The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-29 00:00:00

AN AMERICAN MERCHANT PRINCE.

The Times of Saturday, the 22nd, has an article
(from one of their Corresp3ndents), on the late Mr.
Stewart, which is so extremely interesting, that we
. .

give it nearly in its entirety :
" The late Alexander Turney Stewart, whgrecently died at
New York, was born in the year 1801 at Lisburn, in the North
of Ireland. At an early age he was placed under the care
and training of Mr. Lamb, a member of the Society of
Friends, commonly known as Quakers. To the discipline
acquired while living in this family Mr. Stewart traced much
of his after success in life. A scrupulous and unswerving
habit of truth and a strict regard to honesty in all his trans-
actions had been instilled into his mind by early association
with his Quaker friends. He set his face against everything
like commercial exaggeration, and hence, from his first out-
set in business, he resolved, no matter what might be the
result, never to deceive the public as to the value of the
goods offered by him for sale.
"The first eighteen years of Mr. Stewart's life were spent
in Ireland among the Quakers. He had been apprenticed to
a grocer in Belfast at the suggestion of his friend Mr Lamb;
but this initial attempt of Stewart in the way of business
proved a signal failure, luckily for himself. . . . It had been
Pre-arranged that a probationary period of a month or two
should be allowed before he was regularly bonndto the trade
and the premium paid to the grocer. On the occasion of
Stewart's next visit to his home he objected so much to the
drudgery of the business and the insuperable dislike he had
taken to the entire details of his etnploymeat, that, after
some hesitation, Mr. Lamb gave Stewart, by his special re-
quest, the sum of money which was to have been peel as the
price of apprenticeship to the grocer. So ended the first act
in his eventful life. All the capital that he could scrape to-
gether amounted to not quite a hundred pounds. With this
he set sail for the United States.
" Soon after he landed in New York he became intl-
. . . .
mate with the late Mr. Abraham Bell, also an Irishman and
a successful merchant. By him Stewart was often urged to
give up the idea of becoming a clergyman and to turn his at-
tention to business. To do this effectively he strongly advised
him to become a draper's assistant, that he might thus
acquire a practical knowledge of the trade. To this Stewart
always objected, and said that even ifhe were to enter 1 usi-
ness his experience as a grocer's apprentice made him resolve
that he should be his own master from the beginning. His
father's death, in 1823, brought him into the p )esession of a
small patrimony, amounting to about £6OO. To receive this
he had to go back to Ireland. Before leaving America an
acquaintance who had great experience in busitiess earnestly
entreated Stewart to give up the study of classics and throw
himselt with all his energy into the dry goods department.
He suggested to him a profitable investment in cer-
tain goods for the manufacture of which the north
of Ireland was at that time famous. And he added
that if it would enable Stewart to decide .on going
Into business he would be willing tc enter into partnership
with him. This seems to have diverted Stewart's attention
from the Church, and from that time forward he abandoned
his intention of entering the ministry. His ignorance even
of the very appearance of the much-praised articles of HMI
manufacture which were suggested as a lucrative specula-
tion may be judged of from the fact that it was only when
accidentally passing a large shop in Belfast that the idea
occurred to him of going in to inquire if they had such
things, and if he might be allowed to see them. It was a
kind of embroidery called` point insertion,' and scalloped
insertion' He bought a few yards of each, and with un-
affected simplicity asked the shopman whether there would
be any re luction if he were to purchase a hundred pounds'
worth. On feturning to his friends the same day be showed
them what he had bought, and mentioned the price. The
young ladies of the family said to him, Alexander, thee
must not buy for thyself. Thee knowest nothing about it.
We will bu.) f-sr thee whatever thee requirest.' They laid
out for him about £lOO on these geode. At the same time,
hearing of a thepwomau at Baattridge who was bankrupt,
he went and b melt up her stock-in-trade at exactly half
cost price. This, with the embroidery, was Mr. Stewaft's
firs

