New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-05

no money; on the contrary, he constantly IhcreAscu
| his accumua tons The last change was Tor a per-
| manency. He continued his business In the same
place for twenty-five years, and when ne 1naI as
made an alteration 1T was only to Dmld a gITe
factory on cheaper ground ana 10 reh'ah siu0
| manufacturer until he died. ~
" men the property on the Old Middle Road was
bought the glue made 10 tins country was OIL NTn :s
came IRON Ireland, and was sold for
three times much as that made IN America fci a
Mr. Cooper no reason why as good glue sh9uId
not lie manufactured here as IN Ireland he stuuleu
the matter thoroughly, and carried or an extensive
series OF experiments. 1T was not long before ne
| was making better grade of glue than that which
was imported. The ultimate result Oh thls impIonu
ment was to put the whole glue trade OF the country
in his hands. AS with glue, so with islnglass Inc
| market in America was chiefly supplied by Russia
isinglass of home manufacture was INFERIOR. III 4
short tine M Mr. Cooper Wa arse cost 81
pound, his purchasable for 10 cents p pound
The demand was large and continued 10 lnciJ lii;
Isingass used in refining liquors. making leihes
and IN other ways, winch increased rapidly III eA1nt
and variety with the growth of the country: inls
property had been purchased Tor TZ,oOV. III prorou
the source of the bulk of Mr.. Coopers fortune for
many years he carried the business almost aohe'
he had no bookkecper no clerk, no agent, no sa f
man; he was up at the break of day and at his 1act
tory lighting the fires and preparing 1or work. n.
noon he drove down 10 the city aud made ms sales
posted his books attended to his correspondence ana
| talked with his wife and children. his was MS
daily life for nearly thirty years
THOUGHTS OF THE COOPER INSTITUTE
But Mr.. Cooper never lOst slgnt vi Hls GARY pun
pose to build great free school. When he bought
the lease of land where the Bible House now Is
| it was in belief that the locality would some day
be the centre of the city and the place for the
| school His habits Of economy were never reiaxed
while he. was doing his own business without book
keeper clerk or salesman, his profits were S3O,ooo
a wear and he was always talking of bis school. lie
made his glue from bullocks hoofs and his factory
consumed all the hoo's that the city could supply
Those were the days when Daniel Drew was build
| ing up a fortune by buying cattle III the ONO val
ley, driving them over the Allegheny Mountains
| and finding largo profits III the New YORK market
| So great was Mr. CO0peTs demand lot noois tnaC
| the price advanced from one cent to twelve cents
each; he continued to make money; however, su-
| yancing the price of glue, but still overcoming
foreign competition. =, IL. III
Ten years of tins business had made him rch
! man as wealth was measured hlty years ago.
He had accumulated large surplus capital aVailii
| able for Investment. One day two men proposed
to him that the three make a purchase OF
land IN Baltimore, and offered him one-th'rd in
| tcrest III 5000 acres Mt price OF Sl03oOV. me
land was within the p city t gc an o ooK IN nee
of three miles. Mr.. Cooper paid his part OF tne puf
| chase money and soon discovered that neither OF
his partners had paid ANYTHING ne oneref 'I Tha
| land was Improbable. and IN order 10 get "a return
for the investment he built iron works on tne
| Qround He owned 400 or 800 tons OF IRON ore az
| Iazaretto Point and determined To cut OH tne W0ou
| from the land and make charcoal iron. lie oullt a
| p-nI
| in diameter. One day when he was at WORK peioIe
| n furnace the gas burst forth, almost envelopng
| him with a sheet OF flame. lie narrowly eScApoo
| with his life.
| EXTENDING THE FIELD OF HIS OPERATIONS.
Those were the early days of railroads in America.
