Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-02-19
A. 7. STEWART.
The Magnitude and Variety OF His
Business Operations.


Business Operations.
A New York correspondent of the Roch-
ester Democrat writes as follows;
A. T. Stewart has becoms one of the
chief owners of Broadway property, and his
estate in this street is worth about 1900, :
000. Stewart is as chirp and lively as ev-
er. He looks well and attends regularly to
business, and if he could only have fresh
start of renewed youth he would no
doubt get rich in the course of a life time.
ONE OF OUR WONDERS.
Take it all in all, Stewart is one of the
wonders CT this age. The fact that child
less old man, within three years of eighty,
should be driving business with ambition
and energy, and conquering all difficulties
with a youthful dosornio kSion-as though
he yet had bis fortune to make-this fact |
say IS full ofmystery. How different fro m
the general tone of human character? Stew
art, however, feels that be is working out a
destiny. He cannot stop, for destiny urg-
es him forward. He is now. Carrying on
not only his great commercial operatio rs
here, with branches in Philadelphia and
Boston, but is also building a village at
Hampstead, and is at the same time buying
up real estate at Saratoga Springs, to say
nothing of the occasional bargains made
here in the same line.
HOW IT IS DONE.
Stewart is probably the best calculator
the world ever saw. Had Napoleon possess
ed one-half Ofhis genius, he never would
have come to grief at the early age of forty
five. Napoleon was Jim Fisk sort of
man, and needed heavy capital TO work
on. When this was done he was as they
say, s"played out" Stewards genius is
shown in always having capital He has not
known what it is to be short sincs 1861,
when the failure of Southern collections
occasioned him the loss of several millions.
He was not short then, but simply had to
use all his funds. At present, however, he
probably has million of loose change, all
of which is to his credit in the bank, or
banks, for Stewart patronizss halEdozen
of these Institutions. His calculations have
never failed-that is, he has completed bis
grand schemes in spite of all difficulties.
He makes losses just as other merchants do
out none that can embarrass his general
advance. All of Stewards business is be.
fore his eyes. 1t is photographed in his
brain. He carries it so completely there
that no trade escapes him. At the same
time that he Is marking out bold operations
in land and merchandise he is conversant
with the entire condition of his own ware.
houses, which employ nearly 3 thousand
clerks. =-r4
CENTRAL OFFICE.
Stewart has all his business before him
in his central Office, which no one enters but
himself and those whom he invites thither.
Here he sits in solitary grandeur. His lieu
tenants in trade submit their reports, which
he views at glance; aud the statements of
sales, of stock on hand, of credits, of i'm
ports, of custom house detail, are read and
at once replied to. 1t is not labor; it is on
ly nature.
A STRIKING SPECTACLE.
After one has gone through Stewards
grand warehouses and seen the immensely
of the trade accomplished there, it is a
striking spectacle to see the quiet old gen.
tleman sitting at his solitary desk in the
private Office to which have referred. 1t
is spacious apartment, with glazed parti-
tons, so that any one may look in-and it
is adjacent to the great array of book keep
ers, who number nearly 100. A page is in at |
tendance outside, and may at any time be
by bell. In another office is |
Mr.. Stewards private secretary, who also |
may be summoned in a similar manner. |
From this office orders are issued which |
may within day be felt in Paris, Lyons,
San Francisco, Chicago, or in |
The office of his legal adviser, Judge Hilton. |
LATE IN LIFE.
Stewart has made the greater part of his |
wealth since be became man of advanced |
years. 1t is said that George Peabody |
made but little until he had passed fifty. |
The same may be said of Stewart. at if
y he was worth about a million-now he
las probably twenty-five times as much.
This is a lesson which shows the impor-
.ance of improving the later hours in life.
Some men retire from business as age I
Iteals on. This is great mistake. No
men are so unhappy as those who abandon
he habits of busy life. No one should
'etire from trade until he is sure of some
busy employment in another sphere. Mr..
Stewart knows that he is happier while at
he head of this immense trade than if he
we're doing nothing. Men who retire from
business become nervous and fretful, or else
ink into mere faulty, from having moth
ng 10 do. Work is the thing for old and \
Toung, if they wish to escape these dangers.