The morning call., 1891-05-31
THE FORTUNE OF
THE ROTHSCHILDS.
1t Is Estimated That The Family Wealth
Is Over One Billion.
An Interesting Sketch of the Founder Of the
House and His Gradual Rise From
Poverty to Riches Loans.

| No one knows, it Is true. how much the
| Rothschild fortune is exactly, but it is safe
to say that it exceeds 81 00O, 900, 900, says the
Newark Journal In times OF severe panic
| and trial its magnificent solidity has been
/ proudly pointed to as one of the most en-
during monuments of human probity and
| industry.
In the great storm of 1857, when, for a few
| days. George Peabody's credit was gone,
! when Barring Brothers were anxiously sur
| veying the wreckage all around them. when
a hundred leading mercantile and banking
firms of London were scudding under bare
poles, the Rothschilds alone showed no dis
tress. They did just as much during the
panic as loan contractors, dealers in bullion
stock purchasers, sellers Ofsecurities as ever
before. Even when the Bank Of England
had to cry to the Government for help they
swept on undismayed. Losses do not seem
to affect them. In 1S4S they lost $40, coo, 600
at one swO0p. In 1870. at the time OF the
Franco-German war, they lost as much
more.
Whence comes this mountain of wealth,
this purse without apparent bottom? There
is nothing in the arabian Nights more
wonderful than the rise of the ROthschlld
family. and yet there was no magic IN IT
nothing but thrift and patience and the
watching of opportunities. In the city OF
Frankfort there is a dirty, narrow lane
called the Judengasse or Jews lane. At the
BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT CENTURY
1t was simply a narrow lane, lined with tall,
dilapidated houses, crowded from floor TO
roof with human beings living in a state OF
squaIor and filth that is indeScribabe. In
this fOul-smelling lane lived Myer Ans
Rothschld, the founder of the great firm.
He lost both parents at an early age and was
destined by his relatives for the priesthood.
His taste for business was stronger, now
ever, than his relatives wishes, and he en-
tered a small banking-house in Hanover.
Steadily he rose III his employers estima-
ton and was soon appointed assistant man
ager.
Having at last amassed sufficient capital
he returned to the Judengasse and started
as money-lenIer under the sign Of the Red
Shield. In 1912 he died worth $4,000, 600.
This fortune, which he intrusted to his five
sons, is now estimated at over billion and
is still growing like snow ball. The har-
mony and union which Meyer Amschel
made his five sons swear when they were
assembled around his deathbed has never
been broken. Each ROthschild's business
and fortune is a compact to protect the
firms name. How many partners are there
in this immense firm, which does business
with empires and Kingdoms every day.
few wears ago there were no less than
"
goes on increasing. These are the fourth
In descent from Meyer Amschel ROthschlld.
The rule OF intermaTTiage IS still kept up
almost as vigorously us in the royal circles
of Europe, and intermarriage seems only to
increase the brightness OF these pheEomen-
ally bright people.
Nathan Rothschild did, in his dav, all the
feats which modern newspaper correspond
entS have been so much praised fo- In
our day. He used carrier pigeons. fast sail
ing boats and wrote in cipher. He went to
the field of Waterloo, saw the great fight,
logged Wellington so closely that the Iron
Duke
THREATENED TO HANG HIM
If ne did not clear out, and when the great
retreat had been begun Nathan was away
to the Belgian coast ahead OF all army
couriers and everybody else, on the best
horse money could buy.
Arrived at the coast no sailor was will
ing to venture TO sea because storm was
raging He offered SUCCESSFULLY 500, 10O0
1900. 1000 and 300 francs for boat TO Dover
within an hour. The last offer was too
much for a hardy fisherman, vino yielded
and took him across. Both risked their
lives, but at sunset Nathan was at Dover.
On swift horses he rode through the night
to London. In the morning he was on
Change, gloomy as an ancient prophet, sell
ing down, down, down against " wellington,
whispering of defeats of England and PruS-
SIN DL -NdpbltOHs bhA OuSihS thlOhSi u
secret channel everything that he sent
down. Forty-eight hours afterward came
| the news of WellingtOn'S victory. Every
thing went mp! Nathan sold out, ami is
SAID to have made millions by this little
transaction.
The rise If the Rotbschilds in English So
| cety began with the removal of the political
disabilities Of Lionel Rothschild so that he
could take his place in the House of Com
| mons as its leading Hebrew member. He
was elected as early as 1S47, but did not Oc-
cupy his seat because English stupidity
persisted in demanding the oath ION the
true faith of Christian" He was elected
eleven times before the odious proYiso was
removed.
The parent house in Frankfort, on the
corner near the new synagogue, between
the Zeii and the Judengasse, to casual
observer might seem the abode OF bank
ruptcy, so ancient are its equipments. so
worn lis desks, so dusty its counters. But
a little observation reveals the signs of its
treasures in piles OF bills. bags of coin and
packets of bonds and you breathe amid its
dingineSs the air Of gold. Though the
Rothschllds have
MORE THAN A THOUSAND MILLIONS
They are willing to make only One-eighth of
l per cent on very small amounts, for they
know that from the slendereSt beginnings
arose their fabulous fortunes.
1t is perfectly natural that some of the
vast RothSchild wealth, which is diverted
into thousands Of channels in Europe and
Asia, should find its way to America. Fifty
millions is the figure at which shrewd ones
in Wall street place the American invest
ment Of the Rothschild family This is
based largely on the securities known to be
held by the Belmonts and by one or two
other well-known RothSChild houses for
foreign investors.
The amount of American railroad stocks
in the market is placed at $4,000, 100000. OF
this $4,000, 100000 is in bonds and the re-
malnder in stocks Fully % per cent of this
vast investment is held abroad, and the
ROthschildS control no small proportion of
the American stocks on the London market.
The secret Of the houses success is, of
course, the rigid following of old Meyer
AmschePs maxim of buying cheaply and
selling at high rrlce, and furthermore, of
always being liberal, or, as the French say,
''coulant' easy going, in dealing with
tie money on Prince or great Lord the
Rothschilds pinch the commoner to make it
up.
1t would require long calculation to get
at even an Approximate estimate of the
ROthSchilds' wealth. They never tell family
secrets. One of their notices is, Gold
never repeats what it sees" and another,
"a man will not tell what he has not heard";
but some idea can be had from the fact that
since 1915 they have raised for Great Britain
alone more than $1,000, 600. 600; for Austria,
$3.50, 200, 600; for Prussia. $500, DOC, 900; for
France, S400.0 600; for Italy, nearly $780,
600, 900; for Russia, S125, 100000; for Brazil,
from S60,000000 TO $4,000, 600, ana for
smaller States, certainly between 5000 000,-
600 and $780, 900 more, perhaps $780,
0OO 000