New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-11

Aha o,o The Grant members OF the firm were regaruea
as sound and honest by their partners Dat hoi as
posscssing Wards uniform cool Judgment anu "
leaning toward the representations OF Their iehoS VINO
', ,.h assistance Mr. Fish merely advisory
oupsel 70 Mr. Ward who was, TO all intents ana Pi
oses te firm II is said that for some time 'his pra'
| banking house made 30 per cent per ahhun' M,
Mr. For,naud Ward is the of missionary 10 Ihuia
not however ! think OF the missionary "''''a' "'lU
uho was an Fnpshman The family was large ana SOME
| -, =, :, ,ada GOOD marriage connections. Young
w., oon,a from Geneseo I'm Western New YORK. "nclo
hi nn,n, Communion was the father OF Roscoe CohA-
| ling and he now has gun tue olu 'uuso p
him. Young Ward has a rather ola lace ING ' - ,' ~,
rho sacrificed youth for business 'ainDtioh "I' nv ~
| heon much in the company Of the boys vi So'io
- ,,,s,r In earnest with his eyes set upon
,,rro no ia typIcal of hundreds o. young men VIM
| oo IN York and put measure 10 their hope'o
novvcr and fortune Discovering how easy IL 10 " Wv
| things they had esteemed dihcult' tie9 n 49,.
| known the distress nor the training oil one "no ~
- ,,er slovlv acquiring It. Made buoyant oy Ju'e-
| nile success with young brains 1nil Oh p'oou WIZ" w
CORY idea after idea without being weary, they run
moo opd often fall over a precipice becauseihey had not
,5nrcd I'D at some friendly snag or hole earlier III 'ho
| start.
Mr. Ward married In the proper way ana selteu uo""
10 live like men of conservative family ideas' he hau
home In Brooklyn and summer home at stamford oo'h
OF which are nc being depicted costly aoes whereas
they probably saved him the expense OF shifting ABOUT
| and losing time His amusement was driving ana Ill
that way he and General Grant pleased each other'
Grant and the Grant boys visited him at stamford Inc
Grant family gave the firm considerable credit chiefly
ont of that good nature with which rich business lnen
| consider men of military or political reputation. Com
modore Garrison liked Fred Grant and the Segmans ana
others liked General Grant Ward knew the whole range
| of fnanciering. from Government warrants ana ad-
vancing on contracts down TO building waerworks ana
and opening salt-wes and steering the new
aqueducts for New-York. Applying his whole MIND
to lnanccring he considered by Mr. f1sh ABOUT tno
| close OF last year to be worth 81 ,GOOOOO
The real estate transactions Of Mr. Fish were harped
upon by reporters who did know Mr. Wards influence
| In the private banking firm and incidentally IN inc
Marine Bank OF which he had come to be an executive
director after he had accumulated supposed fortune
Mr. Fss real estate operations been conservative
IL large, only OF them, the purchase OF boolh
Theatre any great magnitude He said to me month
two ago that II all their financial operations had not
turned out uniformly we'll he had made no mistakes III
real estate. Money very low and very common anu
II sought investment IN brick and mortar; Oper cent
could be made in many by taking this cheap money
and putting up on an empty lot something which coud
inhabited. All the property of this kind MI Fish pur
chased has yielded from to IL per cent Income
Booths had to be torn down. but the materials
paid for removing It. and the stores were imlnedl
aely rented. In the meantime, however, the declining
tendency Of all securities was probably PLAYING hanoI
w neTson ocouained with James D. Fish has any idea
| that he would have overCrawn account IN another
bank to the extent Of over 100000 mat ihlgIt
ofterpoon in tight pace and believed that
morning he could extricate himself by dexterous turn
In short Spectator who had gained the greatest con
fdence not only with himself but with his friends came
point where his only sav alton was 10 draw on Int
old conservative bank In which he had parallel
1t two ships were sailing abreast Oh eaoS
other I'm which thrre common partners ana
suddenly had fired into the other to prevent an e1
! ploson In her guns Mr. Ward was the connectlne
link in the private firm Grant & Ward and the Marine
Bank. The president OF the bank finding hse AZ eIe
ing from his own eyes the shutters down. as II TO say
THAT is quicker than can think now; ,,o,,, ,o,no
Something has been said about the Marine BANK Delhe
| a family asylum In these days who has brought
up children business habits and knows them thor
oughy more justified in trusting them than strangers.
None OF those children have ever uephrlea iauu W. i
planest line OF right and wrong Not one OF ihei i ~
any way ngG up T b tbn ovna to be what per
acquainted with the parties suspected NJ the outset
tho rapid of parasite concern upon the basis d
the bank which had become ineIdependent win t1t
bank that In the final collapse or the one the otef ad u
stop IN order to prevent its being broken Inc lesson
would seem to be that private banking honses arc 40
safe Investments for old conservative bankers Wh0e
ceiyed by the too steady of tho outside adyen
ture In this way the Regent OF France allowed hi
be becGme 20 so inteTwoyin With he State finances thai
broke the state suspended Yet the success OF IN
bubble for good while had been greater Ian even IL
undesignng protector expected. .
he gave his whole attention to It, seldom taking hohda
and even living on the promises me s.ooK Vl ,t
had gone up slowly from about so TO $50 IL mao Deco
the depository OF large institutions, and was lncrna
managed as far as its clerical force Went Wt Ie
fitness OF military establishment. when MI. ward an
Mr. Tappan his friend the City Chamberlain, becain
the majority Of the executive directors their only com
plant OF Mr. Fish that he was too lenlent and sood
stured with persons VINO Tanted 10 ag ever
harshly. But here was the outside banking nous
balloonng things and finally emptyng its ballast dow
} Nec-Yorh, May 10, 1884.