Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-10-24
Eessenaen Succeeds Chase.

given the work of rCprCSentiug the
government as its financial agent.
The new secretary curtly dismissed
him and inaugurated the plan OF using
only the banks of the country as
agcuts, This plan would not work
and it was not long before Cooke was
sent for to talk to the new secretary
Of the treasury, The latter frankly
told him of his straits and the neccS
sity there was for at once gettius
money to pay OF the troops in the
field some of whom had been without
pay for six months, Cooke asked
him how much he need at once. and
when told Sl2.Oo0,00O he promptly
replied that he would take il himself,
paying for it ono-thhd in draft and
the remainder in three days. Fesscn-
den was thunderstruck at the manner
in which the one man undertook to do
on his personal account what the Wall
street bankers had failed or declined
to do among them. and he expressed
his qualification and made amends by
honestly ConfesSing that he had been
under the impression that Cooke was
& protego Of Chase and had been
/ favored by the latter Instead Of
that being the fact am Inclined to be
| lieve that he was a protcge of yours, "
added the secretary at the close of
this confession. The result Of this
interview was that Jay Cooke & Co
| ooaip b,.o,,f, III, RpoD,;o1 .,o,,,t. u, ?
! the government. and SO well was the
work done that II called out the words
Of General Grant quoted in this arti.
/ Gle. 1t has been said that the firm of
| Jay Cooke 4 Co, did not profit by this
work for the government directly and
that the commission of ouC.cighth of
l per cent. in most eases paid for the
negotiation of bonds was Just about
| expended in the advertisement and
other expense incident to drsposing
of them The firm did profit. however
| by the reputation which the head
gained as the master Of fnanclers of
the world. Nobody before his time or
since has ever under like conditions
performed such feats
After the assassination of President
Lincoln and before the stock cx
changes could open the next morning
| Jay Cooke sent telegraphiC messages
to the agents of the firm ordering
them to advance the price of govern
ment bonds. After a short interval he
ordered them to make another ad.
vance and by this procedure the pos.
| Sibility of a panic was ayCrtCd The
! financial world was surprised, as there
| had been nothing less than sharp de.
cline of the governments securities
as soon rs the boards opened. II was
on the third day after the death of
| the president before Jay Cooke wired
to the secretary of the treasury at
| Washington and asked il he would be
! supported in his action. The reply
was that he would This promptncSs
in undertaking on his own re
! sponsibility the task of holding up the
credit of the government was CharaC.
! tcristic of the business methods of Jay
Cooke. He made his millions because
he had faith in his country. its re.
sources, its citizens and its govern
mout when there was doubt in the
minds of most of the people.
Pacific Railroad Brings Trouble.
After the war the firm Of Jay Cooke
became interested in the building of
the Northern Pacific railroad Cook
sent out in 1867 engineers and on their
report he began the operations that
! finally led to the downfall Of his house,
! He believed then in the great re-.
sources of the northwest and In his
last days he had the satisfaction Of
! seeing the enterprise completed and
| the stock of the railroad selling at par
on the markets of the world The
enterprise was beset with difficultira
and luck was against IT, The efforts
or three times by outside happenings
! In 1871 Jay Cooke had completed ar
rangcments with a syndicate of Ger
man bankers to raise $50,0OO,0OO for
the work Just on the eve of the
! closing Of the matter war was dc.
| 'ldltu DS france against btIndnN
and everything was OFF a little
! later another arrangement had been
made with English banks for a big
loan almost as large as the former
and this was nippcd in the bud wher
everything seemed about settled by
the Alabama claims award and the
| threatened war between the two
countries. Then he got together two
or three millions from private sources
rut into the work and then came the
failure Of the banking firm OF Jay
Cooke & Co, in September. 1873.
With the failure all Of the private
! property, including the 81 900 900 resi-.
! Gcnce Of Ogontz, was turned over to
the receivers. These worked for
several years setting up the enormous
business Of Jay Cooke he assisting
It was not until 1890 that the last of
the 5000 creditors were paid off.
While the wreck was being cleared
away Jay Cooke sank out Of sight Gf
the public From being. as he had