The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-28

for the presidency-nor yet the pro-
| foundest depths.
But financially his success has been
even beyond his own dreams proba-
| bly,. His wealth, though not approxi-
mating that of such men as Senator
Clark. or the Vanderbilts, or the Rock
efellers is so great that he would prob
ably have to stop and make computa-
! tons before he could answer the ques-
! ton, How much are you worth?'' Po-
| lttically, he reached the high level of
the Presidents Cabinet before his pub
lie career was cut short by that wave
of Organism which throttled his po
litical ambition, and that of nearly
every other very rich member of his
party. In the realm of sports he as
pired to, and has won, the place of a
great turf leader. His horses have a
| prominent place on every track in the
East, and he is not only a heavy
stakeholder in several of these tracks,
but an acknowledged authority on all
matters pertaining to the sport of
kings. His hopes in his son, Payne
| Whitney, unlike the similar hopes of
many other Croesuses, are being full
filled to the last degree, for the young
man bids fair to be as successful in
every line. save the political, as ever
his father was.
Mr.. Whitney has never been. unfor-
tunate in the world of affairs, indeed,
and his political success was contin-
uous for many years. But there is no
doubt that he felt himself in pretty
deep water when he found his plans for
! continued party leadership demolished
by the Nebraska silver advocate.
The death of his first wife, through
whose wealth he was undoubtedly
! largely enabled to make his career
! what it has been, was a severe blow
| to him, and he was greatly cast down
| by the tragic end of the beautiful wom-
! an with whom he contracted a second
marriage. 1t win be remembered that
she died as the result of an accident
| when hunting.
The net of the life of w. C. Whit
ney, as the relative by marriage of a
multi-millionaire family, then, has been
well worth while, from his standpoint
and in the eye of the world. Whether
he would have been big figure in pol
! tiles, finance and sport, had he not been
a rich mans son-in-law, is a question
that never can be answered, of course.
Probably he would, for he is a man of
great ability, vast energy and tireless
! persistence.
There is a possibility. though not a
| pTOUdDlllIyy tldt MT. w nlIHey may get
a serious setback in the legal proceed
ings now on, with the purpose of multi
flying the merging of the Metropolitan
Street Railway Company in the Inter-
urban.
Mr.. Whitney, as indicated above, has
had fewer of these setbacks than al
most any other big financier whatever.
j. ]. Hill, successful in quite as large
a degree-and not a millionaire's SON.
ln-law-has yet had great financial
troubles in the adverse decision of the
court with respect to the Northern Sc
curities Merger. James R. Keene, like
Whitney, devotee of the turf, has
been away down financially more than
| once, and the troubles and reverses of
nearly all of those near the top is
Croesuses have filled much more space
in the newspapers than have those of
| Whitney.
Whitney, by the way, is different
from most of the -millionaires
in having devoted much of his time
and energies-the bulk of both for