Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-10-21

enough to retrieve MS private IOf-
tunes, so far as mere money could re-
establish him in the estimation of the
world, but he lived to see the judg-
nent of his earlier years justified in
the final success of the ventures that
had proved disastrous to him. He in
his last years has the respect of those
who in the distress of the commercial
disaster that overwhelmed the nation
and involved the world had execrated
him as the one man more than all
Others responsible for the 1873 panic
In the fury of the ruin which swept
the country in the fall of 1873 people
Gorgot the services of Jay Cooke in the
days when the nation found in him
the only man capable Of furnishing
and willing to furnish the money with
which to fight the rebellion. The men
who were carried down in the, crash Of
the banking house of Jay Cook & Co.,
forgot that the man of whom General
Grant had said on the eve of the sur
render of Lee, TT is to his labo:s
more than to those of any other man
that the people of this country owe tde
same Jay Cooke to whose speculative
ventures the financial panic was
charged.
Ut is not given to many men to sue
scessfully stand as the almost sol9
financial prop of great nation in time
OF distress and then in few years sec
1E3e3 millions accumulated by a life
23Ime of labor and brilliant ventures
swept away in day Still fewer have
aeen the men who, left without fortune
and for the time being almost without
friends, could enter again upon
MATTE with the world and become &
second time multi-milliOnaire
These have been some of the achieve
anants of Jay Cooke, and there, when
tbs. long life is viewed with backward
E4ance from the close is given the
key to the success which attended the
szudacious conceptions and brilliant
achievements of this financial giant.
he has said that his success depended
upon the calm, even temperament
which he had inherited from his
parents and which he had preserved
Faith in His Country.
But there was another thing that
g1oW seems the prominent charac-
eex7stic of the man and his plan Of
life that appeals to the patriotism CT
mis- fellow citizens, and that was his
zanbounded faith in the wealth-produc-
ing power of this country under proper
Development. His undertaking of the
construction of the Northern Pacific
1Vas based on this faith in the north
west country, his bOuyant confidence
during the time of war in the patriot
Easm and the ability of the masses Of
the people to furnish the money need
ed by the government was the basis
I'd his great operations of handling
axhe bonds Of the United States when
es9fher bankers had declared that 40
lEnCIe money could be raised on the
credit Of the nation.
Jay Cooke was born at Sandusky
%, On Aug. 10, 1921, his father having
l#H0Ted to that section when young
-auan- The family on the fathers sid ;
descended from the original member
dis mothers ancestors came from tn q
north of Ireland. The father of Jay
Cooke was a distinguished lawyer Of
&haE section and was member of cOn-
sgaress He labored under the handicap
II tine unusual name of Eleuthero, anil
OF the father was responsible for the
tradition has it that the unusual name
simple name of the son. 1t came
about that at a certain election the
opponent of the elder Cooke took adj.
'<ssn$age of the fact that the most of
the, voters could be deceived and 81
Ehas subtle arts of the election day
ve$sr12er around the pools induced them
essca believe that Cookies name was
A4TEJher In this way enough of them
vxrCde it that way on their tickets to
eFegeat Cooke and elect the other man
Fa,g a. small margin. The father deter
1lzasd that his two sons, who were
erhen very young, should not be placed
az "a like disadvantage should they
ever become candidates for office and
that they should have names so simple
land plain that nobody could be de-
eeeSEed about them. He called the old
4akst Pitt and the youngest Jay, and as
Fay &his boy grew to be known the
world over
Attends School But Little.
Young Jay up to the time he was 81
.yrears cid had attended the local
:.schools but little and at the time
stared he quit them altogether. He
vEgsSN .san acn11aintance and friend in a
.,go&5ag Indian, Ogontz, who afterward
tae@aaes a chieftain of his tribe, and
oRTah 1i1En Jay preferred to roam over
.tex,e, ibis aand through the woods of the
'g4ess7.iD oTEDOd, alternating hunting
sgIfa 'fis4a5ng. The attachment between
'gne white boy and the Indian was Of
~Gfze strongest kind and when Jaw
y%ZSg0Ea9 became one of the richest men
vg1E hrs country and of his time he built
racidpOoo COSTING hi M