Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-01

tnD kenefot3On the AAtO1 t8ko very
kindly. Each knows, Of coarse, the
humble origin OF the other, and each
hughSat and ridicules the weak points
of the other, but they are gradually
Ints this peculiar mixture comes q
third and most salient ingredient,
Jay Geald.
Now, although MFR. Gould was very
poor when he started in life, he had an
advantage which the first Aston and the
first Vanderbilt never dreamed ola
well based parentage and an excellent
education-so that, when he came into
affairs, he sprang fully equipped men
tally, and needed simply field, an OPP
portunity for the display Of his marvel :
Gus faculties. In spite, however, OF his
ability, which amounts in my judg'
ment to
Positively Genius,
in spite of his marvellous succeeds, the
cloud of Erie hung over him, the shade
of Jim Fisk lowered near him, and If
with all his vas. accumulations, it has
not been possible for him to enter even
so peculiar q set as that of the Astors,
parvenus and nouveaux as they are, nor
until lately has it been possible for him
to find access to the gilded Haunting
haunts of the Vanderbilts. Oflate things
are changed somewhat. Whether 1t Is
Mr.. Gould's mild, gentle, deprecatory
department, whether it Is his scholarly
habit, whether it is the vast impetus
which his enormous wealth gives to his
personality, is not for me to determine.
The fact is, however, that some time
since he got his hand upon the Wander
bilt shoulder, and to-day We find him
absolutely patron of the head Of the
house of Astor.
Twenty Thousand shares of Western
stock worth 81 were sold to Mr.. Astor
for 50. In other words, Mr.. Jay Gould
deliberately gives to Mr.. John Jacob
Astor, the millionaire son of million
aire father, himself son of a million
aire miser, $40, 900, sum which MIR.
Astor could fling into the waves Of the
ocean and never know that it had gone.
Don't misunderstood me. He could
not lose 40 cents without regretting
and bewailing his despoiling, but so far
as peeuniary ability is concerned he
could throw away $40, 900 multiplied by
10 without any appreciable diminu-
of his fortune. ToGould it is flea bite,
/ can imagine that quiet little man in
the calm retreat of his library in his
modest home on Fifth avenue, looking
at himself in a mirror and grinning
from ear to ear.
Vanderbilt calls upon him for help,
Astor accepts from him benefit.
The complications that will arise
from this interchange OF millionairistic
are manifold. Next winter,
when We give another S50,OOO ball, We
have got to invite the Goulds. Next
year, when We have our quiet teas, we
must invite the Goulds. Next year,
when the
GouIds Invite the vanderbilts,
who must come because Mr.. Gould has
been ofgreat service to the head of the
house, they will have the pleasure Of
meeting the Astors, who must come be-
cause the head Of their house is Mr..
Gould's beneficiary. A trio of million
artistic msgnates, with hosts Of little
will thus be thrown to-
gether. Intermarriage becomes not
only possible, but probable, and new
vein is opened in the strata OF American
life.
The tastes ofthe three men are radi-
eally different. Vanderbilt cares for
horses, jockeys and bursts upon the
road. Astor thinks of accommodating
and raising rents. Jay Gould
aims to be the richest man in the coun-
try, but his tastes are domestic, and find
their happiest outwork in the seclusion
of his library, where he reads, studies
and writes. Nothing but self-interest
could ever have brought these three
men together. The electric wire which
has been held in turn by Vanderbilt
and by Gould is now in the hands of
Vanderbilt, Astsr and Gould, binding
them together as absolutely as it binds
the cities Of the earth to common cir
cult.
Wise Men ON Wall Street
shake their heads when they hear of
Astor's investment, and laugh when
they are told of Goula's ,-.~s n;ioa,.t
gift. Vanderbilt, with all his brash-
ness on the road, is timid in tLe street,
except when the peg is in his own hand
to be put when and where he chooses.
Gould has wrecked many better
financial mind than ali the Astor COM
bined, while in his hands Vanderbilt is
weaker than a child. To reduce these
two men to the plane occupied by their
or, for that matter,
to that occupied by their granctathers
in the early days of their lives, would
be game, the playing of which would
afford Mr.. Gould Intense
But, so long as Mr.. Astor
retains the grasping itch bequeathed
him by his father, he will not part with
his real estate. And, unless some mar
yellous bond convrlson occurs, Mr.. Van
derbilt's $50, 0OO,oeo will long resist
even a wilier attack than that which
Mr.. Gould's fertile brain can devise.
knowing that Mr.. Gould's
grasp of affairs is great, l believe that
he Is playing social rather than a
financial game. Whichever it may be,
tho IOOkers-on are bound to be amused.