Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1869-03-02
OPEN LETTER TO COM. WANDER
BIIiT

10 you now Go pity yon, Commo-
dore Vanderbilt Most men have Mt
least Il few friends, whose devotion is II
comfort and solace to them, but you
seem to be the idol of only :. crawling
swarm of small souls, who love to glori
fly your most fragrant unwopthiness in
print or sing of your uuimportant pri-
vate doings, as if yonr millions gave
them dignity friends who applaud
your superhuman stinginess with the
same gusto that they do yonr most
magnificent displays of commercial ge-
MUS and daring, and likewise your
most lawless violations of commercial
honor-for these infatuated worship
pers of dollars not their own seem to
make no distinctions, but.swing their
hats and shout hallelujah every time
you do anything no matter what it is.
I do pity you. [ would pity any man
with such friends rs these. [ should
think you would hate the sight OF Il
newspaper. should think you would
not dare to filnnce at one, for fear you
would find in it one of these distress
ing eulogies OF something you had been
doing, which was either infinitely trivial
or else a matter to be ashamed of. I'm
acquainted with you as | am, my hon
est compassion for you still gives me
right to speak in this way. Now, have
you ever thought calmly over Your
newspaper reputation e? Have yon ever
dissected it, 20 see what it was made of?
1t would interest you. One day one OF
your subjects comes out with a cOnmn
or two detailing Your rise from penury
to affluence, and praising you as If You
were the last and nollest work OF God
but unconsciously telling how exquisite
ly mean II man has to be in order to
achieve what you have achieved. Then
another subject tells how you drive in
the Park, with your scornful head
down. never deigning to look to the
& right or the left, and make glad the
thousands who covet glance of your
eye, but driving straight ahead, heed
lessly and recklessly, taking the road
by force, with ii bearing which plainly
says "Let these people get ont of the
way if they can but if they can't, and
/ run over them, and kill them, no
matter, III pay for them" And then
how the retailer Of the pleasant anec
dote does grovel in the dust and glori-
fy you Vanderbilt Nebt, subject of
yours prints a long article t" show how,
in some shrewd. uuderhand way, you
have ''come it, over the public with
some Erie dodge or other, and added
another million or so to your greasy
greenbacks ; and behold, he praises you
and never hints that immoral practices,
il so prominent a place as You occupy,
are damning example to the rising
commercial generation-more, Il damn
ing thing to the whole nation, while
there are insects like your subjects to
make virtues Of them in print Next
a subject tells u most laughable joke in
Harpers Of how lady laid wager of
pair of gloves that she could touch
your heart with the needs of some
noble public charity. which unselish
people were building up for the succor-
ing of the helpless and the unfortunate,
and so persuade Won to spare gener-
Gus billow to it from your broad ocean
of wealth, and how you listened to the
story of want and suffering, and then
then what gave the lady a paltry
dollar (the act in itself an insult to your
sister or mine, coming from a strangely
and said, Tell your opponent you
have won the gloves. And having
told his little anecdote, how your low
ing subject did shake his sides at the
bare idea of your having generosity
enough to be persuaded by any tender,
womanly pleader into giving manly
lift to any helpless creature under the
sun. What precious friends you do
have Vanderbilt And next, subject
tells how when you owned the Califor-
mia line Of steamers you used to have
your pursers make out false lists of
passengers, and thus carry some hun
dreds more than the law allowed-in
this way breaking the laws of the coun-
try and jeopardizing the lives of your
passengers by overcrowding them dur
inc the long, sweltering voyage over