Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-06-17
THE MAGNIFICENT HOME

through these grand saloons so often
filled with wit and wisdom and wealth
and beauty, could avoid pang Of sim
cere and unselfsh sorrow at calamity
that robbed man Of such a home as
this, the well-earned reward of an
energy exhaustless, financial sagacity
and foresight unparalleled and an in
tegrity unimpeached-and all at one
fell swoop from his grasp, 1t was not
as mere matter of personal pride that
Mr.. Cooke erected and adorned this
spacious and beautiful mansion. Essen
italy generous and hospitable to a
tault, he found, as his wonderful sue
cess in placing the hundreds of millions
of Government loans during the war
brought him more and more in contact
with the great ones of the land, the
necessity Of erecting an establishment
where he could dispense with lavish
hand the hospitality his position de-
manded and when completed his home
was the scene of almost one continuous
series of entertainments at which at
tended cabinet officers. senators, gen
erals great in war, ministers and dis
tinguished visitors from foreign powers
men great in finance, IN law, in theolo-
gy, in art, in literature. His roof has
sheltered alike the glittering-eyed
envoys from far-of Japan and the
st0lid redskins who live bv the waters
of the Upper Missouri To-day these
halls are desolate, and before another
sun shall shine upon them will, with
all the fair lands that surround them,
pass beneath the unsympathising stroke
Of the auctioneer's hammer.
Never, on this side of the ocean at
least, was so large fortune accumula-
ted so rapidly and dispersed 50 sudden
ly as that Of Jay Cooke He had
been with the clearinghouse of K. w.
Clarke & Co. for about twenty years,
when in 1860 he entered into partner
ship with William g. Moorhead and
established the firm of Jay Cooke &
Co in small room on the first floor
Of the building the whole of which
floor the firm afterward occupied. The
rebellion soon afterward broke out.
and then his marvellous financial sa-
gaclty was almost at once employed
by the Federal Government to place
the loans made necessary to supply
the immense sums of money required
to carry on the war, and the magnitude
Of his operation on behalf of the Gov
ernment can be appreciated when it is
known that he succeeded in selling
either personally or by his agents 500.
100000 Of the bonds known as five
twenties, and
EIGHT HUNDRED MILLIONS
Of the so denominated the seven
thirties. 1t was then that his wealth
accumulated SO rapidly that at the end
of the war the firm was actually worth
the enormous sum Of nearly five mill
lions Of dollars. For the placing of
the 500 loan under the administration
of the United States Treasury, by Mr.
Chase, Jay Cooke & Go. received 1-8
per centum, out Of which advertising,
to an almost incredible amount, and
commission to agents had to be paid
Mr.. Chase only allowing the sum of
$3.50 for advertising. When the 7-30
loan was about being placed, Mr.. Fess-
enden was Secretary of the Treasury
and believing that the national banks,
then just getting well into play,
would be the readiest agents, Mr..
Fessenden employed them to sell the
bonds. But the receipts wers so small
that Jay Cooke & Co. were again solicit
ed to act as agents for the Govern
ment, How they succeeded is too well
known to be repeated here. Every
dollar Of the 1873, 100000 Of dollars of
the two loans passed through the hands
Of tho firm, and in addition to the per-
centage allowed by the Government
for the 7-30s one half for $50, 900, 900
and five eighths for the balance, out of
which percentage advertising and all
expenses were paid by Jay Cooke &
Co. they had, as they only remitted
weekly to the treasury, the use of
millions of dollars always, which in
some way were drawing interest
Hence their enormous profits, beside
enabled them to control the money
MAJ ket of the continent. Said well
known Third-street broker Yesterday:
81 have known Jay Cooke to stop
many a panic during the war by going
into the
FRONT OF THF BATTLE,
and by judicious purchases of Govern
ment securities restore the tone of the
market so suddenly that those who
had been on the very verge of giving
up everything for lost wondered what
they had been scared at but there Is not
man in the country that could 90
such thing now" Mr.. Cooke was a
firm believer In his destiny, and, cool
and wary headed as he was, was conf
dent that he could not be oVerthrown.
1t was armed with this that he en-