Twenty-eight years in Wall Street

Front matter

ifREEl;

H &

CORNELL

Chapter I. My Dbbtit In Wall Street

Results of tlie Panic ol 1857. — Creating a Revolution in the Methods of Doing Business in Wall Street.— The Old "Fogies " of the Street, and How They were Surprised. — Their Prejudices and How they Originated. — The Struggle of the Young Bloods for Membership. — The Youthful Element in Finance Peculiar to this Country. — The Palmy Days of Little, Drew and Morse. — The Origin of " Corners," and the " Option" Limit of Sixty Days 5

Chapter II. Wall Street As A Civilizer

Clerical Obliquity of Judgment About Wall Street Affairs. — The Slanderous Eloquence of Talmage. — Wall Street a Great Distributor, as Exhibited in the Clearing House Transactions.— Popular Delusions in Regard to Speculation. — -Wiiat Our Revolutionary Sires Advised About Improving the Industrial Arts, Showing the Striking Contrast Between Their Views and the Way Lord Salisbury Wanted to Fix Things for This Country 13

Chapter III. How To Make Monet In Wall Street

How to Take Advantage of Periodical Panics in Order to Make Money. Wholesome Advice toYoung Speculators. — Alleged "Points" from Big Speculators End in Loss or Disaster. — Professional Advice the Surest and Cheapest, and How and Where to Obtain It.. 19

CHAPTER IV. IMPORTANCE Olf BUSINESS TRAINING

Sons of Independent Gentlemen make very bad Clerks. —They become Unpopular with the Other Boys, and must Eventually Go. — Night Dancing and Late Suppers don't Contribute to Business Success.— Give Merit its True Reward. — Keeping Worthless Pretense in its True Position. — Running viii. CONTENTS.

Public Offices on Business Principles.— A Pieee of Gratuitous Advice for the Administration — A CoUege Course not in General Calculated to make e. Good Business Man.— The Question of Adaptability Important.— Children should be Encouraged in the Occupation for which they show a Preference. — Thoughts on the Army and Navy

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Chapter V. Personal Honor Op Wall Street Men

Breach of Trust Rare Among "Wall Street Men.— The English Clergyman's Notion of Talm age's Tirades A.gainst Wall Street. — Adventurous Thieves Have No Sympathiizers Among Wall Street Operators.— Early Training Necessary for Success in Speculation.— Ferdinand Ward's Evil Genius. — A Great Business can only be Built up on Honest Principles.— Great Generals Make Poor Financiers, Through Want of Early Training.— Practical Business is the Best College 33

CHAPTER VI. WALL STREET DtJKINQ THE WAR

The Fmanoiers of Wall Street Assist the Government in the Hour of the Country's Peril. — The Issue of the Treasury Notes. — Jay Cooke's Northern Pacific Scheme Precipitates the Panic of 1873.— Wall Street Has Played a Prominent Part in the Great Evolution and Progress of the Present Age 39

Chapter VII. More War Reminiscences — British And Napoleonic Designs

How Napoleon Defied the Monroe Doctrine. — The Banquet to Romero. — Speeches by ;Eminent Financiers, Jurists and Business Men.— The Eloquent Address of Romero Against French Intervention. — Napoleon shows his Animus by Destroying the Newspapers Containing the Report of the Banquet— The Emperor Plotting with Representatives of the English Parliament to Aid the Confederates and Make War on the United States 45

Chapter VIII. Foreign Intrigues Against American Liberty

How the Imperial Pirates of France and England Were Frightened Off Through the Diplomacy of Seward.- Ominous

CONTENTS*

Appearance of ihe Russian Fleet in American Waters. — Napoleon Aims at the Creation of an Empire West of tlie Mississippi, and tlie Restoration of the Old French Colonics. — Plotting with Slidell, Benjamin, Lindsay, Roebuck and Others. — Urging England to Recognize the Confederacy. — Disraeli Explains England's iJesigns and Diplomacy. — After the Nayal "Victory of Farragut and the Capture of 'New Orleans England Hesitates Through Fear, and Napoleon Changes His Tactics. — Renewal of Intrigues Between England and France.— Their Dastardly Purposes Defeated by the Victories of Gettysburg, Vicksburg and the General Triumph of the Union Arms 59

