The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-04-21
The vanderbilt Boys.

The Young Vanderbilts-l mean
Cornelius and William X, the pre-
sent heads of the family have "gone
at it" as if they meant to double the
fortune their father left them right
speedily. Indeed, | don't see how
they can help il. Cornelius Wander
bill. is forty now. and he is worth l
suppose $4,000. 900, perhaps more.
This. at compound interest, should
double every twelve years, which
would make it no less than $780,
100000 when Cornelius is seventy
six. 1t would increase a good deal
faster thaa that at the interest
which he is to-day receiving on his
stocks and bonds, but there
will come panics, reverses, cata-
clysms, perhaps, and he cannot safe
" count on making more than s24O,-
000,000 ia thirty six years.
These young men are exceptional
characters. They started in the
path of life under the iron rod OF
their remarkable grand father, the
old Commodore. He didn't believe
IN BOYS at all be didn't believe in
anybody much and when Cornelius
and William X. got out of short
clothes he said TO their father:
"Look a here, Billy, boys are no
good there's only one way to save
EN-, and that is by putting EN- at
something and make 'em work like
the devil all the while. Now stick
these boys in somewhere, and make
'em come down to it Don't let up
on EN-
William X. was not half so hard
and infexible as his father, but he
was accustomed to mind that gen
tleman-as obedient when forty as
when he was fourteen--and he knew
perfectly well that it was better to
kick a boy out of the house than to
pet him and give him money so
he told the BOYS as ms father told
him, that they must support them
selves
Cornelius got n little clerkship in
the Shoe and Leather bank when he
was sixteen, and for four years he
got there as early as any clerk and
worked as hard and as late. He al
lowed himself no extra holidays,
and neither bis father nor his grand
father did anything TO make life
easier. During these years his un-
Gle Torrance. going to Europe for
the Commodore invited the young
ster 10 60 with him, and the grand
father relented and consented. The
hoy was delighted at the chance, bat
the question OF salary was involved.
He presented the matter to the pres
ident. you can go" said the ami
able functionary, "but of course.vou
viii lose your salary, $780," That
settled it. Cornelias turned his
back on the temptation aud declin-
ed to go.
When he was twenty he was
made a clerk "at the bottom of the
ladder" in the Hudson River Rail
road Office, and bis youngest broth
er William X, was put at work there
the next year. For more than Is
years, now, they have bowed down
10 ii" in that great C and
they are far better trained than their
father even was in all the details of
the business.
They are not fast men. They
own no yacht They care nothing
for clubs. They are content up to
the present time, with one wife
apiece. They love their children
and each family filing into church
look like a pair of gently sloping
stairs. They care little for fast
horses. They do not swear. 0ne
of them is a superintendent of a
Sunday School, and both are deeply
interested in the various charities OF
the city.
Cornelius is first vice president
and head of finance, William X. is
second vice president, and master Of
transportation. Each knows his
business thoroughly. The NEST
striking thing about either of them
is that they work as hard as if they
were hired by the job-which they
are, by the way-and that they are
perfectly democratic and accessible
to anybody who has business with
them. On the whole, the present
seniors OF the house OF Vanderbilt
are about the most quiet, unassum-
ing well behaved, well trained and
LII l~I-