The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-07

had failed and that my draft had gone
to protest. This was in April 1861.
saw at once that our firm was ruined
by the failure, and 1 was in desperate
straits. 1 had ordered furniture in
Cleveland for the two rooms in which
we were to begin our married life and
knew that the bill would be along in
few days. All 1 had left was a gold
watch which 1 had taken in trade. I
went to the banker who held my draft,
told him how 1 was situated and ask
ed him to hold the watch as security
until the time came when l could pay
it, He refused to receive it, but 1 left
it on his counter and went away. The
next morning that banker failed. A
list of his assets was published and
among them the item of a draft Of AL
ger & Goddard, secured by a gold
watch and chain. This announced the
failure to the people Of Grand Rapids.
I cannot tell you how badly L felt that
day.
81 remember how 1 went into one of
the hotels where O lot Of men were
talking, when one of the rich men Of
the town, a man named Mills, said to
me: L see, young man, that you have
Got your name in the paper and that
you have lost your gold watch and
chain The words were uttered in a
SDGGIlHS IOut. IIcy cut lie " JllC
heart. / could have sunk through the
floor, but I said: I know that, Mr..
Mills; gave the banker my watch be-
cause L could not pay my debts, and
if there is any one here to whom [ owe
money, 1 am willing to give him any
thing l have as security. If / owe you
a cent and you want my coat to hold
until [ can pay you, l will take 1t off
and give it to YOU My deep feeling
cod
for as 1 said this the tears came into
Mills eyes. He saw that failure was
a serious thing with me, and said: No,
young man, if you owed me anything,
L am sure you would pay it. L beg
your pardon for haunting you of your
loss Well, this failure bursted our
company. My furniture dealer told me
that [ could keep the furniture and pay
him when I could. Just about this time
the war broke out. I raised a company
and was chosen captain. When l came
out of the army 1 found that L had
saved enough to be able to pay my
debts, and that Mrs. Alger had put
aside $500 dollars in bonds out of the
money L had sent home"
A FORTUNE IN PINE.
"But, general, 1 thought your fortune
was made out of lumber"
Yes, that is true, to a large extent" re-
piled Gen. Alser THE most of the money
1 have made has been in the lumber bust
ness, but my success did not come until
later on. When / came out of the army my
first investment was in brick-making
concern in Detroit. l lost in this, but while
running II | had put a little money in
small vessel. The vessel paid for itself in
less than a, year. l made other invest
mentS in lake vessels and soon had quite
a little capital. The idea that there was
money in the lumber business stuck to me-
and | induced two capitalists named Moore
to put in some money with me TO buy pine
lands. They We're, in fact. to furnish the
capital, and l was to have one-third of the
profits for managing the business. The
first year I bought S26 900 worth of lumber
walking $50 miles through the woods with
pack on my back TO select the timber. I
picked out place for a logging camp and
spent that winter in getting the logs out
for the market. took Mrs. Alger and my
Oldest child. who was then with me, into
the woods. We drove a distance of 100
miles in sleigh 10 the camp, and our home
that winter was a little log cabin. I don't
know that 1 have ever enjoyed a winter so
much.
q had thirty-fve men under me and had
to get I'D at o'clock every morning to
start to work. Mrs. Alger did her own
cooking, and we were happy all winter
long. l only got out million and a quar-
ter feet of logs, board measure, during that
winter: The next winter l had formed the
co-partnership Of Moore & AlgeT, in which
! had a half interest, Mr.. Moore doing
little more than furnishing the credit.
That year we got out about 100000 feet
of logs. which we sold, and the I.sxt year
15,G00,006 feet. and from that time our Ium-
Der operations have been in quite large fig
ures. Mr.. Moore died soon after, and with
some other gentlemen we formed our pres
ent concern of Alger, Smith e Co We have
for years sold as much as $50 OG0.G GOO feet of
lumber a year our business amounting 10
something like $2.225oOO a year"
ALGER's BEST INVESTMENT.
what was the best investment you ever
made in lumber, Gen. Alger?"
lone Of the best things we ever did" said
Gen. Alger was in the buying of a tract
Of pine from Mr.. William e. Dodge, Of New
York. 1 had examined the property. and
could tell to a few thousand feet just how
much pine there was on it. Mr.. Dodge had
an agent named Frost in Detroit. l went to
him and asked him what he would take for
the land He replied that Mr.. Dodge wanted