Chapter IX. Secketart Chase And The Tkbasoby

The Depleted Condition of the Treasury when Mr. Chase took Of&ce. — Preparations for War and Great Excitement in Washington. — Chivalrous Southerners in a Ferment. — Officials Up in Arms in Defence of their Menaced Positions. —Miscalculation with Regard to the Prol^ble Duration oC the War. — A Visit to Washington and an Interview with Secretary Chase. — Disappointment about the Sale of Government Bonds. — A Panic Precipitated in Wall Street.— Millionaii'es Reduced to Indigence in a Few Hours. — Miraculously Saved from the Wreck.— How it Happened 7S

Chapter X. The National Banks

Secretary Chase Considers the Problem of Providing a National Currency.— How E. G. Spaulding takes a Prominent Part in the Discussion of the Bank Act. - The Act Founded on tlie Bank Act of the State of New York. — Effect of the Act ' upon the Credit of the Country. — A New System of Banking Required 81

Chapter XI. The New Tokk Stock Exchange

History of the Organization for Ninety-four Years. — From a Button- Wood Tree to a Palace Costing Millions of Dollars. — Enormous Growth and Development of the Business. - How the Present Stock Exchange was Formed by the Consolidation of other Financial Bodies. — Patriotic Action During the War Period.— Reminiscences of Men and Events 87

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CHAPTER XII. "COKNEES" AND THEIR EFFECT ON VAiDBS

The Senate Committee on "Corners" and " Futures.'-Speculation Beneficial to the Country at Large.— A Regulator of Values, and an Important Agent in the Prevention of Panics.—" Corners" in all kinds of Business . —How A. T. Stewart made " Corners "—All Importing Firms deal in '• Futures."— Legislation Against "Corners" would stop Enterprise and cause Stagnation in Business. — Only the Conspirators themselves get hurt in " Corners."— The Black Friday " Corner." — Speculation in Grain Beneficial to Consumers "'■'

Chapter XIII. The Commodore's " Corners."

The Great Hudson " Corner."- Commodore Vanderbilt the "Boss" of the Situation.— The "Corner" Forced upon Him. — How he Managed the Trick of getting the Bears to "Turn" the Stock, and then caught them.— His able Device of Unloading while Forcing the Bears to Cover at High Figures.— The Harlem "Corner." — The Common Council Betrayed the Commodore, but were Caught in their own Trap, and Lost Millions. —The Legislature Attempt the same Game, and meet with a Similar Fate 107

Chapter XIV. Daniel Drew

Drew, like Vanderbilt, an Example of Great Success without Education. — Controlled more Ready Cash than any mau in America. — Drew goes Down as Gould Rises. — " His Touch is Death."— Prediction of Drew's Fall. — His Thirteen Millions Vanish.— How he caught the Operators in "Oshkosh" by the Handkerchief Trick. — The Beginning of " Uncle Daniel's" Troubles. — The Convertible Bond Trick. — The "Corner" of 1866. — Millions Lost and Won in a Day. — Interesting Anecdote of the Youth who Speculated outside the Pool, and was Fed by Drew's Brokers 117

Chapter XV. Drew And Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt Essays to Swallow Erie, and Has a Narrow Escape from Choking. — He Tries to make Drew Commit Financial Suicide. — Manipulating the Stock Market and the Law Courts at the Same Time.— Attempts to "Tie Up" the

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Hands of Drew.— Manufacturing Bonds with tlie Erie Paper Mill and Printing Press. — Fisk Steals the Boolts and Evades the Injunction. —Drew Throws Fifty Thousand Shares on the Market and Defeats the Commodore. — The "Corner" is Broken and Becomes a Boomerang. — Vanderbilt's Fury Knows no Bounds. — In his Rage he Applies to the Courts. — The Clique's Inglorious Flight to Jersey City. — Drew Crosses the Ferry with Seven Millions of Vanderbilt's Money. — The Commodore's Attempt to Reach the Refugees. — A Detective Bribes a Waiter at Taylor's Hotel, who Delivers the Commodore's Letter, which Brings Drew to Terms. — Senator Mattoon gets on the right side of Both Parties "... 137

Chapter XVI. Dkbw And The Erie "c0rnee8."