venture.
"On his return to America he showed his goods to the
:fiend whom he expected to jdu him in the business. He
assured Stewart that it was a very valuable assortment, but
for some unexplained reason he drew baca at the last
moment and declined to become his partner. Thus thrown
uric, his own resourct- s. and being utterly ignorant of trade,
he advertised for an tifictent salesman, and at the same time
went in search of a store. After many a weary walk up
Broadway and down again, through side streets and front
streets, he at last fled upon a very humble and un-
pretending-looking building in Canal-street. There he
began bwiness on the 6th of August, 1823. Thus it
will be sten that it took him just fifty-three years and a
half to amass the almost fabulous fortune of which he died
possessed But things did not run smooth between
him and his salesman. Ignorant though Stewart
wes of every technicality in trade, he was a man of undevi-
ating truth and bprightness. He was aware that unjusti-
fiable pr fits were made by shopkeepers, and that they had
no conscience whatever about practising deception in order
to place a fictitious value upon their goods. Ao. such false
ways he utterly abhored, and he was determined to try his
owe plan. At all risks, he made up his mind that he would
not look for more than 10 per cent. profit, and that he would
never deceive a buyer as to the prime cost of any article In
his store. 'Ten per cent. and iao lies '—that was Mr.
Stewart's motto for doing business. But it is a cut ions and
an almost amusin.z instance of toe repugnance of the trade
to carry on business in such terms that the salesman,
who could not have Duff, red in any way by this
arrangenent, became • irritated against his employer, and
at the end of a month or so resigned his situation.
He declared that he could no longer be a party to sell
goods by such rules—that, in fact, Mr. Stewart was giving
them away to the public, and, with very significant em-
phasis he added, Before another month is over you will be
a bankrupt.' When Mr. Siaiwart related this circumstance
In November, 1873, he said, with that peculiar expression of
dry, quiet humour which occasionally played over his face, 'lt
Is now exactly fifty years and three months since my ruin was
predicted, and I have not been in bankruptcy yet.' At that
date he was in the receipt of a million sterling per annum,
and his capital, if realised, would have produc‘d not less
than 20,000,00—n0t dollars, but pounds sterling. So much
for "10 per cent. and no lies"

"That dry goods merchants did not love him too well may
be easily explained. Apart alt,gether from the proverbial
envy that waits on merit, the straightforward honesty of
Stewart was a keen satire upon al itricksters in trade. Hatred
and malice stirred up the merchants in his own line to form
combinations against him. Was not their craft in danger?
Hence ip detraction and slander he was blown upon and
tradneed. But Mr. Stewart's indomitable self-reliance made
him at ormidable antagonist. In the end he triumphantly
succtecled in crushin out all opposition. . . . .

