Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-07-25

WILLIAM c. WHITNEY AT THE RACES.
things easily. He leaves the manage
ment of his great interests to trusted
lieutenants in and out of the family
and devotes himself to the enjoyment
Of the vast fortune he has accumulated.
One of his pet hobbies is the training
and racing of thOroughbreds. The res
direction Of Saratoga as a racing center
is his work, and he is also spending a
great deal of money at Aiken, s. c.,
where he has large estate
His principal country residence,
Wheatley Hills, is near Westbury, n.
Y, where he has immense stables for
his thoroughbreds. Like all the great
country places near New York, Wheat
ley Hills is not intended merely for
summer use. Country life among the
fashionable no longer means a few
months in hot weather, but continues,
with few breaks, all the year round.
The Whitney place is notable for the
many house parties held during the
winter holidays and over many Satur-
days and Sundays during the cold
months. Mr.. Whitney's new town
house in Fifth avenue, New York,
alongside of Central park. is one of the
finest in the city, and an invitation to
one of its owners famous entertain
ments is a favor eagerly sought.
On one occasion Mr.. Whitney, in an
swer to n banker friend, who alluded
to the lavish style in which he enter
tanned, said: 81 have the money and
can afford these expenditures. They
are one of my ways of helping people.
1t is better to give employment than
aims. 1 believe it to be the duty of
every rich man TO spend as much as he
can afford and to help trade along.
Then all will prosper"
When Mr.. Whitney, in the zenith of
his power in the financial world and
but a little over sixty, announced his
retirement the statement caused the
greatest surprise. His intimates could
not understand why q man who was in
perfect physical condition should not
remain at work, but in a few words
he explained that he intended to de-
vote the rest of his life to rest and en-
joyment among his children and
horses. and he has remained firm in
that determination.
Mr.. Whitney is a native of Conway,
Mass, but has lived in New York since
1864. He is q Yale graduate and a
Harvard Law school man. As secre-
tary of the navy, appointed by Presl-
dent Cleveland in 1885, he made q
national reputation by his mastery
administration of that Office. 1t was he
who, by devising a system of con-
tracts by which one concern might bid
for all the steel to be used both in the
construction of the vessel itself and
In its armament, made it possible for
armored vessels to be built entirely in
this country 1t was this system that
provided the ships with which the
Spanish war was fought and won.
MI Whitney has been married twice.
His first wife was a daughter of the
wealthy Senator Payne of Ohio, one of
the Standard Oil men of his day His
second wife was Mrs. Randolph. who
mad been one of the beautiful Misses
May, relatives of the Jays and the OeG
richses of New York and noted fol-
their love of outdoor sports. She died
as the result of an accident met whiSs
following the hounds at Aiken, s.. C.
OF Mr. Whitney's four children only
one, Dorothy, is unmarried. Harry
Payne, the oldest, married Miss Ge=
trude Vanderbilt; the second son
Payne, is the husband of one of. Sen