A Harmonious Understanding with the Commodore. — How the Compromise was Effected. — An Interesting Interview with Fisk and Gould in the Commodore's Bed-Room. — How . Richard Sohell Raised the Wind for the Commodore. — Drew's Share of the Spoils. — He Tries to Retire from Wall Street, but Can't. — The Settlement that Cost Erie Nine Millions.— Grould and Fisk "Water " Erie again, to the Extent of Twenty-three Millions, but leave Drew out. — "Uncle Daniel " Returns to the Street. — He is Inveigled into a Blind Pool by Gould and Fisk, Loses a Million and Retreats from the Pool. — He then Operates Alone on the " Short " Side and Throws Away Millions. — He Tries Prayer but it "Availeth Not." — "It's no Use, Brother, the Market Still Goes Up." — Praying and Watching the Ticker. — Hope lessly " Cornered " and Ruined by his Former Pupils and Partners 137

CHAPTER XVTI.

INTERESTING EPISODES IN DKEW'S LIFE.

Incidents in the Early Life of Drew, and How he Began to Make Money. — He Borrows Money from Henry Astor, Buys Cattle in Ohio and Drives them over the Alleghany Mountains under Great Hardship and Suffering. — His Great Career as a Steamboat Man, and his Opposition to Vanderbilt. — His Marriage and Family. — He Builds and Endows Religious and Educational Institutions. — Returns to his Old Home after his Speculative Fall, but can find No Rest so Par away from Wall Street. — His Hopes through Wm. H. Vanderbilt of another Start in Life. — His Bankruptcy, atii. CONTENTS.

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Liabilities aud Wardrobe.— His Sudden out Peaceful End.— Characteristic Stories of his Eccentricities 147

Chapter XVIII. Panics.— Their Causes.— Hot Fab Preventable

Not Accidental Freaks of the Market.— We are Still a Nation of Pioneers.— The Question of Panics Peculiarly American. — Violent Oscillations in Trade Owing to the Great Mass of New and Immature Undertakings. — Uncertainty about the Intrinsic Value of Properties. — Sudden Shrinkage of Railroad Properties a Fruitful Cause of Panics.— Risks and Panics Inseparable from Pioneering Enterprise. — We are Becoming Less Dependent on the Money Markets of Europe. — In Panics much Depends upon the Prudence and Self-control of the Money-Lenders. — The Law which Compels a Reserve Fund in the National Banks is at Certain Crises a Provocative of Panics. — George I. Seney.— John C. Bno. — Ferdinand Ward. — The Clearing House as a Preventive of Panics 157

Chapter XIX. Old-time Panics

The Panic of 1837.— How it was Brought About.— The State Banks. — How they Expanded their Loans under Government Patronage. — Speculation was Stimulated and Values Became Inflated. — President Jackson's " Specie Circular" Precipitates the Pan ic— Bank Contraction s an d Consequent Failures.— Mixing up Business and Politics.— A General Collapse, with Intense Suffering 175

Chapter XX. The True Story Op Black Friday Told For The First Time

The Great Black Friday Scheme originates in patriotic motives. Advising Boutwell and Grant to sell Gold.— The part Jim Fisk played in the Speculative Drama.— "Gone where the Woodbine Twineth."— A general state of Chaos in Wall Street.— How the Israelite Fainted.—" What ish the prish now?-'— Gould the Head Centre of the Plot to "Corner" Gold.— How he Managed to Draw Ample Means from Erie. -Gould and Fisk Attempt to Manipulate President Grant and Compromise him and his Family in the Plot.— Scenes and Incidents of the Great Speculative Drama 181

