Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-07
VANDERBILT MILLIONS
A Guarantee to Spectators in Stocks
Backed Up by the Family.
THE TRUE VALUE OF A GOOD NAME
Nowhere So Evident as in Case of Invest.
ments of Wealth.
MATTHEW MARSHALES TOPICAL TALK
rsrrcrkL TELEGRAM TO TIE prspArcH.1

NEW YORK, March 6-"The Vanderbilt
Millions" is the subject of Matthew Mar
shall's article for to-morrow's S,us, which is
as follows:
The week in Wall street has been marked
by an unusual abundance of rumors of i'm
pending permutations and combinations OF
railroad properties, none of which have yet
been confirmed, and some, if not all OF
which, are more likely to prove false than
true. That of the assumption by the Van.
oerbilt family, of the practical ownership OF
the New York and New England Railroad, is
so improbable that it never should have
received the credit it did. The interests OF
the NanderDilts in the New York Central
Railroad and its connections are too closely
allied with those of the Boston and Albany
Railroad to permit them for moment to
entertain the idea of lending assistance to
line which would divert freight and travel
between Boston and New York away from
the Boston and Springfield section of the
Boston and Albany road. Were such an act
of hostility committed by the Vanderbilts it
is in the power of the Boston and Albany
Company not only to retaliate upon the New
York Central, but also to parallel from
Springfield to New York the New York and
New Haven Railroad, in which the Wander
bits are large shareholders.
The story of the acquisition by the New
York Central lease of the old Delaware and
facts have yet been made public which give
1T support. The Delaware and Hudson Com
pany is already sufficiently dependent upon
the Central for a connection with this city
of its Saratoga and Montreal lines to insure
its friendly management, and lease of its
properties would pe too superfiuous.
Rumors Entirely Improbable.
This same consideration also renders inn
probable the rumors that both the Erie and
the Pennsylvania Railroad Companies are
about to make a closer alliance with the
Delaware and Hudson. Those relating to
the supposed participation of the Wander
bilts in the recent coal combination have an
equal air of romance. At all events they are
contrary to the tacit agreement which was
entered into not long ago between the New
York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad
Companies, that neither should make war
upon the other. The immediate result of
that compact was to relieve the Vanderbilts
Of the costly and Improbable South Penn
sylyania Railroad enterprise, and to transfer
the burden to the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company.
1t would be bad faith in the vanderbilts
now to ally themselves with the foes of the
Pennsylvania, as they would do by entering
the coal combine. The rise in Lake Shore
stock was accompanied by no definite state
Inent OF reason for it, and it seems to have.
been effected by nothing but bold and
resolute buying. A scrip dividend to repre-
sent surplus earnings was hinted at, but no
authority for it was mentioned. Still, there
j. 10 uOuDU DnsiG Lake SnOf6 is 1nCrlnSlcally
worth more than the l20 or Whereabouts ar
which ii has lately been selling. 1t has really
earned for the last two years nearly 10 per
cent upon its $50, ,0o0.0 600 capital, and 1 ami in
clined to believe it will ultimately have to
divide I'M cash something approaching that
amount though the time of doing it has not
Yet arrived and those who have bought the
stock at l40 Will have TO wait a long while
Tor any great profit on it.
A Lie as Good as the Truth.
I+
the dissemination of reports for the purpose
of Affecting the stock market is not in the
least hihdered by the lack of real material
for them. The maxim that a lie well stuck
to is as good as the truth finds exemplifica-
tion nowhere SO thoroughly and so often as
in the stock exchange. The late lamented
Phineas L. Barnum was once unfortunate
enough to encounter an innocent whom he
had victimiZed with the woolly horse, the
Feejee mermaid. joyce Heth, or some simi-
lar manufactured wonder, just after the vic
tim had discovered the fraud practiced
upon him and was highly incensed thereat.
To his reproaches and objurgations, wind
ing up with the emphatic declaration that
for the future he would never again pay q
quarter of dollar for admission to any of
his shows, the crafty deceiver serenely re-
piled: "1f can get only one single quarter
from each of the fools that pass by the en-
trance to my museum shall make all the
money l want
The speculative brokers of the Stock Elk.
change do much better than Barnum did
Their victims pay good deal more than a
quarter for each of their experiences, and
they do ii not once, but frequently, unde-
TERED by the repeated exposures of the
frauds of which they have been made the
victims. If the printed lists of stock sales
for the last fortnight accurately represent
the transactions of the outside public, the |
commissions received by the brokers have
been something enormous / suspect how
ever, that 90 per cent of the business has |
been between confederates, who like the |
cappers around a mock auctioneer, make a |
tremendous show OF buying, in order to en- |
tice unwary passers-by, so that the sum |
really extracted from amateurs pockets is |
nothing like SO large as it appears to be.
The Use of a Valuable Name.
What is to me specially noteworthy in |
last weeks crop of rumors is that, whether |
the names OF the Vanderbilts have been EN-. |
ployed in them or without justification in |
1act, they have been employed for the en-
hancement of the values of the properties |
which they are said to have acquired, and |
not for their depreciation. Other men,
equally conspicuous in Wall street. are made |
to play exactly the opposite part in the |
fcuions devised for the promotion of specu- |
lation. When it is desired to induce the !
PUBLIC to sell any stock, one of these men is
panic in 1t at once ensues. Ruin has so |
often followed such control, when really |
obtained, that the mere mention OF it |
Vanderbilts, on the contrary, has been SO |
frequently marked by ID real Improvement |
in values that the public has come to have |
faith in them, and to be not only willing, |
but anxious to follow where they lead the |
way. This may be only luck, but it is the |
fact, and that suffices to inspire confidence,
, 1t is said of the Rothschilds that they al |
ways promote a lucky employe and dismiss
an unlucky one as soon as possible. What /
they want is successful results and not eX-
plantations of failure. Nations do the same
with their statesmen, their generals and |
their admirals. They judge their servants
according to their deeds and not according
to supposed abilities which might win in
and in war, but do not. So the
Nanderbtits, from the old Commodore down,
while making large fortunes for themselves |
nave made the fortunes OF everyone who has
stuck by them, and the result is what have
Forced to Be Preservers.
The fact is that the vanderbilts are COM
PEELED by the circumstances of their situa-
ton to be preservers and not destroyers of
property values. Their grandfather, the
often turned about in his
tracks, and for time broke down the mar
ket which he had been putting up. This he
did because it was necessary to his schemes
Of acquisition. Their father found himself |
the possessor of SO much wealth that he did
not repeat the Commodore's operations in
this respect and sold only when he found he
had made a mistake in buying, as he did in
Union Pacific, Oh when he foresaw a fall, as
he did when, in 1879, he turned over at 120
his block of New York Central to Jupiter
sons, William X. Vanderbilt and Cornelius
Vanderbilt, beside the Sl0,009O00 apiece
which he gave them in common with their
six brothers and sisters, esiduary estate
at not less than 500 000,000 and
The combined income of all this capital