The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-05-03

the four rich men in New York, following Mr..
Astor. The other three were John G. Coster,
Stephen Whitney and Ns,hsnlel Prime. Inc
Lenox estate has grown and become vast-the
others are scattered or divided. This Lenox for
tune begins as far back as the American revou-
tion when, in connection with the commlssary
department, the shrewd, prudent interchangeable
Scotsman began to accumulate wealth. He went
steadily forward with this great purpose OF his
life until he died, in 1889, leaving millions to his
heirs.
never made money and has never attempted to
do So Indeed he is the one, and the only one. OF
our rich men who, it is claimed, makes II matter
of conscience not to add house TO house and lay
field TO field. II is asserted that every year he
dspenses his vast income In his own ways, but
that be scrupuOusy avoids reinvesting it. And
vet in spite Of himself. he grows richer and
richer, thus Years ago his father was obliged TO
take piece Of property, far beyond civilization.
70 satisfy a mortgage Of some eleven thirteen
thousand dollars. He held on, and James Lenox
has held on. Now it is on the east side of the
Central Park. above Seventeen s!reet-six blocks
of the most desirable property in the city. and Of
which Mr.. Lenox has sold TO the amount Of three
quarters of a Million and has enough left to make
over the million.
We come now TO another class Of men Of
wealth-those who inherited and who have made
money.
The Lorillards have in their veins both French
and German blood; and it has been said that
there never was poor Lorillard." Appear
ancee seem 10 INDICATE tndt tnero never Will De
one. Wealth. like poverty, IL not disease, seems
to be contagious. This immense estate is now 20
years old for as far away as 1910 z. d g. Lori.
lard were very rich, and never gave note, and
when George died his estate was estimated at over
81, 600 900. Tobacco did the work. They have
lived with tobacco, and have learned TO know it
in all its phases, in all its forms. They know the
richest Absjo and the palest Wethersdeld they
know how and when and where the fragrant leaf
Of the tropic may best wed the fainter weed of
New England and the lusty growth of Kentucky.
Factories have grown mp where this strange plant
could be ground and dried and shaped and bot
tied and papered, SO as to make 1t deectable to
man, profitable to him who thus ministers to his
needs.
Let us here make an approximate calculation
as 10 what this business amounts to in each year.
There are some eight millions Of men between the
ages of fifteen and ninety in the United States. Let
suppose that three quarters, six millions,
tobacco, TO the extent Of but twenty dollars
per year each. The result is 500 900 900. or
this forty per cent, say, is profit. Ii follows,
then that $40 900 900 OF profits to be the portion
of somebody. Now, the Lorillards have taken
good care TO get their share OF this first by pro-
ducing good article; second, by selling as low
the rest and third by advertising it thoroughly.
just how many new millions have been thus ad.
ded to the great estate, we have no means Of
knowing, and Mr.. Lorillard's recent departure
forbids to inquire.
Mr.. Wolfe not only inherited good fortune,
but bis business doubled it, and his marriage to
Lorillard trped IL.
MIR. Hendricks also inherited wealth, and by as
siduity and care he has vastly added to it. Cop
per did the work for him.
Mr.. Roosevelt inherited 800 900 many years
ago, when the possessor Of 800 900 was q very
rich man. He attended to his business and ate
the bread Of carefulness nevertheless. He grew
richer and richer aud richer, and having money
to invest he seized upon good property In the city
of New York. be always saw after the interest
account, never let Ii run against him. and his pur
chases were always made with this in view. How
much is luck. how much prescience In this world,
who can say? His purchase, some forty years
ago, of the Broadway front, between Thirteenth
and Fourteenth streets, for some $4,000 results
now in million.
We come, at last, to the two men on the list
who inherited nothing, but wno have become mil
lonaires through their own right hands. One of
these is Yankee, pure and simple, and the other is
Scotch-Irish.
MIR. Lord was born poor; he viii die rich. He
came to New York, because in New York were
possibilities greater than in New England. He
learned the business Of merchant, and worked in
IL indefatigably in days when it was more posi-
BILE for poor man to grow rich than it is now.
By. and-by he got his own machine started, and
grist came 10 his mil, which he ground to his own
profit. Dry goods are of more universal use than
even tobacco and therefore present opportunities
for great fortunes.
But the most remarkable machine Of modern
times is the one which has been constructed and
| is now controlled by Mr.. Stewart. This vast,
complex, and complete structure has been raised,
all since the year 1882, when this young Scotch
Irish adventurer landed our shores to seek that
unlimited success which nowhere else could have
| been so speedy and so marked. In forty years he
has organized this machine (as term it, which
enables him TO gather and concentrate the manu-
features Of the known world, and to distribute
them again TO the ten millions women Of America,
TO an amount in dollars of seventy millions year.
For forty years he has been at work with patience
| and care and forethought, to accomplish this re-
/ suit. He has never rested, he has never slept.
] He has foregone all that many men value, all
pleasures and ambitions. Friendships and
/ hatreds, societies and philanthrophies, theories
and philosophers, have been condemned and made
| quite subordinate TO this main and only purpose
| of bis life. He has done what he set himself to
| do, and has done IL so well that he has secured
| success aud amassed millions. There Is no hocus-
pocus about it. This wonderful success is entirely
| due to the fact that he has done his business q
1 little better than anybody else and has done it
/ longer. He has bought cheaper and sold cheaper
than his neighbors, and so the world Is at his feet
| And because of this, his machine hrs enabled him
| TO draw out of the earnings OF the producer and
consumer a vast annual income, which has grown
| by accreton to fortune OF perhaps $50 600 600
almost three quarters Of million year for his
whole working life. Now, Mr.. Stewart Is child
less; be cannot, in this country, found dukedOm
| or a dynasty; what possible purpose can he pro-
pose TO himself TO stimulate him to the work
which he still works at with all the determination
| Of youth? At the age of sixty five most men are
ready or fancy they are. to take their ease TO be-
gin to enjoy to put the laboring into other and
| younger hands. Not so this man. He is as care
| full and painstaking as ever; he works early and
late he gets bis work done by others at the small
est possible price. His machine means business,
not philanthropy. He does not propose TO make
the lives of his employees more easy. or more lux
urious or more happy-that is their affair. His is
10 perfect his machine and make it the most tho
rough in the world; and as far IS one can see he
will die doing it. If he has an smbItOn-and who
can tell what is inside man. lit may be % show
what vast and complete thing can be organized
and worked by the persistent and well directed
energies Of one man living one life.
II this be his ambition, he seems likely to reach
it,
II the estimate Of one mans yearly production
$500 10 $1,000 be correct, aud il M. Stewart
sells goods to the amount of $40 900 900 year, II
follows that be handles the productions OF some
seventy or eighty thousand men. Now, if he ex.
tracts but one dollar each from their earnings for
the use of his machine, it amounts to the very
pretty figure of 900 per annum If from each
ten dollars then 1t is $500 000 and ESQ on. He has
reported an income in one year Of some 81 600, 900
SHOCKING MURDER IN WNHsBoRoUGH.-Mr
Elijah II. Conway was sitting on the gallery Of
MIR. ROsenfelts store, with his chair leaning
against one Of the pillars and his back to the