The morning news., 1892-01-02

any more than IL matters whether jay Gould
I sold rat traps before he became a railroad
operator. In time John Jacob apprenticsd
I himself 20 fur dealer and learned al the
( tricks and secrets OF the business. But in
l the meantime he come 70 this city iOr the
same reason he had gone 70 London-he had
a brother here. The brother was Henry
Asior. and IN those days nobody questioned
which would be the more successful Of the
two. FOR Henry was a mighty and a cum
ming man Ia business.
He was a butcher Ia the Bowery and
lived above the store. He had married
chubby, rosy German woman, Of whom he
used 20 boast: "She was der pootiest gal by
der Bowery.n
Now the BOwery was no ordinary street,
and Henry was no ordinary butcher. The
BJwery was the southern termination Of the
old Boston post road, and down IL came the
bulk OF the produce OF the countryside
which was eaten in and shipped from New
York. Among other things all the cattle
came into town on that road on the hoot 70
be sold to the other butchers, but Henry
put this knowledge to practical use. he
drove out Of town twice week on market
days aud met the cattle on the road up in
the country and bought the best Of all the
steers and cornered the market. 10 was
he who thereafter set the prices and sold
70 the other butchers. His young brother
Johh Jacob, was lust as in
stinct with the speculative spirit, but he had
no money to buy with, and so be used TO
borrow OF Henry. Henry did not like that.
He dIstrusted his brothers shrewdness or
else he wss close with his money. At auy
rate he leaned it to John Jacob unwillingly,
aud finally he met q request for a loan with
a bluff no" He said he would not be
bothered any more, but this is what he
would do. He would give John JACOB the
sum Of $500 outright as gift IL John Jacob
At q ~
OF another penny from that date forever.
John Jacob jumped at the offer.
He took the $500. and perhaps that
had more TO do with the foundation
OF the great Astor fortune than
any other sum he got In all his life | have
heard that there are some Astors descendant
from Henry, living up the Hudson river,
and that the great and rich Astors have
nothing to do with them. | do not know
whether that is true, or whether there are
such AstOrs, but If it is true it is all right,
for henry unQuestonably parted with the
rest of the family deliberately and in cold
blood when be paid that sum Of money to
John Jacob so as not to be bothered by his
poor relations any more.
John Jacob AstOr prospered amazingly.
be made millions when il was something
that nobody else uncouneoted with royalty
appeared able to do, except the Rothschilds
in Europe. With those millions, made by
putting the entire continent under tax
for its furs, he established not only
landed estate. but a family with princi-
pie, with fixed purpose. He was OF in
calculable service IN the development Of
New York, because he went to districts the
city had not reached and built dwellings
for persons of moderate means. He built
them very we'll. to last as long as possible.
and he rented them for a fair return, thus
establishing a moderate system of
rentals with all the landlords of
the city. In auother generation
an unfortunate split occurred and
the estate, and the family have since then
gone forward IA two parts. much the larger
part (uearly two-thirds, l believe), going to
the descendants of tho elder son. and the
smaller part to the descendants of O second
son. William Waldorf Astor now repre-
sents the bulk Of the estate, and the little
baby, John Jacob, is heir 20 the smaller
part. But the old principle and purpose
still live in all the Astors. They still build
and extend the city; they still ask only fair
rentals; they still refrain from gambling,
and among the mercenary hands which
seize our bfeadstuffs, our coal, our oil and
our meats in order TO raise the price of our
necessities. no Astor's palms are included.
That is why we like the Astors.