The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1882-06-21

the Commodore got a trife mad
"D--n it," said he, II know th,
bonds are good, and if people dom,
want them at my price, I'll take ZEN
myself, as | have done before. Lool
here," and he took out of vault ont
Of a series of folio volumes, opened
it and rapidly ran over the pages
Each leaf was q bond for $4,000 pay.
able to the order of Cornelius Van
derbilt, and there were FIVE hundred
leaves in the book. Two million five
hundred thousand dollars between
the covers Of one volume, and there
were more where that one came
from! The monotony of the literary
contents might be forgiven for the
sake Of the soundness OF the princi-
pal involved, and the q per cent. J
interesting way in which it was
treated.
"MILL1oNs FOR DE FENCE"
The bronze fence around Wander
bits hovses cost $4,000, but poor
little Lutheran church society in the
city has paid ten times as much for
a fence. they didn't build. Several
years ago--in fact in 1796-the
church in question was looking
around for a new building site. A
lot containing six acres ''out in the
country was, offered them as a free
gift provided they would not only
erect the church edifice but put a
neat and substantial fence around
the entire tract. They demurred at
the fence, it would cost too much,
and the place was so far out of town
that the fence was unnecessary ex-
cept to keep the cows out, and they
had no objection to the COWS being
in. So they declined the offer. That
six acres embraced what is now the
corner of Broadway and Canal sts.,
and six millions would be too small
a figure for it to-day. If the church
had built the fence and held the
ground, they would now be rivals
in wealth with the aristocratic Trim.
lty churcq corporation which hardly
knows how to spend its income. The
Lutferans of the present day think
of what might have been, and rail at
the indefensible short.sightedness of
their ancestors.
A. t. STEWARDS srUpENDous STORE.
With the present month will 20
out the house of A. T. Stewart &
20. The doors are to be finally
closed on June 80. Four hundred
have already been dis
charged and eleven hundred more
are to 60. I've no time and you no
space for moralizing on the downfall |
Of a great house. The papers have
lone all that for the past three !
nonths. Stewart died and the bust
ness has been dying ever since. In
England the business and the good
will of so vast an establishment
would have been "taken over" by a
oint stock company of practical
merchants, and the name would have
been saved to the mercantile world.
But that is not the American way
No one man cared to buy it out and
New York merchants do not 60 into
20 operation transactions. What will
'e done with the great edi6ce on
Broadway is not yet known. There
vas talk of making a museum Of 1t,
'ut that was an absurdity and would
lever have paid. fit was not 50
ar down town it would be more sue
'essful as an apartment dwelling
house, its great interior court and
is four street sides giving all rooms
light and air, and it may come to
hat yet. There seems to be no 9th.
# as profitable use Of brick and NOR
ar and marble nowadays as to put
hem into enormous "French fiat"
,ouses, which are no more like the
genuine Partisan fats than European
lotels in New York are like tire iuns
Il Loudon and Berlin.
STEWARDS BUSINESS HONESTY.
\. T. Stewart remorselessly crushed
ut and undersold smaller tradesmen
md be had despotic and arbitrary
vay of dealing with his employees
which made him feared but never
owed. And yet there was never
merchant who more vigorously in
sisted on fairness and honesty to
Yard his customers. Whether you
fought Merrimac prints or Persian
:arpets, you got what you paid for,
md you got it at fair price. An
Incident will illustrate this charac.
eristic of the dead merchant prince.
1t the very last occasion on which
Ir. Stewart ever gave q dinner par