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Chapter XXI. Causes Op Loss In Bpecttlation

Inadequate Information. — False Information. — Defectsof News Agencies.— InsufBoiency of Margins. — Dangers of Personal Idiosyncrasies.— Operating in Season and out of Season. — Necessity of Intelligence, Judgment and Nerve. — An Ideal Standard.— What Makes a King Among Speculators ? 201

CHAPTER XXII. ■VTLIiARD AND HIS SPECULATIONS

Return of the Renowned Speculator to Wall Street. — Recalling the Famous " Blind " Pool in Northern Pacific. — How Villard Captured Northern Pacific— Pursuing the Tactics of Old Vanderbilt. — Raising Twelve Million Dollars on Paper Credit. — Villard Emerges from the "Blind" Pool a Great Railroad Magnate. — He Inflates his Great Scheme from Nothing to One Hundred Million Dollars. — His Unique Methods of Watering Stock as Compared with those of George I. Seney 209

Chapter XXIII. Pbedinand Ward

Peculiar Power and Methods of the Prince of Swindlers.— How , he Duped Astute Financiers and Business Men of all Sorts, and Secured the Support of Eminent Statesmen and Leading Bank Officers, whom he Robbed of Millions of Money — The most Artful Dodger of Modern Times. — The Truth about the Swindle Practiced upon General Grant and his Family. 315

Chapter XXIV

HENRY N. SMITH.

How Mr. Smith Started in Life and became a Successful Operator.— His connection with the Tweed " Ring," and how he and the Famous " Boss " made Lucky Speculations, through the use of the City Funds, in Making a Tight Money Market.— On the Verge of Ruin in a Pool with W. K. Vanderbilt.— He is Converted to the Bear Side by Woerishoffer, and Again Makes Money, but by Persistence in his Bearish Policy Ruins himself and Drags Wm. Heath & Co. down also 223

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Chapter XXV. Kebne's Caeebr

He Starts in Speculation as a " Curbstone " Broker.— A Lucky Hit in a Mining Stock Puts Him on the Bead to be a Millionaire.— His Speculative Encounter with the Bonanza Eings. — He Makes Pour Millions, and Major Selorer brings him to Wall Street, where they Form an Alliance with Grould, Who "Euchres" Both of Them. — Selover Drops Gould in an Area Way. — Keens Goes Alone and Adds Nine Millions More to His Fortune. — He Then Speculates Recklessly in Everything. — Suffers a Sudden Reversal and Gets Swamped. — Overwhelming Disaster in a Bear Campaign, Led by Gould and Cammack, in which Keene Loses Seven Millions.— His Desperate Attempts to Recover a Part Entail Further Losses, and He Approaches the End of His Thirteen Mi iions.— His Princely Liberality and Social Relations ■with Sam Ward and Others , 329

CHAPTER XXVI. OtJR RAILROAD METHODS

Deceptive Financiering.- Over-Capitalization. — Stock " Watering."—Financial Reconstructions. — Losses to the Public. — Profits of Oonstructors.— Bad Reputation of our Railroad Securities.— Unjust and Dangerous Distribution of the Public Wealth 241

Chapter XXVII. The Georgia Repudiation Bond Swindle

How a Sovereign Southern State Cheated the Northern Men who Helped Her in Distress..- A New Way to Pay Old Debts.— Cancellation by Repudiation of Just Claims for Cash Loaned to Sustain the State Government, Build Public Schools and Make Needed Improvements. — Bottom Facts ■ of the Outrage.— The Recent Attempt to Place a New Issue of Georgia Bonds on the Market while the Old ones Remain Unpaid.— The Case before the Attorney-General of the State of New York.— He Examines the Legal Status of the Bonds in Connection with the Savings Banks.— His Decision Prohibits these Institutions from Investing the Hard Earnings of the Working People in these Doubtful and Dangerous Securities.— A Bold Effort to have the Fresh Issue of Georgia Paper put upon the List of Legitimate Securities of the New York Stock Exchange Firmly Opposed and Eventually Frustrated 055

