The Portland daily press., 1892-05-31
t1.,e77ro =,en William 3. Astor ,...

VN@~>'S WV ES&FV
Henry a small amount of money, al.
Though he had offended the family bv
sr,arryino a respectable girl, the daugh.
+ar of a Farmer employed on the Astor
estate at Rhinecliffe- e-on-the-Hudson.
This was the only offense charged
AGAINST Henry, so far as the public ever
lrnew This onense will not strike
most people as being objectionable,
and vet, in the eyes OF the relatives,
it seems to be growing in Nervousness
as the wears 90 by. It wasn't SO dread.
full during the lifetime of his father,
for that stern parent conceded him
a few paltry dollars; but coming down
TO this generation he doesn't receive 50
much as a plaster, and plaster for the
son of an Astor is mighty short pasture,
so to speak. Perhaps as the years glide
by and his offense becomes still further
intensified. his branch of the family
will be required to pay in something
each wear to the other branch by way
of further atonement for marrvine
whom he pleased. 1t is gratifying to
know that Henry Astor has been doing
right well since he contracted this
marriage, Notwithstanding that his rich
relatives didn't like 1t. He always was
an independent sort of a man and
rather enjoyed earning his own living.
After his marriage he went to farming
in earnest, and, having helpful part
ner in his wife, he has been accumulate
ing lands ever since, and now owns
several of the finest farms in Columbia
county. He does not need any
money, but inasmuch as half of the
property which William left is really
his inheritance, it doesn't seem exactly
right to shut him out entirely. It is
these things in Mr.. Astor's will which
the public does not like and does not
hesitate to criticise. The public has
been exceedingly kind to the Astors.
and they should not run counter to
public opinion any more than is abso-
lutely necessary. The Astor surplus
has become so enormous that the pub
lie is beginning to view it with some
alarm. At the rate at which it is piling
up it will not be many generations until
it will be able to dictate to the govern
ment, if it is not already in position
to do SO. So much wealth vested in men
who can find it in their conscience to
disinherit a brother and daughter
isn't pleasant power to contemplate.
ONE OF BRooNYN's BIG MEN.
The fckleness Of fashion, which or
dains the profits of railroads and sea-
side hotels as well as those of milliners
and florists, has had peculiar demon
stration near Manhattan island. Every.
body remembers when Long Branch
was the midsummer rage. Then there
came demand for big hotel with city
conveniences within an hours ride, and
the Brighton Beach hotel was built.
Then the Brooklyn and Brighton Beach
railroad was built to feed the hotel.
Presently the Manhattan Beach and
Oriental hotels were, built on the same
strip of sand, and the tide fuctuated
and the railroad went into a receivers
hands, dragged down by the hotel, and
the two present to-day one of the singu-
lar failures which might have been sue.
cesses but for freak of fancy. Gen.
James Jourdan, one of the wheel
horses Of the republican party in these
parts and man of much force of char.
acter, is in charge now of the
task of caring for these tracked
properties. Jourdan is an interesting
character and he keeps himself out OF
the newspapers with praiseworthy zeal.
He is really an important factor in ma
tional politics, which must never be
considered now apart from Kings
county, in which he lives and moves
and engineers corporations and politics.
An eye should be kept on Jourdan. BE
is bigger man than Tracey was before
Harrison put him into the cabinet. A
tall, spare, grizzled, short-haired and
rather grin-looking fighter he is,
fighter now and fighter in the fighting
times of '61-65. Clever and honorable
and courteous with all his ardent polit-
ical affections and affiliations, he has
preferred of late years to let others go
out on the skirmish lines. He is alwaya
in the heart of the republican phalanx.
The Jourdans and the Jordans must
have all been French originally. There
is nothing dapper or Gallo in the ap-
,pearance of the big Brooklyn Jourdan.
JOHN A. CocKERnL,