Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-16
JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
NOW THE HEAD OF A GREAT
FAMILY SECURED HIS CAPITAL.

The Butcher Brother Of tho Great Fur
Trader Gave the Pioneer Of the West
$500 to BE Rid Of Poor Relative-A
Princely Fortune Has been Made Since.
Let me step back hundred years and
tell you about the Astors. may tell
you something's you did not know.
When John Jacob Astor worked his
way down the Rhine to the sea and
shipped to England away from his sloth-
full, lazy innkeeping father, he stopped
In London and went to work for his
brother, o successful manufacturer of
flutes and pianos, and unless am very
much mistaken, Junior partner in what
is still the greatest piano making house
in England, though there are no Astors
in it now.
John Jacob was on his way to Amer
ica, and only went to England to stop
awhile and learn English feat which
he had not accomplished when he died.
When be reached New York city, not
very long after the close Of the Revolu-
tionary war, he had heard about the fur
business and had determined to embark
in It. It does not matter whether he
peddled little before that any more
than it matters whether Jay Gould sold
rat traps before he became railroad
operator.
In time John Jacob apprenticed him
self to fur dealer and learned all the
tricks and secrets Of the business. But
in the meantime he had come to this
city for the same reason he had gone to
London--he had q brother here. This
brother was Henry Astor, and in those
days nobody questioned which would be
the moro successful of the two, for
Henry was q mighty and cunning
man in business.
He was q butcher in the Bowery and
lived above his store there. He had
married chubby, rosy German wom-
an, Of whom he used to boast, s'She was
der pootiest gal by der Bowery."
THE TWO BROTHERS.
Now the Bowery was no ordinary
street. and Henry was no ordinary butch
er. The Bowery was the southern ter
minatiou Of the old Boston post road,
and down It 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 hoof to be
sold to the butchers. Henry knew that
and 80 did all the other butchers, but
Henry put his knowledge to practical
use. He drove out Of town twice q
week ON market days and met the cattle
on the road up in the country. There
he bought the best Of all the steers and
cornered the market. It was he who
thereafter set the prices and sold to the
other butchers. His young brother,
John Jacob, was just as instinct with the
speculative spirit, but he had no money
TO buy with and so he used to borrow of
Henry.
Henry did not like that. He distrusted
his brothers shrewdness, or else he was
close with his money. At any rate he
loaned it to John Jacob unwilhngly, and
finally he met request for loan with
bluff mo-" He said he would not bf
bothered any more, but this is what ht
would do. He would give John Jacol
the sum of $500 outright as gift if John
Jacob would sign paper promising
never to ask for the loan of another
penny from that date forever. John
Jacob jumped at the offer. He took the
$500, and perhaps that had more to dc
with the foundation of the great Astol
fortune than any other sum he got in ali
his life.
THE SPLIT IN THE FAMILY.
have heard that there are some
Astors descendent from Henry living NJ
the Hudson river, and that the great and
rich .Astors have nothing to do will
them. I do not know whether that il
true or whether there are such Astors
but IL it is true it is all right, for Henry
unquestionably parted with the rest O
the family deliberately and in cold blooi
when he paid that sum ofmoney to Johl
Jacob 80 as not to be bothered by hi
then poor relations any more.
John Jacob Astor prospered amazingly
He made millions when it was something
that nobody else unconnected with roy
atty appeared able to do, except tn
Rothschilds in Europe. With thos
millions, made by putting the entire con
tinent under tax for its furs, he estab
lished not only a landed estate, but
family with o principle, with fixe'
purpose.
He was of incalculable service in tn
development of New York, because h
went to districts the city had not reache
and built dwellings for persons Of mod
crate means. He built them very well
to last as long as possible, and he rente
them for fair return, thus establishing
moderate system of rentals with al
the landlords of the city.
In another generation an unfortunat
split occurred, and the estate and tn
family have since then gone forward i
two parts, much the larger part (nearl
two-thirds, believe), going to the de
scendants of the elder son, and the small
er part to the descendants of secon
son. William Waldorf Astor now reI
resents the bulk of the estate, and th
little baby, John Jacob, is heir to th
smaller part. John Ralph in Providenc
Journal
Asbestus Three Thousand Years Old.
Asbestus differs from nearly all othe
minerals in being fibrous and textile
dividing into fbers resembling in del
cacy those of fax and silk, and can b