Contents

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Chapter XXVIII. Akdrew Johnson's Vagakies

"Swinging Around the Circle." — How Mr. Johnson Came to Visit New York on His Remarkable Tour. — The Grand Reception at Delmonlco's. — The President Loses His Temper at Albany and Becomes au Object o( Public Ridicule. — His Proclamation of "My Policy" Ironically Received. — Returns to Washington Disgraced. — The Massacre of New Orleans. — The Impeachment of the President 289

Chapter XXIX. The DIX Convention

How the War Democrat, General Dix, was Elected Governor by the Republican Party. — The Candidates of Senator Conlding Rejected. — How Dix was Sprung on the Convention, to the Consternation of the Caucus. — Judge Robertson's Disappointment. — Exciting Scenes in the Convention. — General Dix declines the Nomination, but Reconsiders and Accepts on the Advice of His Wife and General Grant. — How Dix's Election Ensures Grant's Second Term as President 297

CHAPTER XXX. CONSECIUENCES OF THE tJTICA (DIX'S) CONVENTION

A Chapter of Secret History. — Conkling gets the Credit for DLx's Nomination and His " Silence Gives Consent " to the Honor. — Robertson Regards Him as a Marplot. — The Sena-

^ tor Innocently Condemned. — The Misunderstanding which Defeated Grant for tlie Third Term, and Elected Garfleld. — How the Noble " 306 " were Discomfited. — " Anything to Beat Grant." — The Stalwarts and the Half Breeds. — " Me Too " — The Excitement which Aroused Guiteau's Murderous Spirit to Kill Garfield 307

Chapter XXXI. Gkant's Second Teem

The Best Man for the Position and Most Deserving of the Honor. — How the " Boom " was Worked up in Favor of Grant. — The Great Pmanciers and Speculators all Come io 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

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PAGE, were Appreciated by the Friends of the Candidate, licading Representatives of the Business Community and the Pubhc Press Generally, Irrespective of Party 313

Chapter XXXII. The Tweed Rinq, And The Committee Of Sevbktt

The Ring Makes Itself Useful in Speculative Deals. — How- 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.— Tlie Taxpayers Terrorized by Boss Tweed and his Minions — How " Slippery Dick" got Himself Whitewashed. —Offering the OfBce 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 327

Chapter XXXIII

HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.

How Tilden began to make His Fortune in Connection with

William H. Havemeyer.— Tildeu'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 WiU and Testament.— The Attempt to Break that Precious Public Document ^^^

Chapter XXXIV. Commodore Vanderbilt.-how His Mammoth Fortune Was Accumulated

Ferryman. -Steamboat Owuer.-Runs a Great Commercial 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 Portune.-Its Vast Increase by Wm H 345

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Chapter XXXV

WM. H. TANDERBILT.

A Builder instead of a Destroyer of Public Values.— His 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.— Aa 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 Comeel. — Gladstone's Idea of the Vanderbilt Fortune.— Interview of Chaunoey M. Depew with the G. O. M. on the subject. — The great Vanderbilt Mansion and the Celebrated Ball. — The Immense Picture GaUery. — 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 355

Chapter XXXVI. " Yottng Coenbbl."

The Eccentricities of Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt, 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 375

CHAPTER XXXVII. THE TOtnjGt VAHBEKBILTS AND THEIR P0HTUNE8

Remarkablefor Physical and Intellectual Ability. — The Mixture of Races and the Law of Selection.— TheWonderful Will and xviil. CONTEwTtf.

