The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-05
CAREER OF c. T. YERKES
INCIDENTS FROM THE LIFE OF A
"NAPOLEON OF FINANCE,
How the Street-Raflway Magnate
Once Sacrificed Business to a Sense
of Duty-His Telescope.

tween az cents and 70 cents. could up TO
80 cents ii would keep on going up to at least
80 cents within six weeks. There was heavy
long interest dealing in granger shares on
Wall street, and trying to boom those shares
on the exploitation of a heavy wheat crop
10 be moved TO market. Men in New York
could see green fields OF winter wheat in
Illinois, which no nlinoisan not color blind
could possibly discover. Tbs heavy crop for
the railroads to move might come later,
after the spring seeding in the Northwest,
but the man in the Illinois town figured IL
out to his own satisfaction that If the
heavy shoi tage in the winter grain could
make itself known and felt IN the mean
time there must be sharp advance In the
May option. If il could get to 50 cents, he
calculated. there would be no such thing
as forcing it down again 50 low that a
Scent margin would not hold an investment
safe, without further calls. Contemplation
of the market reports became an absorbing
passion with him. He had never been in
a deal, but after he became assured that
he was on the right track he was willing
Ito put it to the touch, to win or lose ii ALL -
The conviction that he was on the right
track overwhelmed him in the forenoon, and
he at once telegraphed a friend in Chicago.
asking the name of a reliable commission
firm there. The answer came: Charles T.
Yerkes, jr.. & Co." About noon a telegraph
nv a3 order " tn h ~ III. sv IA tusen9 Nav
wheat at 80 cents" That was all He knew
what he was thinking. but he didn't tell his
brought the he news that the e'p priee of Nay
future, after being put up to 79 cents, had
been hammered down to q cents. the clos
ture Spectator that his positive order,
without any qualifications. might have been
carried out The most responsible firm could
in that form. The most respectable of such
firms. he thought, were doing business for
percentages and not for the privilege OF
translating kilograms which, on the face OF
them. might be understood without cipher
code That night he had insomnia, and the
morning found him unrefreshed.
THE DRAFT RETURNED.
On his desk, when he reached the Office.
lay a yellow envelope, with printed instruc-
tons that If not delivered in 1--WE days it
should be returned to Charles T. Yerkes.
jr., & Co." Opened. it was found to contain
a volum;nous printed price list OF all the
stock listed on the Chicago board. two
page letter. signed Charles T. Yerkes. jr.,"
and draft for the amount of the money
which had been forwarded. The letter set
out that the commission had not been exc
cuted because 1t was realized that a mistake
had been made. If the wheat had been
bought at so cents it would have been sold
again at price TO consume the entire mar
gin, unless more margins had been put up
to hold 1t.
The return mail carried the draft back to
Chicago, with full explanations and many
thanks for undeserved consideration. The
deal was made when May wheat reached
so cents and was closed when 1t reached
SS saSns soR
On your success, and more on your good
luck in not being closed out the first day"
who assails Yerkes In the presence OF the
man who tells it. gives another view of the
orally entertained since he became motor
ious through his manipulation of the Illi-
nois Legislature. He Is generally under
The narrative discloses that he Is a poor
hand at selling them out At the time he
was declining business he did not consider
legitimate, YerkeS was poor man; GER
tainly not worth more than $4,000 He had
come to Chicago to make fortune; to re-
habilitate himself. 1t is not likely that he
lad in view any investments in street rail-
ways. The country was in the flush of pros
perity, following the close Of the long per-
iod of panic and depression beginning In in
speculation and investment. There were
booms in Kansas City, Wichita, Los An
gsles Chieago where not ~ hadnr
ments for others, and to make investments
for himself in Chicago real estate. 1t was
into his street railway enterprises
Chicago, which had reached the three
quarter million mark. had organised a Mil
most of the active men of brains and energy
In the town. They figured something like
the Illinoisan who took 80 cents as the basis
of continued growth in the price of wheat
that when Chicago reached a million In
population the Impetus would cagry more her rd foE
growth grow Yerkes was a member of the Nil
lion Club so was nearly every other man
who was tied up with the destinies of the
place. They were men OF imaginative pow
and see the possibilities of things. One
have better facilities for rapid transit as
means of promoting population growth The
day of the cable car was at hand. 1t may
surprise people not familiar with Chicago to
know that this great step, like many others.
had to be forced through the energy of a
few men against public inertia, II not OPP
position, out of which. in Chicago, as every
where else, comes the boodier and sand
Dagger,
morist who said that every man who had
gone In for million had made a good deal
more. Yerkes was one who made more. He
has just sold one of the greatest street-rail-
road consultations in the world for s12.-
100000. Certainly, in his case, the getting
Of the. first million for Chicago was an 'ir-
resistible impetus" to more.
NEVER WENT INTO POLITICS.
Yerkes never went into politics. He was
never seen around primary or a conven-
ton. When he went in for street-railway
grants he apparently took no interest in the
election Of councilmen to sit in judgment
upon the bills for the chartering of new
lines in which he was interested. When he
first began to take an interest In that
means of promoting his real-estate invest
ments Joe Mackin was reputed to be a
power III the Chicago City Council. and did
thriving business among francnlSe seek
ers, but his day Of power waned ere Yerkes
became any active bidder for aldermanic
support. The seekers OF franchises at that
time were not compelled TO pay such court
to aldermen as they have since been
forced TO yield. The elder Harrison was
mayor much Of the time, and he was such
a thorough believer in the future of Chi
cago and the necessity or promoting every
practicable means Of intramural travel that
he bore down much OF the opposition which
1t is an evidence OF how conditions change
in half a gene ration that the son of Car
ter Harrison the First is the greatest OPP
ponent of Yerkes. The elder Harrison
helped Yerkes TO help Chicago The
younger fights Yerkes for the same end.
place he would have done as the father az
Could the father be in the sons place he
would do the son has done. Chicago
made her investments through Yerkes as
broker. and the broker walks of with
S12 OOD, coo commissions.
the sense that II expresses the fact of
not walk a man with 81. 100000 could not
walk conveniently. But he Is going And