The Labor enquirer., 1883-11-03

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BillS, ita ns6 vIio tak;6 thsix ssvsn ~
cent fn1nlnGk Will j1ve q th1 none4 n
tfD[ And I 1omembog thot Gh61f
im6 bG1oeos shh do1ks 4hen NJ QerO III
onink oome bqnds, II octed ~ n,akine
then tWSnty-yoar bol|1s because the
Itime woald fun around toe quickly.
1he6s stpfjn about William x, are N
ouifaes ) damnable cutlaeo. The' 'beag1
must be hard run when they have 70
start euch lies to help themselves. Il
seems - II, when money becomes the
question, mNu lost al eenfiemanly In
stinpos and stopped to ANYTHING, no mat-
:tef how mean and dirty /. Was. The
sbenFS II cAn SO them now standing
around down there at the Windsor. Ifa
funny; bat there b something in the
very appearance Of the sbearS which
makes them look like sneak thieves /
can tell them just by their manner and
looks You wouldn't trust your pocket
book with one Of them; l wouldn't, Ct
any nate, and ever expect to see it back
aeain-"
In speaking Of Mr.. Vanderbilt recently
the World said: "Nobody knows ex-
actly how rich he is, becsuse, unlike
other kings. he does not allow his sub
jecz to scrutinize his civil list But he
is very rich and powerful king. His
fortune is estimated at 500, 100000 In
the years when he only builds palaces
and buys paintings, and does not buy
nicKel-plate roads, his yearly civil list
ranges from fourteen to twenty millions
of dollars, He buys fifty millions of 4
per cents at asingle investment. He
controls over six thousand miles of rail
roads. The area of his territory is very
large. His subjects grumble great deal
under the burdens he lays upon them,
but the only answer he makes to their
remonstrances is, my subjects be
damned
Again, on the sixteenth of this month,
the same paper spoke thus:
If Mr.. Vanderbilt was really pri-
vate citizen contenting himself with cut
ting of. his cupons and living on the in
terest of the vast fortune he inherited
from his father, we should have nothing
to say sgainst him, even though he
should spend all his days in stable
among horse Jockeys. That would be
his own business. But he is the chief
owner and manager of the greatest busi-
ness artery of the state. He holds d
charter granted by the people of the
state, not alone for the benefit of the
stockholders of b corporation, but for
the advantage of the public and the pro-
motion of the commerce of the state.
He has power oyer the lives of nine or
ten millions of passengers carried over
the kew York Central and Hudson
Rive. railroad during the year, inde-
pendent. of the Harlem and other of his
railroads He holds the interests of the
farmers and merchants of the richest
portion of this state in his grasp. He is
the possessor of a public trust as far
reaching and important as any in the
country.
When a money king, in order to in
crease his already enormous wealth,
waters the stock of his railroads or tel
egraph lines to four times their legiti-
mate amount, he necessarily increases
the cost of messages, travel and trans
portation to the people in order to secure
dividends on the illegitimate capital. Is
this no business of the public? When
he restricts the accommodations on the
Harlem road, neglects the safety of those
who travel over it and extorts unreason-
able way freight for the purpose of swell
ing the profits, he einjures the section of
the country through which the road
passes and does injustice to those who
do business over the line, When he
goes into Wall street to make pools, to
promote monopolies and to influence the
market for all securities, using for such
purposes the money made out of fran
chises bestowed upon him by the peo-
pie, is he within the sanctuary of private
life? When he eyades taxation and
thus cheats the government which af-
fords him protection, is he to be exempt
from censure because he is "privatep
citizen? When he sends hired attor-
uey to Albany to buy up legislators and
purchase laws in the interest of his cor
porations against the public good, are we
to shut our eyes to the outrage because
he is not in public lifeP
Now then, said Boss Tweed, what are
you going to do about it? The wealth
taken in a short time from the commu-
nifty, and held in ownership bythis man,
already runs up into the hundreds Of
millions. No fortune was ever accumu-
lated by any individual in England
equal even to the present fortune of Mr..
Vanderbilt. The largest personally was
that of Mr.. Brassey, the great railroad
contractor, $50, 100000. The next largest
was that of Mr.. Morrison, dry goods,
$40, ,OO0, 900, with real estate equal to some
81, SOC, 900 more. The Duke of Westmin-
ster's realty can fall little short of $780,
100000, but his father only left $4,000, 600
personally, and this included a famous
collection of pictures. Queen Victoria
herself, who has always been greedy
miser for money, is not, as private in
dividual, worth more than $l0,0Oo,O0O.
The great nabobs of the East Indies, the
wealthy shareholders of Brazil, and the
monarchs of continental Europe have
no fortunes that will compare with that
of this New Yorker, obtained in the way
that has been described. In old Rome
there were no such capitalists as W. H.
" plipv aofin,ofoo fba fnrfnpo of tb ,