The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-10-26
HENRY WILLARD.

| III A0lOpCs 4 AC OdACC1 VI IL1s
nan illustrates very plainly the harun1-
carum manner in which fnancia
,fiairs in this country are conducted
Fnere is no people on earth more pros
9eruus and progressive than those in
America, by whicA'we mean all the resi-
tents Of the United States, without regard
to their nationality and there Is no place
On earth where people are 80 reckless II
! business and financial matters. In the
old world money is cautious and con
sentative; the experience of ages has
taught that the better plan to make
money is 10 reduce the risks in invest
ments to the minimum; this. naturally
lessons the chances for great gains
small profits and safety is the rule; SLOW
gains and certainty is what has piled up
so many vast fortunes in Europe, and
made great financial crashes so
rare. Mushroom millionaires are
not numerous on the other side
of the Atlantic; the wealthy there have
] dtA1I6u lnC4I lO1 lODCG Ny INAAO 0AAN
generations of patience and conserva-
tism, accommodating slowly but losing
not at ALL In this country the mush-
room million aiTe is the rule; the rich
men whose fortunes date back of their
own lifetime are the rare exception, and
immense wealth that has been more
than two generations in accommodating
is almost unknown. Make or break"
is the rule governing most of our 1nan-
ciers, and it is the rule by which most
of our money is managed. 1t is also
notable fact that the conservative for
eigner, the moment he becomes inter
ested in America, forgets his conserva-
tism and drinks in the spirit OF this
reckless, venturesome land. In his own
country he would not think of making
the investments which he seeks here,
at home he could not be il
duced to take the risks which
he accepts in the United States;
and he would as soon think of throwing
his money into the river as of entrust-
ing it to the men on this side in whom
he has implicit confidence.
a few years ago Henry Willard was
an unknown newspaper correspondent,
making poor living from his not at all
brilliant pen; outside the half dozen
newspaper Offices in which he worked
by turns, nobody.ever heard of him,
until he blossomed forth one day as the
head of the great Northern Pacific
railway. The road had been in bad
way; it had ruined some of our million
aires, and was practically bankrupt
concern. Willard managed to inspire
confidence in himself and the railroad,
and both doomed amazingly. The rail-
road rushed on across the continent
at astounding speed, and its daring
President was the man of the hour
From an insignificant writer of letters
to be paid for by the column, he had !
transformed into the financial giant of
America; millions were no more to him
now than dollars had been short |
time ago; indeed, his name to a piece
of paper would have brought million |
dollars quite as readily as the same |
name would have brought dollar ten !
years before. Hotels and cities were |
named for him, he travelled by special |
was so precious that men deemed it a |
great privilege to converse with him a |
few moments. The greatest blow out"
ever gwen in America was that which |
he gave on the Northern Pacific two or
three years ago, when princes we're glad |
TO be numbered amsng his friends and |
guests. When Willard was at his zenith |
he purchased block in New York City |
and began the erection of a palace
which was to cost million dollars, and |
fully half that sum was expended on
the structure, which was sold at auction
last week to the editor of the |
New York Tribune. Wizards course
was American in the strictest sense; his
rise was unnatural, and it was i'm
possible that the elevation attained |
coald be maintained. One day the |
crash came, as all intelligent observers
knew it would come, and wreck and
ruin were scattered on al sides.
Hundreds were bankrupted, and
Willard, from being the financial
genius of the times, was millions poorer
than the psuper who sohcits nickels on
the street corners. If he saved any
thing it was by fraud or cunning His
fall had been as sudden as his rise had
been meteoric and if he had scared aloft
be dropped correspondingly low. For
a time there was talk of prosecuting him.
but as that would not help his dupes
back to their money, he was permitted
to escape. He went to Europe, and
into retirement, from which he has
now emerged, doubtless with the idea
that be can soar again. At any rate
it is announced that he comes back
loaded with German money entrusted