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tha Wise DlsirmuTJoii oi Two Hundred Milliona.— 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 Railrojd System and its Great Army of Employes.- The Young Men Cautious About Speculating, and Conservative is their Expenses Generally 587

Chapter Xxxviii. The Rothschilds

The Beginning of the Financial Career of the Great House of Rothschild.— The Hessian Blood Money was the Great Foundation of their Fortune.— How the Firm of the Five Original Brothers was Constituted. — Kathan 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 tlie London Stock Exchange. — His Terror of being Assassinated. — His Death Causes a Panic on the London Exchange and

the Bourses 397

Chapter XXXIX. Teavees

The Unique Character of Travers. — His Versatile Attainments. — Althougli 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 Bat. — 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. &o. — Death of the Great Wit and Humorist, and some of His Last Witty Sayings 407

Chapter XL

CHAELBS F. WOBEISHOFFER.

The Career of Charles P. Woerlshoffer and the Resultant 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

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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 425

Chapter XLI. ■women As Spbctjlatoes

Wall Street no Place for Women. — They Lack the Mental Equipment. — False Defenses of Feminine Financiers. — The Claflin Sisters and Commodore Vanderbilt. — Fortune and Reputation Alike Endangered 437

Eastward the Star of Wealth and the Tide of Beauty Take their Course. — Influence of the Pair 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 TTp nearly Forty Millions. — D. O. Mills — an Astute and Bold Financier. — Courage and Caution Combined. — His Kapld Rise in California. — He Makes a Fortune by Investing in Lake Shore Stock. — Princes of the Pacific Slope. — Maokay, 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 447

Chapter XLIII. Kailroad Investments

Vastness of our Railroad System. — Its Cost. — Fall in the Rate of Interest. — Tendency to a Four Per Cent. Rate on Rail-

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Chapter XLIV. The Silver Question

Its Fundamental Importance. — Dangers of Neglecting it. — Attempts at Evasion. — How it must be Finally met. — Silver Paper Currency Schemes, and their Futility 481

Chapter XLV. The Labor Question

Harmony Between the Representatives of Capital and 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 Hate of Wages. — Opinion of John Stuart Mill on this Subject. — Compelling a Uniform Bate 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 491

Chapter XLVI. An Impoutaut Synopsis

A Resume in Brief of the Leading Events Connected with

Wall Street Affairs for Seventy-seven Tears gOS

CHAPTER XL VII.

INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OP THE BAHTHOLDI 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 525.

Chapter XLVIII. Large Fortunes And Their Disposition

How the Fortunes of the Astors were Made.-George Peabody and His Philanthropic Sohemes.-Johns Hopkins and his Peouliarities.-A. T. Stewart and his Abortive Plans -A

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Sculptor's Opinion of his Head. — Eooentricitie» of Stephen Qirard, 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 529

CHAPTER XLIX. SOUTHEailf AFFAIRS IN SPECULATION. *

The Preservation of the Union a Great Blessing. — To Let them " Secesh " would have been National Suicide. — How Immigration has Assisted National Prosperity. — Rescued from the Dynastic Oppression of European Governments. — Showing Good Eellowship towards the Southern People and Aiding them in their Internal Improvements.— The South,^ Immediately after Ihe War, had Greater Advantages thai the North for Making Material Progress. — The Business of the North was Inflated. — The States of Georgia and Alabama Offered Inviting Fields for Investment. — Issuing State Securities, Cheating and Repudiating. — President Johnson Chiefly to Blame for the Breach of Faith with Investors who were Swindled out of their Money.— Revenge and Avarice Unite in Financial Repudiation 541

Chapter L. Western And Southern Financial Leaders

-Alfred Sully, his Origin and Successful Career. — Calvin S. Brice, a Financier of Ability. — General Samuel Thomas, Prominent in the Southern Railroad System. — General Thomas M. Logan, a Successful Man in Railroading and Mining. — Financial Chieftains of Baltimore. — The Garretts. — ^Their Great Success as Railroad Managers. — Portrait oE Robert Garrett 553

Chapter LI. Arbitration

How the Sysjiem of Settling Disputes and Misunderstandings by Arbitration has Worked in the Stock Exchange.— ^Why not Extend the System to Business Matters Generally ? — Its Great Advantages over Going to Law. — It is Cheap and has no Vexatious Delays. — Trial by Jury a Partial Failure. — Some Prominent Cases in Point. — Jury " Fixing" and its tii. CONTENTS.

