The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1873-10-02
NlscEnANga.
The House of Jay Cooke & Coz
Mushroom Growth OF the War
TFrona the New York

Mushroom Growth OF the w ar.
From the New York SUM-
The amiability and other pleasant per-
sonal characteristics Of MI. Jay Cooke,
which facilitated his introduction into
large business associations, still serve to
concilIate toward HIM great deal of con-
sideratIon and klndhness of feeling on the
part of those who have known him indi-
VIdaally. We ourselves experience a
strong reluctance to reflect upon him with
severity; while sense of duty TO the pub
lie compels US 10 condemn the business
principles-or, more properly speaking,
the want of principle-on which the busi-
ness of his house was conducted.
Mr.. Cooke was originally clever ad-
vertiser. Mr.. Chase, when he became
Secretary of the Treasury, availed himself
Of Cookies tact at advertising to float the
early loans required by the Government.
He soon thought proper to make terms
with Cooke which afforded hIm an oppor-
tunity to make, in the aggregate, enor-
nous profits. The arrangement, though
like q thousand other Objectionable things,
tolerated during the war, would have been
speedily investigated and broken up had
it been first entered upon IN time of peace.
But even MIR. Chase, with all his states
manship, relaxed his principles fearfully
IN the actual administration of the Treas
ury Department. The very foundation
principles of fnance-prInciples which,
out OF regard to his permanent reputation,
he felt obliged when he became Chief JUS
lice judicially to afhrm--he at one time
lost sight of.
There is a story that rat was once
taught to sing. II has generally been re-
garded as fable. We are inclined to be-
neve 1t TO be true, and that rat was Jay
Cooke. He sang. What he sang was the
praise and the Presidential prospects Of
Mr. Secretary Chase, and so long as this
rat continued to sing this song the great
Secretary seemed indifferent to his gnaW-
ing into the money bags of the Govern
Lnent.
With Mr.. Cookies rapid accumulation
of wealth came a correspondlngly quick
growth of his power ana influence. He
was never a remarkable able man-not q
man OF endowments likely 10 distinguish
him IN ordinary tlmes-but he was good
natured; he seldom excited any animosity
against himself; and 1t soon came to be
felt and understood that he was about as
much Secretary Of the Treasury as Mr..
Chase was.
Under MeCulloch Cookies power, al
ready overshadowIng, seemed 10 increase
rather than to diminish. Under Chase, he
had lncldently derived immense sums from
special legislation. All occasion for such
legislation for public uses beng now at an
end, laws were enacted tor converting one
kind of bonds into another, and for sub
stituting interest-paying bonds for nom
Interest-paylng Treasury notes. If these
laws were not enacted Tor the peculiar ad-
vantage of Jay Cooke & CO.. 1T is impossi-
bic to tell why they were enacted at all
One thing is certain. they brought new
gains to his Golfers, while at the same time
Lhey saddled an already heavily taxed
people With Increased and unnecessary
burdens.
5ne relations between Jay Cooke & Co.
anu Vne Treasury Department became of
such Character as should never be per-
mltteo to exist between banking house
and department of the Government, be-
cause they were Incompatible with official
integrity and purity. Persons holding
valid claims against the Government found
1t far the easiest and quickest way to real
ize on them to make sale of them at any
required discount and deduction to some
one connected with Cookies national bank,
just over the way, opposite to the Treas
ury building, The cleEks-iD -ti,.-- -a-..,~-re-
n1ent-that unfortunate class of beings
whose habits of abject dependence, long
continued, greatly impSir their power Of
speech-know full well. though they did
not dare publicly to tell how this was.
At length Secretary McCulloch retired
from the Treasury, and the partnership
between him and Jay Cooke was publish
ed. and it is still continued in London.
But in the long run it has all come to
naught. Objectionable affiliations and
arrangements so tainted and rotten
as to require secrecy-ifnot actually dam
gerous from their criminality-may, es-
pecially In time of war, be made the means
of amasslng great fortunes. But to sue
cessfully manage large mesns-to admin
lister broad business Well-requires laind
and conscience. Mr.. jay Cooke was un-
equal to the energy. Like other fools
who have aoated gaily down stream, buoy
ant IN the first sunshine OF prosperity, he
conceitedly imagined that it was his own
genius, and not the strong current, that
bore him. He vainly thought that neith-
er the laws of business nor the laws of ma
ture applied to him. He conceived that
he could go against the current as well as
with 1t. He supposed that he could take
his active capital from his business and
sink 1T out Of human sight and hearing in
a railroad through an unbroken wilder
ness, and yet continue TO do banking
business upon that capital. He did not
seem to understand that, even if a man
had the spare capital to invest, railroad
without passengers and without freight
would not pay. He did not know that
even If there were freight and passengers
they could not be carried through inpen-
etrable SHOWS.
And so Mr.. Jay Cooke broke. It had
been better if he alone had broken. But
n breaking he broke others. He broke
banks and he broke human hearts. MANY
of the deposits with him and his depen-
denotes Were really, in substance, the life
blood of the depositors-their all. They
nave lost their money and their confidence.
and the consequence will be that they will
live IN want and die in sorrow.
Mr.. Cookies business was a mushroom
and poisonous outgrowth of the war, and
It Is fitting that it should perish. His in
duence in politics and legislation was per-
nlclous. We entertain no feeling of NAL
ice toward him personally but we dc con-
regard it as cause of gratu- |
alton that one of the moneyed powers |
which stood in the way of an honest and !
economical administration of the Govern |
nent has f-llen-fallen, we apprehend, to
use no more |
A business so wrongly conducted gains |
10 strength, but only increased weakness |
'@4A@-54 4-@-.---sA& L~-~A>-f-s
possess any power of recuperation.
REPUBLICANs with short memories are
l., !