The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-13
BID ADlEU TO GOLD
NEW YORK MAN GIVES UP HIS
WEALTH TO PROVE AN OPINION.
At the Table Of Pierpont- Morgan He
Makes tho Statement That the Poor
Would Work II They Could Find Occu-
pstion-Hs 10 Laughed ut aud ut Once
Starts Out to Prove His Declaration
He has Spent Years Among the Poor rs
aLsborer and Will Write Book Con-
corning It

| New York, Aug IA striking story
Of heroic self-denial and privation on the
| part of q rich and cultivated man, VINO
| desired 10 prove 70 his host, ]. Pierpont
Morgan. that the man Of wealth did not
view the average poor mans condition
| from a fair OF impartial standpoint, is
beginning to be told in chapters by
Walter A. Wyckoff, Of this city, who
voluntarily assumed the poorest of poor
mems lots for two years. Mr. Wyckoff
is not only very wealthy-having been
for all but these two out Of the thirty
years of his life accustomed TO indulge
in luxuries-but he is an aiumnus ana
fellow OF Princeton University, where he
was graduated in 1883 member of the
Princeton Club, of New Y ork. and aver
liable social lion Of this metropolis. He
struck up firm friendship at Princeton
with Junius Morgan, nephew Of j.
Pierpont Morgan, and to this fact is at
tributable his most remarkable expert
ence. 4
AS favored guest Of Millionaire Nor
gan, at his Connecticut mansion. Mr.
Wyckoff, one night in the summer OF
1891, he said to the assembled guests that
he believed they misunderstood the poor
mans actual condition; that the poorer
classes actually desired to work when
they could get the oportunity, and were
very different men from those the rich
men pictured them to be. All the guests,
and particularly j. P. Morgan, pooh
poohed this as only the propaganda OF
theorist fresh from school.
Twen:y-four hours later Mr.. Wyckoff
walked down the steps of Mr.. Morgan's
house dressed in an old and worn suit
Of clothing, having previously told Mr.
Morgan that he intended to put his
theories to the proof. by his own ex-
perience. In pack he carried change
Of linen. He had not a cent in his pock-
ct. and under his arm, as his only menas
Of livelihood, he carried a magazine for
which ne thought he would solicit SUBJ
scriptions.
Mr.. Wyckoff, who has since been
around the world and reflected maturely
upon the two years experience that be-
gan when he left Millionaire Morgan's
house. tells with a shudder how he felt
when il came to actual hunger and the
earning Of mis- first cheap uninviting meal
with workmen whose sleeves were rolled
up and shirt fronts unbuttoned. His SUBJ
sequent struggles to gain livelihood are
interesting now, though they were pain
fully realistic and unentertaining to him
then. He went hungry often; he worked
as railroad section hand; factory sup
ported him for a time, and odd jobs were
always welcome; he was a gang-laborer,
building roads at the Worlds Fair; he
associated with the Chicago anarchists
and worked IN the mining camps of Colo
RADIO. Finally he went 600 miles across
the plains to California as "burro-
puncher." Then he stopped.
On but one occasion during all this
time did he see his old friends on terms
or equality. The one occasion was the
marriage of his brother. That ceremony
was fashionable event in New York N
1892. Walter Wyckoff was wanted 10
act as bes. man. So for a week he gave
up mis- la5orer's life and, with money sen.
him from home, returned to New York.
Here he purchased clothing and for a
few days was again the exquisite, the !
more than man Of fashion, that he had !
been.
But after the wedding he returned 20 !
the west, no richer than ne had left il. |
and resumed his manual labor, which 1
brought him experiences very similar 70 /
those Of his first step in that direction. /
Now he has set out 10 prove in chapters /
that he was right and Mr.. Morgan was
wrong at the banquet