The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-22 00:00:00

The WEALTHIEST MAN in the STATES.

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Mr. A. T. Stewart, of New York, who died the other
day, was, by reason of his marvellous success in business
and his vast accumulation of wealth, one if the celebrities
of the United States. Popular opinion was generally
divided as to the respective claims of Mr. Stewart or of
Mr. Astor (who died but shortly before hire) to be con-
sidered the richest man on the American Continent. It
is certain that both men were the owners of colossal
fortunes, but Mr. Stewart was entirely the son
of his own works. He was born in the north of Ireland
and received a good education in Trinity College. Dublin.
In his twenty-first year he went out to New York and
.endeavoured to make a living there as a teacher of Greek
and Latin. New York, at least at that time, had
hardly leisure enough to attend to classical studies.
It was then in the full rush of its early eagerness
for commerce, money-making, and extension of
streets and treffic up-town. Mr. Stewart entered
into the spirit of the time with an energy equal to
that of the natives themselves. He started a email.
"dry goods' store; he attended to it early and
late; he scraped and saved; he extended his busi-
ness in every- way open to him; he showed bold-
ness and prudence alike; and after no very con-
siderable lapse of time he became the owner of one
of the largest shops in New York. As the city
grew he divided his business. Mr. Stewart confined
his wholesale business to his " down.town " store, and
removed his retail trade to his up-town house.. Both
houses have been for many years counted awing the
sights of New York. They are alike vast, square,
and white blocks of building, with little pretension to
oeauty, and with a formal and barrack-like regularity
of appearance. To an ordinary shop of the same kind
on this side of the ocean they are in size as the Albert
Hall to an ordinary concert-room. In these huge
white buildings Mr. Stewart made a fortune to which
that discovered by Edmund Dantes in the Isle. of
Monte Christo would not have approached in value.
At the time of his death he is said to have accumulated
some sixteen millions sterling. 'lt used to be said in New
:York that Mr. Stewart made his money in the firstins
stance by the rigid application of the most Pimple rules
of honesty. When he was beginning to grow into success
there was, in his branch of business, considereble competi-
tion ad much eagerness to make rapid fortunes.
The legend goes that in those far-off times the owner
of a shop was quite willing to make his fortune at
the expense of his customers. The Broadway sales-
man did not scruple to present to ignorant persons
the fashion of last "fall" as the very thing for the
coming autumn, or to get rid of a poor article at the
price of a good one. Mr. Stewart, it was said, struck
out a new and eriginal plan of business. ,Every
customer was tb be dealt with on terms .of the most
scrupulous honesty. An assistant was pr3mptly
dismissed who was found praising an article of
doubtful value, or palming off an old fashion
for the style of the hour. In other places it
was reported that yellers received a premium
on the gettiug rid of goods of declining value at high
prices ; ia Stewart'e their cleverness was rewarded by
dismissal.. Therefore the farmers from all parts of
New' Ydrk State soon csme to know that when tbee
made their periodical visit's to the city; they could buy
all the finery which their wives and daughters wanted
without the slightest fear; of having their innocence
impend upon. The Irish servant girl, when she re.
ceive'Fl the wages that seemed so large to her-unaccus-
tomed eyes, was satisfied that when she entered
SteWitrt'S she would get the value of her money as
well as if she were a lady who had stepped over from
Fifth Avenue. The fame of Stewart's poen spread
all over the States. Mr. Stewart started many benevo-
lent aild public-spirited schemes, -although his per;
sonal tesintaq, n WIAS that -of ts.- sold and hard man;
rigid and even stern in his ware unsparing, basis
uses competition' and little -stewed by, those..who.4
served Pea. • But his inteesiq hfs derilines with '
his customers, and indeed his dealings.with every one,
was beyond dispute. He wai; eases itaire said, a man.
of sons, euitstre, and althohell. tfilesde•iistiOn to busi-
ness, ankatis moueserisaking if lifth—little time for
-ettuiy, he never wholly lost- the flavour of hie earlier
associgieasa. 116 lovectiPietttre-Wfehlt lie loved the
04;1'64(44 ef.nictstret into the lsosineis .of .
colhcio,noi the metladdical Svay which belnieged to ali
Purstsits. His agent 4 scotired'Eureee; every season
ln seas-oh or; expensive worlsSof att. He hail. Wilt iii.
eFiftteAvenne a patSce of White- Matble as his private
residence, veithstefinhisillete fot his pictures. Mere
he erttertainteil all'marrn- tif strangers including marry
a travelling ;Prince and'Orand Doke frona:Burope. It
was said in New•Yotk that the white. marble house
was to be_enade a beqneet to the city, with its gallery
of naintinge; for Mr. Stewart, we believe, bad no child
to inherit V enormous wealth.—Daily New:. -
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It Is
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ked by a metropolitan contem
remarkably old-fashioned country,
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