The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-04-19
How Willard Got His Start-What He
Owed to Observation-Disclosures
of Two Lives.

Owed to Observation-Disclosures
of Two Lives.
If the boom time lUhat swelled inan-
clal sails In the early SOS had contin-
ued, m%llllonaires would have been as
plenty as hu~ckleberrles ALL over the
northwest of the Occident, and, among
those sure to ride on tine fopmost wave
of fortune, Paul Schulze would have
had a safe passage. That little "if''
has slain its thousands, and has depos-
tied thousands of 'uheir millions.
1 remember that way back in the
earliest '70s a young German was con-
nected, in editorial capacity. with
some journal published in that Ian
guage in Portland. In the late fall Ut
1872 l was on my way East, and on the
ocean to San Francisco, as 1 sat in
the cabin writing one day, this same
young German freely indulged himself
by abusing heartily the people of Or
06OIs Illo b4NAGl lOll6 hG lNlu llE Vic
CONAN Of the period up to unlimited
scorn. The incident was not very i'm
poruant, but as my pen refused to
write until the assault on my people
was avenged, [ laid it down long
enough to say:
IF that is your opinion of Oregon
and OregoMians, you would better keep
away from them in fulure; they can
get along without you"
That was my introduction to Paul
Schulze. Some men would have re-
scented such a remark; but, whatever
my fellow-traveler's faults were, he
appreciated any man who stood man
fully up for his friends and his
try, and made no reply. Nor did he
again resume that style of argument.
We even became rather pleasant COM
panions, and l learned that he was
on his way back Ito Germany.
Seven years later, when Willard
came lhither to commence railroad
building, 1 was connected with his
department for three years, when the
off -es of the company were down on
Front street, and saw enough of him
to appreciate his dominating will and
Business capacity, and from him and
others learned interesting facts that
it Is not improper to bring forward,
now that Schulze himself is no more
and Willard no longer a citizen of
America. The story as to his relations
wiki Willard was told by one of the
first citizens of our city, as, chatting
with NJ. S. Burrell and myself, we trav,
eled down the Columbia in a Pullman
during the earliest days OF the Oregon
Railway and Navigation Company. 1
think he had the facts from Willard
himself. for l neve knew Schul2e to
claim any special hold on Willard. 1
will, when l come to it, relate an in
cident of the panic of 1888, as he gave
it to me himself.
1t seems THAT at this time QS7O Paul
Schulze was going to cross the ocean,
~ostenslbly as the emissary of Ben
Holiday, who was short of money,
and sent Schulze to Frankfort-on-the-
Main to try to induce the Zulbachs
(the banking house of whom he had al
ready borrowed miIlions) to give him
more millions to spend. Up to that
time Willard (Which is only a nom de
plume, for his family name is Hilgard,
and Willard was the name he used as
a war correspondent had been a Wash
ington writer for the New York press.
He and Horace White had dropped
on to the important fact that the
committee ON ways and means had de-
clded TO recommend an increased tax
on tobacco. They made terms with
some great syndicate, which invested
In THE information they furnished, to
such good advantage that he and Hor-
ace had 500, 900 to divide.
This was the first raise" these two
gentlemen made, SO. my informant
said, and Willard took a trip back to
the mother country in the new charac-
ter of capitalist. BY this time Paul
r6cnulze reached New York, and the
Two were passengers on the same
Isteamer, where they made acquaint-
ance and became friends. 1t was a
case where opposiues harmonize in
friendship, for Willard vas reserved
and a little slower in making decisions
if firm i'm sustaining them, while
Schulze was impulsive. and, to a GER
hahn degree, reckless, believing in
nothing but his friendship for men,
and the honor a man should sustain in
business. de mortius nil nisi bonum."
Paul may have beer a bon vivant, but
he was true to his word and to his
friends.
While sent to Germany to work for
Ben Holiday, Sohulze felt honorable
scruples as TO carrying out the HOlla-
day program. The result was that the
Zulbadhs learned that Ben was max
ing ducks and brakes of the money
they E him for bonds, and they
coucluded it was time to be protecting
their own interests. They talked the
MISTER over freely with Schulze and
discussed the way this could be done
and the need Of a man they could de-
pend On to represent their interests