Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-06-27
The wilson Family.

The baccarat case has recently brought |
Mr. Arthur Wilson into prominence before !
the world, and a good deal of photographic |
instruction has been given to the ancestry |
and present habits of the family. Many
unkind remarks, based ON insuffient know
ledge, have been made about the social as
pirations of the master of Tranby Croft,
and the Prince of Wales has, no doubt, pro-
6ted greatly by the lectures which have
been read to him ON the text that "evil COM
munications corrupt good manners" Ifit
were not 80 exclusively a matter for the
Prince himself to decide with whom he
should consort, one would be tempted to
comment upon the impertinence of those
who thus assume that the son of a small
keel-owner is necessarily unfit company for
Prince. 1t is matter of common know
ledge that the late Thomas Wilson was
man of very small beginnings. His sons,
Arthur and Charles, who now practically
hold all the business between them, Joined
him before he had made very much, and 1t
was the advent of steam which made their
| fortune, as it made that of many another
| enterprising man.
Once begun, it is easy to conceive how
/ the business accumulated. Smaller COM
| petitors can be run down and brought up;
q large firm can offer through rates to
| trades which were formerly in the habit OF
| consigning goods to be transhipped and
| transferred to other bottoms. A large firm
| of shipowners can, moreover, make its own
| arrangements with railway and dock com
| panies, who will complete eagerly for its
business, and it can also undertakeits own
| insurance. In q recent favorable year the
brothers were said (probably with exagger-
atom to have divided million between
them; shortly afterwards they formed them
selve into company, with capital of two
millions, sum which certainly does not
exceed the value of the ships themselves.
Every third ship which is registered as due
in Hull this week is Wilson liner. If
YOU 90 to the railway dock at Hull you see
it full of splendid vessels-the Angelo,
Romeo, and the like-with green hulls and
| red marked tunnels and names ending in
Co." all Wilson liners, discharging timber,
| or general cargo or passengers from NOR
way. In the Albert dock, at the east end
of the town, the magnificent American lin
ers, the Buffalo and the rest, discharge
their cargoes of wheat.
The two brothers who own this wonder
full fleet are, so far their public appear
ances go, reckoned as one. Arthur, indeed,
J calls himself Unionist, while Charles sits
as Liberal member for West Hull. but they
, never oppose each other, and always act
: together When they speak, it is perpet-
ual wonder how men who heed SO little
> what they say contrive to achieve strokes
5 of policy which look exactly like the per
s fected models of cold -blooded calculation.
, Mr.. Arthur Wilson makes no more pretence
3 of coherent oratory than country gentle
: man presiding at a farmers dinner Mr.
: Charles Wilson, though very able in his ex
a | position of an extraordinary knowledge oi
f business detail, is not tactful speaker
4 Recently at company meeting he rose t.
8 make speech which attacked the policy o.
t the board in regard to a certain bill.
o | gentleman who was banker to the compan,
j rose on a point of and suggested that they
. | might more properly be deferred until the
= Wharncliffe meeting. The chairman die
5 not back up the suggestion, and the gentle
It man. with a courteous bow to Charles VIII
u son, said: 81 must apologize for interrupt
= ing you, SIR" Instead of acknowledging
Q the apology, Mr.. Charles Wilson blurtet
r out that if the company took his advic
: they would transfer their banking accoun
d elsewhere, and then proceeded with hi
x speech.
The childish naivete which is mixed witt
n his shrewdness is extraordinary. He tele
J. graphed to Mr. Tenant that he objectet
6 to an arrangem mt which was proposed be
g tween the Northeastern railway and tn
It Hull Dock company. Mr. Tenant wire
j. back: "It is pity you do not understan
y the nature of the agreement or the positio
n of the company. Unless they find phys
II clan with a better prescription than yours
l. they must remain impecunious to the en-
a of the chapter Mr.. Charles Wilson seem
or ed excessively pleased with this reply, an
es read it out in public to the dock director
g. when he was endeavoring to turn thel
from the error of their ways. Whatevs
in the idea uppsrmost in his mind, he blur
of it out. At one time it was the iniquity {
~ the Norwegian government in subsidizin
d, a line of ships to compete with his. and NJ
re on this he dilated, no matter what the o.
g. casion, even at the opening of aliberal b
= zsar At another time it was the extor
es tomato demands of the seamen and hremel
1