"It is worthy of notice that Mr. Stewart never asked foe a
banker's accommodation, for he never required it. He paid
ready money for everything. He bought for cash in the
Cheapest market, and sold retail for cash at the reasonable
profit already stated. By steady perseverance in this way of
doing business he soon acquired capital enough to enable
him to remove to Broadway, to the very site on which now
stands his colcesal building known to every visitor to New
York as `Stewart's Store.' The present is not the origuial
edifice erected by him. The • first one, which was also
very extensive, cost half a million sterling, and in it for
years ire carried on his business wi h marvellous and
ever-increasing prosperity, till at length he was acknow-
ledged to he the foremost merchant in New York. To
the surprise of all Lis Weeds, he decided on pulling
down that store and building another. Nothing that this
friends could urge against his proposed alteration had any
effect in chancing Stewa. t's intentions. The gloomiest warn-
ings were being constantly poured inte his ears, but, never-
theiessi, he was resolved to persevere with the plans he had
drawn up for the grand Store of the future. While the
works were belt g cartied out he diligently scoured all
Europe and Amenca for the best goods and the moat attrac-
tive. Anticipation was a great point with him. In the Fall
of one year he woulti be preparing and planning his goods
for the following Fall. All being now ready, he adv. leased
extensively up to the opening day of the new building. which,
he arranged by a designed coincidence should be the
anniversary of the day OD which he began business
It was admitted by Mr. Stewart, whenever he alluded
to this bold stroke of his in ereeting a new and so
gigantic an edifice, that he bad some misgivings, pro-
duced, as was natural, by the ilk omened prophecies of his
friends. It may, therefore, be easily conceived with what
mingled feelings of h pet and fear he awaited the long-
expected day. It was ushered in by a morning tufficient to
damp his spirits. The rain f-11 in torrents, so that shopping,
especially by ladies—his best and most numerous clients
—was not to be looked for to any great extent. Mr. Stewart
always referred to that day as one of the most eventful days
in his commercial experience. To use his own words :
" I rose early, as usual, hut was disheartened by the
weather. Aboet seven o'clock 1. went to the store. There
was no sign of life outside. The streets were deserted. I
entered the building and retired at once to my private room.
There I sat silent and alone until I heard one of my ehopmen
asking for me. I opened the door and then be said the rain
was ceasing. Soon after a gleam of sunshine broke out.
This greatly cheered me. My hopes revived still more when
the same young man announced that there were several
persons at the door. It was now eight o'clock, an he asked
me if he should let them in. "Not until nine," I said. The
crowd began to increase rap'dly. As the time drew near for
thowing open the doors I felt more and more anxious. A few
seconds before nine I quitted my room and took up my position
at the extreme end of the building %hat I might watch the in-
coming crowd. When the doors were opened there was a
rush of people must like a Jenny Lind night at the opera I
was much affected by the sight. The unexpected brightening
of the day, and the concourse of people in consequence, .pro-
duced a reaction upon me, and I confess that (withdrew
quietly to my room again, and I found relief in having a good
cry.
"There was a time in the life of Stewart when, having
visited England, and hearing of Mr. Morrison, of Fore-street,
as being the enormously wealthy owner of about five millions
sterling, he secretly resolved to use all diligence to try and
overtake him. This London merchant was, in Mr. Stewart's
eyes, the beau ideal of a millionaire.
"Ignorant malevolence has tried to paint such a man as
hard and unfeeling. Nothing could be more untrue. No doubt
he was exacting in business, for a business man, as such, has
to deal with the stern reality of fact. But his munificence)
was princely. When the Irish famine had desolated the land
of his birth he chartered the largest vessel he could find, and
freighted it with provisions for the starving population ' • and
he was not content merely with sending the ship to the Irish
snores, but he conceived and carried out a scheme of practi-
cal beneficence, by which 3eo families were to be brought
back to America in the same ship. The only conditions he
laid down were that thy should be of good character and
able to read and write. In like manner, after the Me of Chi-
cago, he not only subscribed 100,000 dols., but chartered a
special train with provisions of all kinds for the burnt-out in-
habitants of the city. LIM ;Alta to France after the German and
French war have been referred to by y our Paris Correspondent.
In the American War of Secession lie subscribed I,eou, 000 dole.
to the war fund. In New York, with its teeming population
of poor and friendless strangers of both sexes, he erected
mounter lodging houses, at a cost of between six and eight
millions of dollars. Tiers was no end to his liberalitv, and
It always took a practical direction. When General Grant
offered him the Secretaryship., of the Treasury it was ob-
jected by Ileitis that, being in trifle; he could not hold office.
'Then,' said Stewart, 'Pwill transfer all my trade profits to
trustees to be appointed by the Goverement to receive all
the proceeds from my business while I discharge the duties
of Secretary, and all such profits shall be given wholly to the
Treasury.' This magnanimous offer could not be accepted
owing to some red tapeism attached to an old Act of Con-
gress passed years ago. The Government by that trane-
action would have gained a clear income of one million
sterling per annum.
uppalwaacred—sisofbtueinit
mofillwiohit n t lot-anhda_sa. ef a
nd
,y 1
ou
ns
sc
"His private residence in Fifth Avenue—a magnificent
dollars,ea oler,
sterling. The picture gallery contains some of the aistliest
specimens of art in the world. Mr. Stewart took up his rod-
deuce here only within the lart few years; previously he
• lived in the street just opposite to it. It will, I believe, be
found, when his will is reed, that although he purperted to
regard the marble palace as a private residence, yet in
:reality, he intended it as one of the monuments he
Wished to bequeath to the nation, as, in • all' pro-
bability, an aut gallery. Already there are paint-
ings and statues in it, some of which have cost £2,000
—notably, a Magnificent picture of the Falls of Niegara.
There is, however, something melancholy in the reflection
that even in his case money does not alter that compen-
satory adjustment which is involved in the saying of the
'Wise Man, 'All things are double one against the othette
His wife died durieg tho last year or two and children,
he had none. But Mr. Stewart had many faithful and true
friends, specially Judge Hilton and, not the least, his
humbler but devoted servant, who for 29 years waned upon
him with unfaltering fidelity.
"In his personal appearance Mr. Stewart was the very
eseence of neatness. He dressed with special regard to•
plainness. Unlike . Americans in general, he wore' no
'jewelry. He wore net 'diamond pin, an ornament Co much,
in use by his fellow-citizen& Though 76 years of age, he did;
not look more then N. His hair was not gray, and si re-
,tedued its sandy hue.. His mode of ,living was. very sdrirtple.'
ipou witness the last few years he left home at eight o'clock,
, and returned about pe saine time in the evening, always
dining in the City. Be remained in' the retaillitore till abut;
' lock when be visited his wholesal.e
one 0.0 • t whenever he Iry t fr' d
Veil 'plainly, ye w et see
to dinner the entertainment was periect in every partiebiarl
His wines were faultless. Fabulou.s prices were paid for
some of then; "thlrlohattinisberg triparticular. Whenever
any stranger from hut° pe was at his table he generally
contrived, in a quiet and. utiobtrueive way, to pay him some,
marked attenti n, espe 'Chilly If it were the evening before he
was about to sail or Old England. • :1(011 t. fre y •
"To the last he kept up his reading of the Classics. In his
demeanour he was extremely courteous and gentlemanly. 7
He had a well-cultured mind, a genial simplicity of manner;

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