to bear it and had not sufficient strength to
throw it off. He had been seized with a slight paralytic stroke, the
only visible effect of which was a twitching of the lower lip. Shortly
after this he lost the entire sight of one eye, about a year before his
death. This was not generally known to the public, however, and it was
the principal cause of his giving up his favorite pastime of driving,
which was one of his greatest pleasures and the chief source of mental
diversion from the heavy weight of his worldly cares and
responsibilities.
The day after Mr. Vanderbilt’s death I sent the following circular to my
customers:
“As Mr. Wm. H. Vanderbilt was a very important factor in Wall
Street business, I feel it incumbent upon me to issue a letter
to my friends and clients on the subject of his decease,
especially as the loss to the Street is a most important one,
and certainly will be felt for some time to come. Mr. Vanderbilt
undoubtedly, at the time of his death, was the largest holder of
American securities in the world, and had innumerable followers,
who were also vast holders of similar properties as those he
controlled, who acted more or less in concert with him, and who
were at his beck and call. When he told them to buy or sell they
would do so. These parties have now lost a valuable friend and
counsellor, and a leader in whom they believed implicitly. In
such quarters, for some time to come at least, more or less of a
dazed condition will prevail, precisely, the same as would exist
in an army in the event of the general in command having been
killed. Mr. Vanderbilt was a bolder and larger operator than his
father ever dared to be, as he spread out over more interests.
The market has lost an able leader, who was usually a builder-up
of the interests of the entire country, and unlike many other
large operators, who, at times, are on that side, but quite as
frequently on the wrecking side. It will be a long while before
so conspicuous and valiant a leader as Mr. Wm. H. Vanderbilt
will be forthcoming, and the market will, for a protracted
period, have cause to mourn its great loss. It is, indeed,
fortunate that Mr. Vanderbilt lived long enough to see the
completion of the consolidation of the West Shore and New York
Central roads; since both roads are under the able direction of
Mr. Depew, they are now secure from future harm; but the same
cannot be said of the South Pennsylvania enterprise, as
negotiations remain in connection therewith unfinished, which
will suffer by Mr. Vanderbilt’s death, and it will be found
difficult, I fear, for any other man to knit the discordant
elements together that at present exist in that quarter. There
is enough in this for some ground of apprehension, and this
matter may, therefore, disturb the harmony of the great trunk
lines, as this speck of trouble may yet prove a cancer in the
body of the stock market. As it is capable of infusing its
poison elsewhere, beyond where it is at present located, it is
certain that there will be required skillful surgery to prevent
inoculation therefrom.
“The stock market started off to-day as if held by concerted
action, and the appearances indicating that such attitude might
prevail to bridge over the Vanderbilt shock. While prices had a
moderate break, it was scarcely adequate as a fitting tribute of
respect to Mr. Vanderbilt’s memory, as the great General of the
Army of Finance of this country. It was unmistakable, however,
that the large selling was mostly of long stock, coming from
numerous frightened holders who were shaken out, and it was very
evident that the bears were more conspicuous as buyers than as
sellers, to cover their short sales made during the previous
several days. I do not think that the market had, considering
the power it has lost in the death of Mr. Vanderbilt, as much of
a break as should have occurred; still, it must be remembered,
that the dealings have been so enormous during the past month,
which represent the immense number of operators now interested
in the market, that it has taken from it a character which
previously existed as a one man market, and therefore it is
owing to this fact that the removal of any one man, or a half
dozen of them, by death or otherwise, could not bring about, at
the present time, any very wide and lasting disaster to Wall
Street. This market, as I have repeatedly stated, can fairly be
now considered the market for the world, and beyond the
permanent reach of any one man doing it any lasting harm. As Mr.
Vanderbilt invented pegging stocks, and stood his ground when
taken better than any one that will survive him in that plan of
strategic movement, he will, in that particular alone, be
sorrowfully missed. I am of the opinion, now that Mr. Vanderbilt
is no more, that Mr. Gould’s plan of leaving the Street will
undergo a modification, at least by his remaining for some time
longer at the helm. This will prove, in such an event, an
important factor in the future, especially as the bulls of the
Street have for at least a year past recognized Mr. Gould in the
light of a benefactor. To them he has proved a brave and able
leader, and the field is now clear for him to become
commander-in-chief of all the forces, without any one to dispute
his right thereto. This should be enough to fire his ambition
and keep him in our midst, and probably will.”
Among the popular and erroneous impressions entertained
regarding Wm. H. Vanderbilt, the one that he was no judge of
pictures seemed to have taken deep root in the public mind,
except among the few who knew him intimately, and the celebrated
artists whom he visited and from whom he purchased many of the
works of art which adorn his great gallery in Fifth avenue, now
in charge of his youngest son, George. That Mr. Vanderbilt had
an intimate knowledge and correct appreciation of true art has
been amply proved by the highest authority. I am well aware that
some years ago this statement would have been ridiculed by the
majority of the newspapers; but Mr. Vanderbilt never bought a
picture that he did not fully understand in his own simple,
unaffected method of judgment. He may not have been capable of
the highest flights of fancy, necessary to follow the poetic
imagination of the artist to its extreme height, but he was
equal to the task of grasping all the material essentials from a
common-sense point of view.
So far from making any pretence of being a lover of art, he was
in the habit of saying, when a handsome painting was shown him,
“It may be very fine, but until I can appreciate its beauty I
shall not buy it.”
Apropos of his modesty and judgment, in regard to the fidelity
to nature of a picture, a circumstance is related of his visit
to Boucheron, a French picture dealer, where he wanted to see a
painting by Troyon, with the object of buying it. A yoke of oxen
turning from the plough to leave the field is the subject.
Experts in art had taken exception to the manner in which the
cattle left the field. When Mr. Vanderbilt’s opinion was asked,
he said, “I don’t know as much about the quality of the picture
as I do about the truth of the actions of the cattle. I have
seen them act like that hundreds of times.” The artists present
submitted to his judgment, as he knew more about the oxen than
they did. When in France he visited the celebrated Rosa Bonheur,
at Fontainebleau, who was about his own age, and gave her an
order for two pictures, which she painted to his entire
satisfaction. He had his portrait painted by the celebrated
Meissonier, to whom he paid nearly $200,000 for seven pictures.
He purchased in Germany this artist’s masterpiece, “The
Information—General Desaix and the Captured Peasant,” for
$40,000, giving Meissonier, who had not seen it for many years,
a great surprise, and filling the heart of the enthusiastic