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Consequences.— How Juries are Swayed by tlieir Sympathies.—A Curious Miscarriage of Justice before a Referee.— Tlie Little Game of the Diamond Broker 561

Chapter LII. Ne-w Tokk As A Financial Centre

Its Past, Its Present, Its Future. — Banking Decadence. — Growth of Interior Centres.— Obstruction from the National Bank Laws. — Relief Demanded. — Requirements of Ihe Future 577

Chapter LIII. Eaethquakb Theories And Wall Street Affairs

The Shock of Erery Calamity Pelt in WaU Street. — Earthquakes the only Disasters which seem to Defy the Power of Precaution.— Becoming a Subject of Serious Thought for Wall Street Men and Business Men.— The Volcanic Theory of Earthquakes. — Other Causes at Work Producing these Terrific Upheavals. — Why Charleston was more Severely Shaken Up than New York. — Why the Southern Earthquake did not Strike Wall Street with Great Force. — Earthquakes Likely to Become the Great Disasters of the Future. 589

Chapter LIV. August Bblmont

The American Representative of the Rothschilds — Begins Life in the Rothschilds' House in Frankfort. — Consul General to Austria and Minister to the Hague. — A Great Financier and a Connoisseur in Art 595

Chapter LV. The Socialist Objections To The Present Order Of Society Ex- Amined

Increase of Population and the Growing Pressure upon the Means of Subsistence. — Education and Moral Improvement the True Remedy for Existing or Threatened Evils. — Errors of Communism and Socialism. — How Sooialistio Leaders audPhilosophersRecognize the Truth.— Growth of Population Does Not MeanPoverty 599

Chapter LVI. Stock Exchange Cslebuities

How Wall Street Bankers' Nerves are Tried. — Fine Humor, Jocular Dispositions, and Scholarly Taste of Operators.

CONTENTS. XXlll.

PAGE.

George Gould as a Future Financial Power. — American Nobility Compared with European Aristocracy. — How the Irish Can Assist to Purge Great Britain of her Bilious Incubus of Nobility. — The Natural Nobility of our Own Country, and Their Destiny 603

CHAPTER LVTI.

A LOOK INTO THE PUTtlKE.

What we Are. — What we Are Preparing For. — What we are Destined to Do and to Become.— We are Entering on an Era of Seeming Impossibilities. — Yet the Inconceivable will be Realized 611

Chapter LVIII. Jay Gould

Kis Eirth and Early Eduoation.--Clerk in a Country Store. — He Invents a Mouse Trap. — Becomes a Civil Engineer and Surveys Delaware County. — Writes a Book and sells it. — Gets a Partnership in a Pennsylvania Tannery and soon Buys his Partner Out. — He comes to New York to sell his Leather, falls in love with a Leather Merchant's Daughter and Mairies Her. — Settles in the Metropolis and begins to deal in Railroads. — Buys a Bankrupt Road from his Father-in-law, reorganizes it and sells it at a considerable profit. — Henceforth he makes his Inoney dealing in Railroads. — His method of Buying, Reorganizing, and Selling Out at a Large Profit. — How he Managed Erie in connection with Fisk and Drew.— His Operations on Black Friday. — Checkmated by Commodore VanderbUt and obliged to Settle. — He makes Millions out of Wabash and Kansas & Texas. — His Venture in Union Pacific. — His Construction Companies.—Organization of American Union Telegraph, and his method of Absorbing and Getting Control of Western tTnion.— The Strike of the Telegraphers and his Great Encounter with the Knights of Labor and Trades Unionists. — Gould's First Yachting Expedition. — An exceedingly Humorous Story of his early Experience on tlie Water. — His StLitus as a Factor in Railrokd Management 619