Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-23


tumbled ten, twenty. thirty points. Then
Gates and his crowd Quietly and con-
tentedly picked up the bargains lying
around and held on until the United
States Steel Corporation was formed
when they disposed OF their holdings on
terms that made many Of them million
aires.
That stupendous deal made the fame
Of Gates. Attention has never been di-
verted from him since. He became a
marked man. He established a follow
ing that will buy and sell anything un-
der heaven whenever he gives the word.
All the world loves winner. Gates is
a winner. He likes to see others make
money, and never refuses to tip of a
good fellow
Beneath his breezy western style, his
devil-may-care gable, his bonhomie.
there turks shrewdness such as only
his most intimate friends are aware Of.
He has had hard knocks. 1t took him
20 years to save a million dollars. Today
he has SO, 600 600. He has trained with a
merry crowd Of the highest high rollers
the industrial field could furnish.
He is ashamed of nothing that he does,
and his heart is as big as all out Of doors.
No hypocrisy in that big bulk!
Gates has become such an influence in
speculation that traders make use of his
name to boom or depress stocks. This
is the gauge by which man is judged
in the street. Two years ago the query
was, who is this chap Gates?" A year
ago it was. do you really think Gates
knows anything?" Today the alarm goes
CERTIFICATES is buying steel" All the
little fellows buy steel
Gates is factor, and big one. in
our commercial life.
To illustrate his influence. One night
he was chatting with Charles NJ.
Schwab, of the steel trust on a sofa
at the end Of Peacock Alley" It is
not necessary TO tell what they talked
Of IL may have been "reminiscences
OF poker at Ellwood. But the next day
there was a big boom in Colorado Fuel
and Iron. The shares rose ten or twelve
points. Wherefore? because Gates being
seen in the Waldorf-Astoria, chatting
with the president of the steel trust. was
supposed to have made a dicker with
Schwab to turn over the Colorado Fuel
and Iron company to the steel trust at
a tremendous advantage.
Most Of Gates great successes on Wall
street have been accidents. He was
dead wrong" on Northern Pacific, losing
a million and a half. In the Louisville
and Nashville deal he was the creature
of conditions that he did not know ex-
listed. His intention was to make a
quick turn in the market, to buy some
thing intrinsically good and sell 1t again
at a profit. To his own amazement he
found himself in possession OF the road.
Gates is a factor. Gotham has found
it out Presently he will start racing
stable, when the betting ring will have
to go out of the business. A Gates
killing will mean the death of numerous
bookmakers.
Gates is one Of the few steel men who
have not built palaces in upper Fifth
avenue He lives in Chicago. He is in
Wan street for fun. James r. Keene
is there for business That Is the diff
ference between the two kings of the
ticker. Mr.. Keene believes in taking a
flyer. But Gates will not settle down. He
is giant Of capacity, copper bottomed
and steel-lined.
Gates is a typical product Of the wild
west. AS an infusion he makes the Wall
street blood boil.