The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-18

any 4lFectlCn. lie might nave Dtfu StAAi47
cheap jswelry until the day Of his death
had il not been for ihe fortunate demise
10 him-of Henry Keep, his sister-in-
laws husband. which placed him in con-
troll Of an estate OF 100000 This he
soon increased 10 100000 and success
developed Ia a. m latent quality Of bust
ness shrewdncss and commercial. instinct
that changed his whole career. II was
luck-it was environment. chance, oppor-
tunity-that made him.
Mr.. Flowers ambition was to be Presi-
dent of the United states. and al the
hour Of his death he was nursing It. He
made no blow about il, but in his quiet.
self-cOrtained way he never let his init
maize friends forget that the busy bee was
hUmming in his bonnet Oay few weeks
ago he took under his wing an influential
politician from a distant Southern state
d man who controls elections and can
cast his states vote any way he likes. I
do not know what promises were made,
but the Ex-Governor would not have both
cred himself about this acquaintance but
Tor the fact that he expected some day to
use his Influence He gave his friend tips
on the market that put many thousands
OF dollars IN his pocket and sent him home
a devoted adhereut to the Flower forces.
The newspaper men in the street have
lost warm friend in Flower. In the
last year and a half he made a dozen or
more richer than they had ever dreamed
Of being. He never msled. In his office,
In the three great months before Christ
mas, they were wont to congregate to
learn the financial news of the day, the
trend Of the market, etc. He or some
other member of his firm would walk
around the room saying, well, boys, we
are going to put Federal Steel up about
six points to-day" Then, after few
minutes Of general chat he would continue:
Joe, how much do you want? Can you
stand 100 shares?" Joe says he can, and
the order is booked Charlie want
hundred? More if you ike III" Charlie
takes 300 He asks each in turn, some TAX
ing as much as 500 shares of the GER
tainty-a Flower stcck-anything with
Flowers name to it meant a lead-pipe
cinch.
No hoy" with from 100 to 1000 shares
of Federal Steel, or anything else ac-
CURED under similar circumstances, ever
walked the floor at night, or lost one
wink of sleep If the stock went up as
intlmated he would walk into the office
next morning and get a check. If 1t hap
pened by any misfortune to go down he
never heard of it. The firm of Flower &
Co. Roswell p. special did not do business
that way. The boys had to make. IL was
with them all a case Of 'heads l win,
tails you lose" But. brethren, let it be
understood that they never failed to give
Mr.. Flower a full equivalent. Yes, and
more. They advertised him.
Ordinarily he was not vain man, but
being a politician, he liked to see his name
in print. He was one of the easiest mel
in this country TO interview. He was
free talker seeming to have less in reserve
than the average politician with half his
sense and KNOWLEDGE He had a sort of
magnetism about him that was negative,
yet a. the same time centripetal. No one
went into ecstacies over him, but he was
respected. A few years ago nothing was
known of him except his barrel. His barrel
did this his barrel did that. He was said
to hove bought his way to Congress and
into the goyernorship. But all that is for
gotten to-day in. the universal esteem in
which the man grew
The one man IN the street whose death
would have a serious and lasting effect is
j. PierponL Morgan, because he Is iden-
tilted with more great enterprises than any
three other men in the financial arena. 1t
would require a great many more mil
lions to save the market in the event of
his sudden demise than were needed on
Saturday The death of James Il. Keene
would make numerous changes in the ex-
listing market situation. No man knows
where Mr. Keene stands, nor what he is
doing or going to do. He keeps his own
counsel Like MIR. Flower, he has made
many men rich. He carries stocks for hun
dreds of good fellows" to whom he is
under no personal obligation. 1 know of
one case where he carried 1000 shares of
Manhattan for friend over so points, and
said he would carry them into eternity I'M
less the tide turned.