The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-04-21
A. II. STEVVAEET.
What Sort Of an Man Ihe RHer'
chanI millionaire was.


Belfast, Ireland, about 1903, was ed
ucated at Trinity College, Dublin,
and came to New York In 1923, at
the age of twenty. lie taught school
for q short time, and then opened q
small dry goods store on the west
side of Broadway, opposite the
Park. At that time John Jacob
Astor was already worth millions,
while Cornelius Vanderbilt, as cap
tain for Thomas Gibbons, had been
some six years in the steamboat bus
mess. Stewart was the last OF the
three to enter the race for wealth in
New York, but he made astonish-
ing time after 1926. He had over
his competitors the advantage of q
college education. His wonderful
executive and administrative talent,
combined with exceptional COM
mercial sagacity and sleepless activ-
ity, placed him at the head of the
dry goods trade IN New York. &.
He was-the most conspicuous ex-
ample this country has produced of
what great executive ability, united
with prudence, shreWdness and sa-
gacity, may accomplish in q legiti-
mate business vocation. He had In.
herited a small amount OF money
and Immediately invested IL In q
stock of notions" opening on
Broadway in small room in the
vicinity of his present down town
mammoth establishment. 1t is re-
lated that he was his own Grand
boy, porter, bookkeeper and sales
man, working from fourteen to
eighteen hours per day, keeping
house over his store, In q single
room which served as kitchen, lodg-
ing and parlor. 1t was his rule al
ways to live within his income,
whatever that income was. Mr..
Stewart was the first advertiser who
ever made a sensation in New York
He originated the selling off-at-cost
method of attracting q. multitude of
buyers, and practiced il, with re-
markAble success. He took New
York by storm; promised the pub
lie bargains; created a furOre among
housekeepers; his place of business
was thronged with eager purchas-
ers, who found every package had
its labeled price and people bought
his goods and rushed back for more,
for they found they had not been
cheated. In that little shanty, and
by this mode OF conducting bust
ness, buying and selling for cash
only, he laid the foundation of thai
solid colossal fortune, which tower
cd TO fifty millions, aud would have
enabled him to supply an army or
navy as easily as he could fit out q
steamship.
Throughout his long business ca
reer he always attended personally
to his business, and in his business
hours lac was almost inaccessible. Ii
you wanted to ''interview" him you
had to run the gauntlet OF two or
three sentinels, and a confidential
agent who cross-examined you be.
fore he reported your business and
handed your pasteboard to his chief.
When you entered the august pres
ence you beheld a person of average
height, slim, with repulsive conn-
tenance, sandy hair, sharp, grave,
avaricious. features, a clear, cold eye,
a face furrOwed with thought, care
and success, q voice harsh and un.
friendly in its mellowest tones. lie
might easily have been mistaken fol
his bookkeeper or porter. lie re-
ceived you with the air of a man
impatient from interruption, who
wished you to say your say and be-
gone. He lived wholly by himself.
Ills wife bore him no children, and
he probably had not bosom friend
in the world. Many men of wealth
in New York find their pleasure in
dress, in dissipation, in amusements,
in travel, in parties, theatres, operas
ana the feVerish excitement of spec
ulation in Wall street. Stewart
found his in hard work. Business
was his idol, his pleasure, his profit
he reveled in it. In his SEVENTEEN
year he was as indomitable, perse-
Vering and enterprising as when he
liberal man. 1t is said that he never
Yielded to the opportunities of beg.
CARS, and never gave his employees q
holiday without deducting it from
their weekly salaries; but his dona.
tons to public objects were some
times princely, and the Woman'G
Home, which he projected at Hemp
stead Plains will, If completed &C
cOrding to his plans, prove lasting
monument TO his generosity. If ht
was hard, he was just. He had thu
reputation of keeping all his con
tracts, in paying what was nomina
ted in the bond, and no more. HI
was In no sense politician, aud hi
nearest approach to political life
was when nominated by Presiden
Grant for secretary of the treasury
a position for which he was legal,
disqualified by reason of being
foreign importer. Doubtless b
would have managed the finances o
nation with the same prudence, en-
ergy and conscientiousness that h.
bestowed on his own. His mercan
tile career had been steadily upwar,
and his whole life a success. lie earn
ed the title he bore; he was tn
autOcrat of New York merchants
lie began lie penniless and role
up fortuRe greater than that &C
cumulated by any one man, proba
bly,, not excepting WE. b. Astor o
Vanderbilt. But of such life Their
is little to be written, unless it shal
be shown that his vast accumula
tiOns, unlike those of Aston, wer
the subject of praiseWorthy an
philanthropic requests. q - p asa
In 1913 he built the large store a
Broadway and Chambers street, o.
the site of old washington Hotel.
lie foresaw and prepared for the up
town movement by buying the lam
bounded by Ninth and Tenth Sts,
broadway and Fourth avenue. o.
these lots, covering an area of abou
two and one quarter acres, he erect
ed the six-story iron building whic
now occupies it. The total invest
ment, land and buildings, may b
roughly estimated at 50, 100000. t
this establishment in 1862 Mr.. Stew
art removed his retail business, an
from that time the down town stor
was devoted entirely to wholesal
trade. During successful bushes
career of fifty years, Mr.. StewaI
was a constant buyer of real estat
in New York, his holding of res
property being only surpassed
those of the Astor family. Previou
to the death of the late VIM. B. AS
tor, in the fall of 1875, A. Il. Stew
art was the second largest holde
Mr. SlaUarf,a uaalih WA actin n Z a