Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-05-27

5ouic uuo must Uoiu Tic Dak WY hot hO
a. well a. another? Bless me, but this
Is selfish world! .
And now for the "men OF the street, "
whom you wish me 10 picture. Mr..
keene, a. all know, comes from Cali
tornia. He brought $5,O00,0O0 with
him, and is said TO have soon doubled II
In few successful ventures when fresh
10 the coast. Ii is questionable how
ever, II he has SIC, 0O0, 900 now. Lard Is
q slippery thing to tie to, stocks cannot
always be counted on TO dead certain
ty, and II must be remembered that the
mills OF the gods, which grind so surely
and - finely, not infrequently make
grist OF him who beareth his wheat, as
well as OF IL, he come too heavily laden.
One who does not buy railroads 10 run,
grain 10 eat, nor lard 10 shorten biscuit
with, simply CANDLES on the price OF
commodities which he cannot control,
and is ant 10 come 10 grief sooner or la.
ter. But Mr.. Keene is said TO be man
OF generous instincts, and his financial
wake would probably be largely attend
ed.
As for Cammack, he was once block
ade-runner, believe. And the tactics
that he used of old with federal gun
boats he brings into play now as against
all bull cruisers. Lying of and on the
market, fonder OF fog than OF clear
weather, feeling for an opportunity to
make landing, running his prov in to
reconnoiter and lodging back IL he
scents danger, ready 10 dash through the
first weak point that presents itself, his
low black funnel of hat and sharp cut
water are all suggestive OF a Clyde-built
boat. Recently under the guns OF
Gould, he has displayed more audacity
in his forays than ever before, and, /
fancy, has scored his first successes for
months. To him the world is but
stock exchange, and men and women
the quotations, they tell me, and for all
that he thinks or talks Of anything else
his brain might be a ticker and his
tongue the tape.
OF the most prominent men OF "the
street." Jay Gould and Russell Sage re-
main. But how shall | deal with them
unless by pointing contrastsP Thus, /
may say, that while Mr.. Gould is ambi-
tious, Mr.. Sage is avaricious. And this,
think, marks the difference between
them quite as well as it can be- done by
words. Mind, / do not say that MIR.
Sage il not possessed of ambition as well,
but think il will be very generally con-
ceded that in him this passion is over.
powered by another aud not nobler
one. What is the guiding star in the
life OF one, il but flicker in that oil the
other, and is held as but pale beside the
CLEAN Of guinea. To be the leading
railroad power of this cOntinent-and
this is to say of the worlds evidently,
what Mr.. Gould aspires to, and aiming
at this he regards money as but a means,
an incident-a most necessary one, how
ever,-to the end. With Mr.. Sage, on
the other hand, money stands first, and
he would very likely let a railroad slip
through his fingers while puttering over
the price OF put" or a "call. " This
they tell me. is the difference between
the men. One goes for little fishes, bob.
bling in the shallowest OF waters Tor all
sorts of sickle backs. while the other
makes great sweeps OF a:wide-spreading
net or grapples with great whales - the
smoke OF whose fairness, when he gets
them alongside, fills the air. Under
stand, now, am holding no one up as
an example OF all or any OF the cardinal
virtues. lam but drawing contrasts.
Thus do not say that MIR. Gould would
not bag a church il it stood in his way
and could be converted into passable
railway depot. But | do say that's con-
tribution-box would be very apt to pass
through his hands with no diminution
of it's contents. And it would give me
positive pleasure could | say IA much
Tor all his associates, many Of whom pre-
tend To more, and few Of whom are
the chosen custOdians Ot contribution
boxes. There is this about Mr.. Could
he protends TO nothing and makes no
explanations. Put the blame ON him
who likes, he never opens his lips to put
il elsewhere. And amid all the present
cry that Jay Gould broke the market
and brought distress into the happy
homes of honest spectators who had
hoped 10 retire from the market ere this,
OH "A competence earned by selling their
stocks at profit to some one no better
able probably TO take a loss than they
amid all this, | say, Mr.. Gould has
neither publicly nor privately pointed
10 the fact that Mr. Vanderbilt quietly
slid out of Michigan Central, Canada
Southern and kindred securities, some
time since; that Cyprus Field peddled
his Wabash out in several parishes so
long ago as last December, and that only
himself-and possibly Mr.. Sage-haye
manfully held their X. I. through thick
and thin, selling none, but buying all
that has been offered. Possibly people
would not believe him did he say this!
Well, | must confess 10 "A respect Tor the
reticence that does not he when there's
no need to-and not the slightest posi-
bility Of being believed. This IL were
Mr.. Gould in wiser in his generation
than are most Of his fellow-tinanciers.
lie backs his opinions silently, he bides
his time patiently, and he bears his
losses, ii losses come without complaint
lie is cleanly in his companionships, and
gathers around him IA intimates neither
gamblers nor horse Jockeys. So far from
leading any one astray on the market
am informed that he uniformly refuses
to advise as 10 speculation at all, candid
ly coniessing that he is frequently mis-
taken himself. In consequence, weep
ing widows do not come 10 him with
Wabash that he let them into, nor do
reprOachful orphans haunt his path
holding the Pacific Mail into which lie
beguiled them. The men who sit with
him in council are as full OF good senti-
ments rs copy.books, while Mr.. Gould,
they say, could not be coaxed into pro-
nouncing the mildest panegyric on the
beauties Of benevolence or the reward
which awaits virtue in another world.
But am told that he has done some
most generous things with a quietness
that literally kept his right hand
which is his private secretary-irom
knowing that the left had done anything
at all. And when ! see how he has at
tached to him an in his service by,mak-
ing them sharrrs in his prosperity, COM
pairing his well.ted clerks aud brokers
with the lean servitors who do the con-
tidential work Of others, | say: Verify
there is shrewdness If not goodness in
Gould And whatever he may be, he
AZ least is not mean.
-e-
TuoUsASps of people, who are afflicted