Fifty years in Wall Street
previous day.
_February, 1886._—The trans-continental pool was ruptured. The railroads
declined to continue to pay the subsidy demanded by Pacific Mail.
_March, 1886._—Western Union declared a scrip dividend of 1½ per cent.
for the quarter. The scrip was made convertible into stock, and carried
the same rate of interest as the stock.—The representatives of the coal
companies met at a dinner party and reached “an agreement among
gentlemen” that the anthracite coal production for the year should not
exceed 33,250,000 tons.—F. B. Gowen joined the Drexel-Morgan syndicate
for the reorganization of Reading. The announcement caused a rapid
advance in all coal stocks.—The great strike on the Gould system of
railroads, inaugurated on the 7th, failed.—Heavy engagements of gold for
shipment abroad were made.
_April, 1886._—Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific were sold in
foreclosure.—Labor strikes at their height. The Lake Shore switchmen
struck in Chicago, and the Third Avenue horse car drivers in New York.
The troubles had a depressing influence on the stock market.
_May, 1886._—Charles Woerishoffer, bear operator, died May 9.—Chicago
anarchists attacked the police with bombs, killing and wounding many.
Police used revolvers freely and many rioters fell. Anarchists were
sentenced to death.—The strike on the Southwestern system was officially
declared off on the 1st. The men were completely beaten after a contest
of six weeks.—Tasker Marvin, bull operator, failed. Marketing of long
stock caused decline. The depression was aided by existing labor
troubles.
_June, 1886._—Western Union passed its dividend.
_November, 1886._—The managers of the trunk lines reaffirmed the
presidents’ agreement of the previous year to maintain rates.—Richmond &
West Point Terminal became very active and strong on the purchase by the
company of the control of Richmond & Danville.—There were extraordinary
buoyancy and speculative activity in stocks. Low priced non-dividend
payers were largely dealt in. One specialty after another was “boomed,”
and in some instances large profits were made.
_December, 1886._—About $10,740,000 in gold was imported at New York
during the month.—Prices toppled over on the 15th. All kinds of cheap
stocks had been boomed by cliques, when, on money becoming tight, there
was a rush to realize. Sales reached the unprecedented figure of
1,095,159 shares. The most conspicuous stocks in the decline were
Philadelphia & Reading and New York & New England. No financial disaster
or failure of importance occurred. There was much uneasiness for several
days, but a better feeling soon set in, although speculation was checked
by the prevailing high rate for money.—The Inter-State Commerce bill was
introduced in Congress.
_January, 1887._—On a report that Hocking Valley had suffered by
irregularities of former directors, stock broke 1½ points. The
consumption of iron in the United States exceeded that of Great Britain
for the first time in 1886. The Inter-State Commerce Bill was passed by
the House Jan. 21, by a vote of 5 to 1. European war rumors caused
foreign selling and a break in the market of 2 to 5 points. There was a
complete recovery on the following day.
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CHAPTER XLVII.
INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BARTHOLDI
STATUE.
GREAT AS AN ACHIEVEMENT OF ART, BUT GREATER AS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE
IDEA OF UNIVERSAL FREEDOM THE WORLD OVER.—IT IS A POETIC IDEA OF A
UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC.—ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE WORLD MUST RESULT IN THE
FREEDOM OF MAN.
The following was sent by me to the New York _World_, as briefly
embodying my views on Bartholdi’s great work, a few days prior to the
dedication of the Statue of Liberty:
“When, several years ago, the gigantic forearm, with the torch in its
hand, of the Statue of Liberty was exhibited in Madison square, the
people who gazed at it with idle curiosity had little idea that the
mammoth structure of which it was a part would so soon be completed, or
that it would be so great an achievement as it now stands. Thanks to the
New York _World_, which gave the impetus to the subscription fund
movement, which enabled the great sculptor to realize the greatest
artistic dream of his life within a reasonable period. Some people may
imagine that the time has been long, but many people who understood the
magnitude of the work, and observed the slowness of the subscriptions,
had no hope of seeing it finished in this generation prior to the time
the subscription for the pedestal was under way.
“Until the last few days, when this colossal goddess arose on Bedloe’s
Island in all her full, finished and magnificent proportions and
artistic splendor, like the ancient divinity emerging from the foam of
the sea, the people did not begin to realize the magnitude of
Bartholdi’s idea. In mere mechanical size the statue with its
appurtenances excel anything and everything of the same character in the
world. It is the biggest thing of its kind either ancient or modern, and
is, therefore, the most appropriate emblem to show forth the evolution
and the international and historic associations of the two greatest
Republics that the world has yet seen. The Colossus of Rhodes, the great
Sphinx and other colossal statues sink into insignificance when compared
with the latest production of Bartholdi’s brain.
“But great as the statue is as a work of art, the international idea
which it embodies is greater still. When taken in connection with that
earlier and comparatively insignificant effort of the same eminent
artist, the Statue of Lafayette in Union square, the Colossus of Liberty
suggests a whole century of history, replete with greater events than
the thousand years which preceded it. In these two statues the
interdependence of the two great nations is clearly portrayed, and their
destiny as the pioneers of universal Republicanism brought out in bold
relief. If Tennyson’s poetic dream of a universal Republic is ever to be
realized it will come through the idea which the chisel of Bartholdi has
immortalized, and which the _World_ has been chiefly instrumental in
providing with a local habitation and a name on Bedloe’s Island.
