St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-22
MEN WITH THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR.
Some of the Big Railroad Kings of Meas
York City,

Some of the Big Railroad Kings of Meas
York City,
Brooklyn Eagle.
We are not given to the idoization of dis
inguished men in New York Even the
possession of twenty millions of the almighty
dollars which we so worship does not COM
mand our veneration. Here is one-a tall,
big figure, with full beard, and hair some
what too long for the fashion but too short
to serve as an advertisement of genius, went
into an elevated railroad car along with
crush of other passengers. The seats had al
ready been taken, and the new incursionists
had to stand. ''You ought to at least COM
mand a seat on your own railroad, Mr..
Field,' said somebody jocosely. ''Ah,
I wish that standing was the only pen
atty of being stockholder," was the laugh
ing reply. There was something of sober
truth, however, in what Cyrus w. Field said.
He is the largest owner in our elevated roads
excepting Jay Gould, and upon hi rests a
corresponding amount of the odium which
grumbling riders create. But he was not at
this time at all depressed, for it was the
thirty-first anniversary of the organization OF
the company which laid the first Atlantic
member that Field shared almost equally
with the cable itself the glory of the first
achievement ia ocean telegrapby Cities
were illumin ated, and his name blazed in
many of the transparencies Tiny sections
OF the rubber imbedded strands of wire, pre-
sumably cut from the surplusage of cable,
were worn for awhile on thousands of watch
chains. and the enthusiastic Americans prob
ably imagined that somehow they were going
to be tremendously advantaged by the short
ening Of communication with the Old World.
l suppose that, as they began to find out that
they had to work just the same as before for
living, they dropped the bits of cable one
by one and never thought any more about
it. But Cyrus w. Field had no such cause
for fading memory. man doesn't so
readily forget a bright passage in his life;
there was beside steady profit, which in the
aggregate is said to have reached SO, 900, 600,
to keep him reminded Of his fortunate VEN
ture; and it seemed to me entirely reason
able, when glanced down to his vest which
was exposed by his reaching for strap to
steady himself by, to see that he still wore
slice of the cable. ''Yes, it was thirty-one
years ago this evening that the original cable
company was formed" said Mr.. Field In
reply to my questions, 'and it was at sup
per table in my dining room" "Will you
permit me to put hypothetical query" I
asked. eyes, if it doesn't call for Wall
street pointer he replied. ''It shall be free
from any such intention. Here it IS: Sup
pose that there had been no wine on your
table on that occasion: that the strongest
beverage had been coffee; that the enthusi-
asm over the proposed venture, which was
then deemed a most risky one, had been left
absolutely without alcoholic stimulgtion; in
short, that the discussion of the enter
prise had been conducted in plain, matter
Of fact business Office in case the conditions
bad been as l have presented them, would
the Atlantic cable have been laid by your
couipanyl'' The witness declined to answer,
but he did put in an argument for the CAPT
talist against the obloquy which the rest Of
us are inclined to heap upon him. The gist
Of II was tbat the immense amounts OF capi-
tai were freely rsked and lost in enterprises
which, were they successful, would be Of in
calcuable benefit to mankind, and the losers
get no thanks from the public for their pains.
It might reasonably be supposed that, in the
event of success instead Of failure, the 6nan-
ciaI adventurer would receive the grateful
fame which is freely given TO vctors in other
fields. But it is not so. Nobody thought Of
thanking the men who had imperilled mil
lions in building the elevated railroads. but
pretty nearly everybody took the slightest ex-
euse for damning them.