New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-12
PRINCES or COMMERCE..

mercial enterprise, the histories whereof seem
to be written in gilded letters, in the vain
effort to discover another man who, after
being able to count the years of his business
life by the millions of his winnings, died as
the richest merchant in the world, we are
struck with curious points of resemblance no
less than of unlikeness. There may be genius
no less than the powers of knowledge and
will, even in material pursuits: there
il certainly the same difference of vision, OF
administrative capacity, and of large, ALIEN
bracing foresight, which distinguishes the
statesman from the petty politician, or the
classic author from the penny-a-liner The
spirit which we cannot dssOciate from
certain vulgarity when it tramps from house
to house as a country peddler, rises into
almost epic dignity when it plants its centers
of operation in Europe and stretches its hands
to throw the shuttles Of Cashmere and Cathay.
In the fair and heroic form of Jason we have
the mythical presentation of the first trader;
but the more comprehensive system OF com
merce which the PhGnicians originated, and
tbe Cartbaginians continued with such success,
has left us scaDty records of individual enter
prise. Neglected by the baughty citizens OF
Rome. and interrupted by the wars of the EN-
pire, commerce very slowly grew into its place
az an element in the political economy of ma
tons For centuries its spheres of operation
were h9,h limited and uncertain; and the an
nails of personal daring, intelligence, ana sue
cess date from the rise of the Republics OF
Venice, Genoa, and Florence. Then, first,
merchants learned to plant the first sources OF
their power in far-Off regions, and secure that
power by the control of broader markets at
home. But this was, in all cases, work OF
time: one life never achieved the highest dis
Junction. The work was transmitted from
father to son, slowly charging its bounds, and
constantly checked by the difficulty and danger
of communication with distant lands. The
lawlessncss of Tartar tribe i'll Central ASIA,
n sand-storm on the Syrian Desert or the
breaking out of plague in the ports of the Levant,
might sweep away the fruits of many years OF
watchful toll. The Medici traded for hum
dred years before they were naughty enough
TO place the pills symbOlizing their name upon
an aristocratic escutcheOn. A century and
half interviewed between poor Fugger the
weaver, and his descendant, Count Anton
Fueger, who liindled fire of cinnamon wood
in the chamber of the Emperor Charles V.
and burned therein the evidences of the great
loan by which he had enabled that monarch
to undertake his expedition against Algiers.
In all the eminent commercial families of the
Middle Ages there grew up traditional bust
ness policy. which, impressed upon the subordi-
mates employed, both at home and abroad, bore
some resemblance to the organization OF
State. The head of the firm, in the course OF
three or four generations, acquiring higher Gull
4 =.
ture and prouder instincts, directed his enter
priscs very much In the manner OF Reclining
prince; and professional as well as personal
ambition led him to seek positions of social or
political influence. The transition from conf
mercial to political field of activity, as in
the case of Cosmo de- Meiici, was thus natu-
raj one. The recent political history of En-
gland abounds with instances of similar
transfer of administrative talents developed in
trade or manufactures.
Mr.. Stewards career, while resembling that
of his famous predecessors in its main out
lines, has been made possible by the general
progress of the world. The rapid growth OF
all civilized races, extension of intercourse,
swiftness and security of communication, and
an unexampled increase in the use of the
fabrics in which he dealt, were all new adj
vantages which he employed with equal intel
lgence. No doubt he was familiar with the
history of the great Italian and German mer-
chants and 1t was no ignoble ambition to
apply the broad principles of their system
of business to the conditions of our day.
An instinct of wisdom, as well as OF
natural integrity, prompted the establishment
of a confidence such as they also assiduousy
kept alive and finally, to complete the simil-
itude the only other strong aspiration which
he ever betrayed was for an important posi-
ton in tho Government The offer which he
made in the hope of obtaining it reminds us
of Anton Fugger's naughty prodigality. Thus.
in the course of his life as In his bust
ness, he represents at least three genera
tons of a medieval commercial house,
and this is a fair illustration of the
more rapid movement of all forms of human
development in our time. But, to offset what
ever danger may lie in the possibility of such
vast personal success, we now have the total
abolition of guilds and privileges everywhere,
communications free to all, and the multiple
cation of products which no single mercan-
Tile power will ever be able again to mOnOpo-
lie. The field is still open to every young
man capable of seeing distant yet attainable
ideal reckoning through the WEAKNESS and
drudgery OF the early years of business life.
Mr. Richard A. Proctor assured his friends after
his profitable lecturing campaign two years ago,
that he was mol going to write q book on America
parbons he will chanpa his mind on his SECOND re-