The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-01-12
BIZ SIDES.

BIZ SIDES.
# As was expected President vi
r. lard's resignation Of the Presidenc
of the Northern Pacific and his sal
sequent assignment of his privat
r property for the benefit of his credit
d ors, have provoked the criticism Q
l. the Eastern press. In this criticism
# there is a wide difference in senti
d ment. Some of the journals are dis
8 posed to regard MI. Willard as a vic
g tim of circumstances over which b
had no control, while others blam'
him as the open-eyed author of hi
f own misfortunes. The Stakeholder
: a journal which is supposed to retiec
r the views of Wall street, thus speaks
of MI. Wizards downfall:
r eff blame attach to any one elst
. than he for the present lamentable
. condition OF the railroad system
which has heretofore borne his name
it in ~ sense relieves him from any
3 of the financial OF moral Responsible
ity of his own acts. That he has lost
=, his fortune is his own fault rather
than theirs, and they should not suf-
fer blame simply because he wa
over sanguine. In the first instance,
Henry Willard went into his schemes
with his eyes wide open; they with
their eyes shut, and with nothing
but blind risk in view. They profit
ed by his operations, and if they
were shrewd enough to keep the
money thus made. it is not within
the province of Wall street TO blame
them"
On the other hand the New York
Herald speaks of him as a man who
has carried on a great enterprise for
the public good and sacrificed him
self that he might be known as a
%benefactor, and the guardian of those
who have invested funds in the great
enterprise and concludes its notice of
him as follows:
"Of all the great fortunes which
have been suddenly acquired and
suddenly lost in the extraordinary
vicissitudes Of AmericOn life, few
have been more unostentatiously adj
ministered or have been the instru-
ments of more modest and liberal
charity than Mr.. Wizards, while it
lasted"
The World is not near 80 charita-
BILE. 1t says:
The World alone, of all the jour-
ua]s in the city, has withheld its trib-
ute from the fallen railway gambler
whose collapse is a great moral les
soma warning to all men to avoid
speculative enterprises, and an ad-
monition to the rising generation of
men that wealth, to be respected and
made certain, must come through
slow, honest, sturdy processes. There
is no touch of malice in our nature,
but why should not the truth be told
about MI. Willard, even though mis-
fortune sits at his hearthstone? Why
this sycophantic adulation of
a man who at best was
but a mushroom in the
muck-heap of speculation? Mr..
Wizards fortune was amassed from
the wealth of other men. He was
furnished with money as generals
are furnished with soldiers, and his
enterprises were battles in which he
had all to gain and nothing to lose.
He had energy, pluck and hardi-
hood, and he enjoyed the confidence
of capitalists. A man who could
draw $4,000, 900 for a blind pool
from yawniEg purses by simply ask
ing for the same in q circular letter
certainly no ordinary person..
The fate which has overtaken him
is the fate which has befallen adven-
furious spirits in all ages"
The Sun, however, pays the unfor-
Speculation this compliment:
"Mr. Henry Willard is a mar of so
much vigor and cultivation of intel
lect, and so great capacity in various
that he caLnOt be perma-
nently conquered by adverse fortune.
When he RECEIVERS his health and
strength he will find, we doubt not,
many opportunities for the employ
of his remarkable abilities. Re
sides, he is a young man still. and
his harsh experience ought to enrich
and discipline his character"
The Times, after reviewing the
financial history of the road. in which
t stated that the collapse of the road
orecipitated the panic in 1873, and
hat the same concern has inflicted
rightful losses on the financial world =
n 1883, says: The public verdict
Gems to be that Willard has proved
gigantic failure" f,
The Tribune and Mail and Express
endorse the statement and views of i,
Mr.. Horace White, formerly editor
# the Chicago Tribune. but row one
# the editors of the Evening Post |,
Mr.. White says: {
"Mr. Willard, three wears ago. was $
worth IS ,O0O,O 600. He has lost every s
hing. In the days of his prosperi- >
y, two years ago, he transferred ,
ONE property to his wife, she still f
las it, but I do not know how much 8
t amounts to. But of Mr.. Wizards ,
state there is practically nothing
eft. He has sacrificed it in efforts to
'rotect his friends. They are more
nxious about Mr.. Wizards reputa. ,
than about any losses they may l
ave suffered. No, Mr.. Willard has '
made no assignments; he is not e
ankrupt in the general sense of the :,
But he has lost all of his e.- a
ate; a man may have no debts and n
ct have lost his fortune. 1 sup b
Ose the house in Madison Ave. G,
ue will have to go with the rest. =,
1r. Willard has not sold it, but he will "
rohab'y dose in the spring and 20 to n
ne place at Dobb's Ferry, which is
eld in his wife's name. There
ever was any one connected with
operations with bigger heart than ~
IL. Willard mad. The trouble was e
lat he was two years ahead of the "
lie calcula ed upon a traffic Fl
n tho Nnpfhnro Dro II, -