Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1868-04-25
New York Correspondence of the Troy Times
Broixen-sbown Men in New York.
How they are EMPLOYED.


New York Correspondence of the Troy Times
ksrol<en-Hbown Mem in New York
How they are Employed.
The broken-down men to whom we have
referred form the best possible help in the
great mercantile concerns of this CITY, Mr.
A. i. Stewart, the merchant prince, has
been for years 10 the habit of picking out
among this class such assistants as he might
need, and we presume there may be found
to-day the wreck of twenty different dry
goods houses that were started with good
prospects OF success. For instance, the
grave and dignihed gentleman of fifty. five
years or Whereabouts. who occupies the po
sition of general manager and overlnoker of
the wholesale warehouse, is Mr.. Brown. for.
merly dry goods jobber in the house of
Brown d Co., Cortlandt street. He is u first
rate business man, and Stewart knows it,
aud perhaps 1T is but an incident in life
that Brown is not Stewart, and that Stew
art is not Brown. AS it is, Mr.. Brown is to
certain extent Stewards Lieutenant, .and
as the latter is much engrossed by the lead
ing facts in the mammoth business no one
is allowed to address him personally until
his errand has been communicated to the
Lieutenant aforesaid. So, also, this tall,
tinc-lookihg gentleman, who has the man
agement OF the credits. Mr.. LIBBY, who
looks after all references, and without whose
approval no man car get bill of goods on
time, Is a brOken-dowu merchant. Twenty
years ago the firm of Hastings, Libby &
Forby struggled for wealth, but in vain
They sank in the general vortex of CONNER
cia ruin, apd Mr.. Stewart, who dscerned
Mr. Libby's talents, has made good use OF
him. Mr.. Libby is highly gifted business
maj huo 1. :,
Stewards concern, that if report be true. he
has now partnership in it. We might go
on and call over Ste%art's check roll and
find many other similar cases; and SO also.
NC might find just such u class of men sell
ing goods for Clufln and other large houses
When Il man has once failed in any kind OF
business, il is very seldom that he attempts
to recuperate in the same trade. He is gen
orally sick oi the effort. He will work for
Others in that line, but has q fear of at
tempting it personally again. Hence, men
who fail in New York seldom get on their
feet. Their customers are drummed away
by other houses, and the curunt of their
business is so broken that it seems impossi-
ble to he resusCitated.
The custom house is a great gathering of
broken down men; and, besides this, one
finds them in every petty berth which they
can get into Most of the insurance offices
are manned by this class, and in many in
stances, insurance companies have been
formed Tor the express purpose OF ailordiDg
q suug harbOT for some such characters.-
Most of the merchandise brokers are of this
class. Ii wholesale druggist fail, he is
apt to turn broker in drugs; if Il wholesale
grocer fail, he will naturally turn to his own
staples. We have said that men who fail
in New York seldom get on their feet again.
To illustrate this statement, We may call
over few names. Where was there more
famous house than that OF Bowen, MCNa-
NEE IL Co. ! Aud yet the colossal business,
which required twenty five Years to build it
up, went in one fell swoop when that firm
failed. Ii you were to look for the head of
that great concern you would not find him
in the world of silks and satins. On the
other hand, Mr.. Bowen is now the publisher
OF the L,dep6ndeht. Among other grea.
firms that have gone out of existence, We
mag mention in dry goods the MUores, who
were in trade thirty years, and who, from
small beginnings, at last occupied Broad
way store at Il rent of S2', 900 per annum.
In the grocery business We might mention
the name of j. X. Place & Co., which failed
last fall. This house was estimated at be-
ing worth $l,0O0,000. Their credit stood
so high that they could purchase bill of
coffee and give their note for 1t to the
amount Of 100000, and yet now that they
have failed il is not probable that they will
pay their creditors much, if indeed any
thing. Probably in a very short time we
will see these very Places, who once were
merchant princes, running around the streets
with boxes OF samples, and taking the chan.
ces among the legion of merchandise bro
kers. To 90 back to the house of Denison
& Belden, from which the Places sprung.
This concern failed few years ago, and
| although it possessed an immense trade,
! yet it was never resuscitatcd. So also when
Simeon Draper failed, although he snnoun-
ced in his card he would pay In full, yet the
! Herald contradicted this assurance, and
stated that he never would pay dollar, and
| he never did Sn also the great banking
house of Prime, Ward & Co.; they.paid no.
thing. When one goes among the great
centers of literary activity, he finds the same
| law at work. The Herald, the Times, and
the Tribune, have each their share of hacks,
and broken down editors, and unsuccessful
authors. who are here buried in laborious
retirement. Among their broken down edi
tors we may mention James Watson Webb,
OF the once iourishiug Courier and EDqui-
rer, who now has foreign mission. Nor
decai NJ. Noah, formerly OF the Evening
Star, was also one of this class. Stepping
into a large concern some time ago, we en-
tered into conversation with the boOkkeeper,
Il man apparently of sixty, and found to our
surprise that he once was partner IN heavy
cloth importing house, whose sign had been
familiar to us for years. A consciousness OF
the difficulty of retrieving ones fortune was
uttered in the language of VIM. Burger,
who, few years ago, was one OF the hea'
West wholesale dealers in drugs in the city.
After his failure, which wound up busi,
ness experience OF thirty years irlend
asked him how he was. The reply was
Too old to fail in business" And 60 il
proved. We have seen the broken mer-
chants in this city reduced to keeping board
ing houses We know one who made his
bread out of model artist exhibitions, and
another, who wss among the greatest bust
ness men of the day, was recently picked ~
in the street at night, a drunken vsgrant
and as such was taken to the station house