European monarchs are now trembling on their thrones, which are doomed
to crumble into ruins at no distant day, through the very idea which
‘The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World’ is destined to propagate
from this day forward in its imposing position in our spacious harbor.
The Israelites of old were cured of their bodily maladies by gazing at a
serpent erected on a pole. In a similar way the politically afflicted
and oppressed of all nations, as soon as they emerge through the narrows
of our magnificent bay, either by day or night, will find a panacea for
all their ills in the sight of that wonderful statue, with all that its
name implies.
“And one word as to what is in that name which has been so severely
criticised. On account of it Americans have been charged with egotism,
but those who talk in this way seem to forget that Bartholdi himself, as
the representative of the French nation, is the author of the name. So,
as it comes from him in his representative capacity, we can receive it
with good grace, and without being amenable to any such charge as that
referred to. Taken, with all its broad, historical associations, I don’t
think the name is at all too pretentious. I have no hesitation in
predicting that, ere the present century draws to a close, results will
fully justify the assumption.
“The magnificent gift of the French people, and the years of toil and
study which Bartholdi has devoted, gratis, to his unprecedented labor of
love, cannot fail of the great and only reward which both have so
earnestly and magnanimously sought, namely—to enlighten the world.”
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CHAPTER XLVIII
LARGE FORTUNES AND THEIR DISPOSITION.
HOW THE FORTUNES OF THE ASTORS WERE MADE.—GEORGE PEABODY AND HIS
PHILANTHROPIC SCHEMES.—JOHNS HOPKINS AND HIS PECULIARITIES.—A. T.
STEWART AND HIS ABORTIVE PLANS.—A SCULPTOR’S OPINION OF HIS
HEAD.—ECCENTRICITIES OF STEPHEN GIRARD, AND HOW HE TREATED HIS POOR
SISTER.—HIS PENURIOUS HABITS AND GREAT DONATIONS.—JAMES LENOX AND
THE LIBRARY WHICH HE LEFT.—HOW PETER COOPER MADE HIS FORTUNE, AND
HIS LIBERAL GIFTS TO THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION.—SAMUEL J. TILDEN’S
MUNIFICENT BEQUESTS.—THE VANDERBILT CLINIC.—LICK, CORCORAN, STEVENS
AND CATHARINE WOLF.
I shall take a short review in this chapter of some of the most
prominent wealthy men who have been the architects of their own
fortunes, and comment briefly on their methods of disposing of their
estates.
In the United States, John Jacob Astor was one of the first to arrest
public attention in the matter of large fortunes. Before his day there
were few, if any, millionaires on this side of the Atlantic. Now there
are thousands of these lucky individuals. It is true, George Washington,
the Father of our country, was very comfortably fixed, and supported
aristocratic style in his domestic life, but he probably never was worth
more, all told, than $200,000. It is singular that none of his
successors have ever been worth even this amount. It was believed at one
time that Grant had accumulated a large amount of money and value, and
was fast approaching the financial status of a millionaire, but this
popular delusion was suddenly dispelled when he and his family were
victimized by the first young Napoleon of finance, Ferdinand Ward.
The founder of the now wealthy house of Astor and of the Astor Library
died in 1848, at the age of 85. He left the greater bulk of his estate
to his son, William B. Astor. He bequeathed $400,000 to the Astor
Library, also a few legacies, amounting in all, the library inclusive,
to about $500,000. His wealth, at the time of his death, was estimated
at twenty millions, a very large fortune at that time.
William B. Astor, who died in 1875, left $250,000 to the library, and
the large balance of his estate to his sons and widow.
The Astors have been characteristic for their benefactions, in a quiet
way, to a large number of public objects. Their estate is remarkable for
the way it has been kept intact, and for its steady and considerably
rapid improvement, and they are popular as landlords.
The elder Astor who came to this country from Waldorf in Germany, near
Heidelberg, before he was 20 years of age, and who started in life
dealing in furs, had a grand scheme on foot at one time for monopolizing
the fur trade of the whole world, which he had calculated would then
have brought him a million dollars a year. He was diverted from this
purpose by the large profits which he found in real estate, by dealing
in which he made most of his money; and the family has steadily adhered
to this line of speculation and investment through two generations.
The native American who, perhaps, ranks above all others in the
munificence of his gifts, and the beneficence of his purpose was George
Peabody. He was a poor Massachusetts boy, who, by hard industry, arose
to be one of the largest millionaires of his day. He was also a
philanthropist in the highest sense of the term. His fortune at one time
probably exceeded ten millions. His well-known benefactions, during his
life, exceeded seven million dollars, and it is supposed that he gave
away vast amounts in charity of which no definite account was kept.
Shortly before his death, in 1869, he bequeathed two and a half millions
as a building fund for lodging houses for the poor of London, and