Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1865-10-07

AT the request of many merchants we give place in
the DAILY COMMERCIAL to the following deserved
tribute to Johns Hopkins, Esq, which appeared on
Thursday in the columns of our cotcmporary, The
AmericdH:
THE history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. its
inception, rise. progress and final consummaton is,
in fact the commercial history of Baltimore for the
by word and by deed stood the firm and uniinching
friend of the road through all its changeabc for
tunes, has claim upon our gratitude and consdera
tlon which can never be forgotten ignored, and
least OF all in the hours of our triumph Just
the promnency of the road so closely allied with all
our citys bright future, has been the theme and OBJ
Ject OF municipal and traternal congratulations and
enJoyments, and many and various have been the
civic and incorporate honors bestowed upon the
tive officers of this magnificent work. Noone is more
ready than the writer to give his full need of praise
TO President Garrett for the great ability energy and
administrative intelligence with which he has 50 sue
ceSstuliy conducted the affairs of the company. But
it strikes me something passing strange that amid
all the oyations which have 50 lately taken place,
among all the speeches made aprOpos and malaprO-
pos to the occasion, not word or syllable should
have been uttered, i'll common courtesy. If not graft
tude, to the man to whom the road is indebted
than to any other man, set of men, not only for
Its present prosperity, but for ts very existence.
need hardly say, that that man is Johns Hopkins 1t
may he said, and most likely will be said. that Mr.
Hopkins solictudc for the success of this supendou
work merely matter of sei-intcroSt. that having
an immense capital at stake both rs a stakeholder
and property holder he could not good merchant
and tinancier, act differently to what he did But
such reasoning is a mere pitiu begging Of the ques
of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stock. Mr.. Hopkins
now is certainly the wealthiest man in our State
But this was not always the case, and though / do
not speak by the book, have little doubt but that
many time and oft during the series of years in
which he accumulated both stock and wealth. pru-
dence and sCi-prcservation would have dictated and
prompted most men to rid themselves of an incubus
winch seemed equivalent to certain Iun and from
which most others fed rats from sinking ship.
Not so he. In the darkest hours of its trials when
failure looked not only imminent, but sure, he stood
untnchingy its main prop. But for him and
another hOnored namc-its then President, Chauncy
Brooks, Esq-who lent their credits up to hundreds
OF thousands to pay the maturing obligations OF the
road, which otherwise could not and would not have
been paid, we most likely would not have seen its
city, as body corporates, had done all they could to
assist the road They could not and would do no
more; and hence l repeat it again, that to this one
man of iron will and nerve mainly indebted for
ing by and through the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Perhaps no man cares less for popular aduation or
lip-service than the subject of this sketch And l
perfectly of 1t that his strong practical mind
addressed on pubic occasion by the eloquent gen
tleman who has just taken his seat to be pointed
at the beneiactor of his time and generation by
the still eloquent speaker who follows enchant
ing his enraptured hearers by the force of his rhe-
toric 1t is not, therefore, to invite such eXhibi
ton that these lines are penned, but simply to
press my regret and astonishment that name like
his should remain unmentloned and unhonored on
any occasion where the merchants of Baltimore do
congregate. In every way he has been a better and
more useful friend to them and to his native city
where all his wealth is garnered, than any other
man among us ROW living or who has lived before
him. And If we but numbered in our midst scores
more such self-interested men" as Johns Hopkins
our city would rank higher a mart of commerce
than it does to-day. CTvIs.''