Arizona citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Pima County, A.T. [i.e. Ariz.]) 1870-1880, 1876-05-06
The Merchant Prince.

\. t. Stewart never turned asid,
= from the path of legitimate business tc
that of daring speculation. To Ordina
p ry men, some of his ventures NAV have
appeared rash, but it was the rashness
due to a keener foresight and better
| poised judgment than that of his fel-
) lows. His life is a standing proof OF
the efficacy of honesty, industry, and
well directed intelligence in laying the
l foundations Of vast wealth. The man
who has amassed the largest fortune
ever accumulated within the span of a
single life was simply Woodworking.
I careful merchant, with a decided talent
I for organization and a somewhat rare
faculty for taking rs firm a grasp Of pet
( ty details as Of broad and general prin-
clples. There was no gamblers luck
nthe methods of action which expand
ed the 5000 of 1929 into Inc forty or
fifty millions of 1876. ANY business
man with unfagging energy, patient
selt-denial, and consistent principle
may fairly hope to accumulate for
tune by similar methods.
Living through period of perhaps
more rapid commercial expansion than
we may witness for many years to come,
he never yielded to the temptation of
making haste to be rich. He labOred
to enlarge the area of his business
with singleness, and at times a relent-
lessneSs, of purpose which had in III
something of the heroic But he alb
jured the gain to be derived from ex-
travagant profits about as sedulOusly as
he did the dear-bought advantage to be
derived from false representations and
eXtravagant professions. He kept faith
with the public so rigidly and so long
that the public needed no persuasion
to believe that his goods were what he
represented them to be. 1t was per
haps the great secret of his success /
that the unskilled buyer could, in spite
of his lack of knowledge, secure as far |
treatment from \. T. Stewart as the 4
skillful one could obtain anywhere
The influence of \. T. Stewart has .
been a moral power to the commercial {
history of the United States, whose
value it would be difficult to overes-
innate. The success of his system of
plain dealing produced SO many imita-
tors that il is to-day the rule instead of
the exception among the leading dry
goods merchants of our great cities.
And that system has been 50 generally
recognized as the only passport TO per
manent success that il will remain with
us long after Mr. Stewards share in e.
it has been forgotten. His
vast business, too, whether or not il is
destined to retain the cohesion and the
perfect organization which he impress
ed upon it, will be perpetual example
OF the great results which can be ac-
by u single mind and will
acting through number Of carefully
selected agents
1t will only be by degrees that we
hall be able To appreciate the void
which has been caused by the death OF
4. 7. Stewart Thousands of spindleS
ran at his bidding; thousands of en-
ployes looked to him, directly or indi-
'ectly, for bread. He was the centre of
great real estate interests, and the pa
rent of comprehensive schemes for sup
plying homes for the people and lOdg-
ng for the poor He was the largest
Individual contributor but one to
he CIty Treasury of New York, and
by far the largest to the Treasury of the .
nation. He was the mainstay of more
han one bank, the reputed prop OF
)ne or two large dry goods houses in
other cities, and the almost sole en-
Dloyer Of manufacturing establish I
nents in both hemisphereS. Great i'm
porter as he was, he has done more
han most people are aware to cultivate C,
he textile industries in the United g,
States He was not the man to leave
he multitude of affairs in which he :
vas concerned hanging at loose ends,
lut now that the directing brain has
,cased to act, and the overseeing eye Is
,loSed in death, there must be a mo- y
nentary shock and interruption to !
multiplied activities and interests such
Is it has seldom been given to man to
lirect The disposal of The vast ac-
Of fifty years of successful h
business, and the fate of the enterprises /;
which drew from it their Likelihood, is
/ question which will be the universal I
heme of public speculation for some
ime to come-N. Y. Times. =