! Not s,nole locomotive had been constructed here
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company had
| bnilt only thirteen miles of their road, and were
having so much difficulty with sharp curves rs TO
think of abandoning the whole project. In the hr't
wear they had expended all their subscribed stock
and the stockholders, thoroughly discouraged, hal
refused to pay any more. Mr.. Cooper came TO their
aid by building a locomotive that would run on
curves When 1T was completed lie attached IL 10
| on omen box-car and with himself engineer gave
! fine directors a ride the thirteen miles OF rOaa
covering the distance in one hour and twenty MN
utes; the returning trip was mace In hltI-'eVeh
1 minutes. This decided me fortunes OF lho 'od"
! and il then completed A..
| Mr. Cooper sold his Baltimore property To- TWO
capitalists who formed the canton IRON YORK ~
the stock of which Mr.. Cooper TOOK cohNldclaoic
| part of the amount due lin. he stock was taken
/ at $44 per share, the par vaiue being plVV. 49,, y,
RAPIDLY rose until II reached vaiuallOh ol P-2o
| ner share when Mr.. Cooper sold his interest. In
| New-York he built iron works IN Fourth-ave' near
his glue factory, and during the next two or three
| wears manufactured large quantities OF WIRE Inc
! mill however, was used mainly II puddhhg ana
| rolling iron. His house wa, then AT f"ustl-ase'
and Twenty ghth-st., where he continued 70 re
| aide mt he moved to the large house. al No.
| Lexlu gton-ave., where lie died. At the same time
| he
factory, but III lS45 he decided To rrm'Ve
| that part of his manufacturing enterprises; 10
Williamsburg, rs his lease had Expired ana the ianl
WAS more valuable for other purposes. Accordingly
he erected large building III MaNpetha ave dnd ntl
| ORGANIZED his force and arranged hs machinery
| when the binding was burned down. lhe loss wa
| $40 600 and there was No insurance. Larry on me
morning after the lire one oi Lls employees lhoThol
| him OF the loss. AT once orders were gFoh ioT
| clearing away the RUNS IN preparation Ior now
| slrnctnre and before 9 o'clock lumber Tor II bad
arrived on the ground. Inc rebuilding went on
RAPIDLY and when completed the new loIy was
three times larger than the first, being 0OO Ieet III
length. Ii is still standing and III ise Mr. cooper WIS
| now nearly tifty-fivc years OF age-a tIne OF Ms
| when many men who have grown ricn afc ga 10
retire from business and seek rest Tor the remainder
| of their DAYS But not with him. lie had only
succeeded III getting thoroughly under way WIN
| EIIt Ha removed tho iron mill III
| Fourtb.ayc 10 Trenton. where he put mp
additional iron factories; lie was mo hrsi person
| to manufacture railroad iron IN tins country IN
| paunlng his future Cooper Union he desired IL
TO be ireproof, but was unable 10 OBTAIN me gces
| sary iron beams He then expended T7oQOO IN
machinery Tor rolling beams sdch as are now used
III building, being the hist person III ihe cOu!uJ
| 10 engage III this enterprise also ,
| The Trenton venture proved successful, and the
| works were enlarged from time 10 time uniil they
! have become very extensive At PhiilIpsburg. |
| Penn, he built three large baSt furnaces
and he bought. the Durham inrnace
| three miles from Trenton The production oil lis |
| mills was not confined TO buolng ana railroad
! IRON bar included various kinds OF wire, sucn rs be
| had made IN Ncw-lOrK, aud many oth"r malu4atc
| lures Of iron. For the Durham furnaces he pald
| $500 900. He also bought the An1Oyer IRON mines,
| and 10 transport the his factory hc built
railroad eight miles in length over rough country,
! on which he could transport 10000 tons Il year
| This was wholly prlyaio enterprise. In lhe irol
| mining and glue business he employed 2,5OO men,
and never in his business career. no MAJ ter what
| financial stringency or panic might eH's',
| did he fail To pay them when their
money was due In the early venture III tOurth,ave
he had acquired habIs OF close attention 10 az tAs
details OF hi, business Through economy. limit ana
sagacity lac had accumulated large fortune, ana
these qualities were lacking III his traIlsac-
| tons
HIS INVENTIONS
| Mr. Cooper had remarkable mechanical abllit'
and inventive powers. Before lie LETT his home TO