The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-21
PERRY BELMONT, OF NEW YORK
CRy StyOIARD.)

fIOTrfEDt. I@U4. D. T -
When August Belmon vas CHAIR
man Of the Democratic National com
mittee that body had no headquarters.
and wnen Zachsriah Chandler was
chairman Of the National R~epublIcan
Committee il had but one clerk lhd'
II all changed Politics n our couh-
try is q game hat war. n
that organization ~ necessary - sue
cess. and money f. requisite - organ
iZation. Hence ii is become q saylfS
with IA that just as victory inclines 20
the side with the heaviest b2ttali"ils
in war between nations, so victory
comes TO the side with the large.t
ca paign fund in struggles between
parties. And II follows that both po-
litical parties are busy before he con
yentions finding out who Of the can
didates can the fullest
camp chest.
Mr.. Perry Belmont ia convinced taat
the only way to better politics. IL 70
elevate the idea above the man, or
the dollar, and TO hat end he is stTi"-
ing to secure legislation that will
force publicity in the matter OF con-
~tributions Of money for political cam
paign He believes hat the
che way 70 improve conditions IS 70
first Improve -onditions In party or
CARNATIONS. The way TO do that Is 70
dominate for Office men for what
they believe and for what they are
for the idea they stand for rather
than the money they can command.
He recognizes that political campaign
funds are necessary. but he would
make political ideas eve more essen
tial. He would have a party 10 APP
peal to the reason and the conscience
rather than 70 the passion and the
greed of the electorate. And where
is the patriotic. honest man who has
read and pondered the revelations
touching the national campaign Of
1904 who is unwilling to aid Mr.. Bel
mont in this e~ndeavor? Mr.. William
J. Bryan has expressed his approval
of 1t, and nobody has openly opposed
1t. For some reason or other. hat it
il not difficult to conjecture, the anil
mus of the Fifty-ninth Congress re-
fused to enact the legislation Mr.. Bel
mont suggested.
Perry Belmont is the eldest son Of
August Belmont. who was so long
prominent in politics. diplomacy and
finance. Born in Alley, Alsace, in
1916, the son Of a leading citizen of
that province. who was a republican,
but not a terrorist, when the mighty
revolution Of 1889 burst upon Europe.
and later appointed to a political po-
sition of responsibility by Napoleon,
then first consul, August Belmont re-
cetved an excellent education, and
when a very young man entered the
banking house Of the Rothschilds at
Frankfort. So ready was he to mas
ter the science that ere he was TWEEN
ty he was appointed as the head of
the Rothschild bank at Naples. Italy.
At the age of twenty-one he went to
New York and there opened the house
of August Belmont g. Co. which be-
came the correspondent of the Roths-
childs in the United States. Not long
after he began business he becam m
American citizen, Joined the Demo-
cratic party and was active In behalf
of Polk and Dallas in the campaign Of
1871.
There were two factions of the New
York Democracy. AT the head Of ona
was Martin Van Buren,, with Silas
Wright and Samuel j. Tilden for lieu
tenants. These became the Barn
burners h other faction was
headed by William L. Marcy, then and
for years later. the best fitted man
in the entire country for the office Of
President Of the United States. Be-
mont became a partisan of Marcy.
and when the latter was appointed
Secretly Of State he selected Belmont
for minister to h HI e. While
James Buchanan, minister to Eng
land; Pierre Soule, minister to Spain.
and John Y. Mason. minister t.
France. were writing the Ostend man
ifesto Belmont was entering INTO CON-
with Holland that opened the
Dutch East Indies to our trade and
in incalculable advantage 10
our commerce. that began to grow
that time. He also participated
in the diplomatic congress Of Paris,
his discussion of the practice Of
privateering III time of war command
the attention and extorted the ad-
miration of every European chancel-
lery.
When Marcy ceased to be Secretary
of State Belmont returned to Ameri-
ca. He was now active in politics.
for Office. but for ideas. He
might have been Governor or Sena-
had his ambition been in that d.
r%ection. He had gone to The Hague
only with the view to serve the coun-
try in a diplomatic capacity. fort
which he was splendidly equipped.
When Buchanan and Douglas part
ed company, Belmont followed the
and supported him in the
Charleston convention to the end, and
later was active in his ehalf at Bal
timore. No man in the country had
a clearer vision of the situation wnen
came than August Belmont.
His letters and speeches of that period
models Of strong, terse, convinc-
logic expressed In perfect English
any one born to that tongue
might we'll envy. In the light Of sub
y 1AA iLf7boi 3 ASttl IN - a
No man al the North was a BET
ter friend of the South. Few men of
North saw the inevitable result as
clearly as he. But his warning fell on
deaf ears. and at AppomattOx the
South was crushed.
About 1882 the government sent
Hughes and Henry Ward
to England to make public
opinion for the North. At that tinn
I.ord PalmerstOn was prime minister.
He vas a Southern ~sympathizer.
beef-eating Englishman. he
was to craftsmanship what Totn
was to pugilism. He hoped
he South wOuld win. and believed 4
would win. Two s~entimentalists like
Hughes and Beecher were only calc,.-
lated to i~rritate such a man as Pal
but the cool heads at Wash
ngton requested August Belmont. q
man of as much common sense az
Palmerston himself. to talk the thing
with the British foreign office.
He soon convinced them tina the
of the South was hopeless as
.ong as the North was determined.
No man did more to prevent English
.nterposition and no nan did so much
o place United States government
oans with European bankers. Had
le been Secretary of the Treasury the
var would have cost about 40 per
of what it did cost, go far as
vas shown in the national debt state