The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-15

Tor development by individuals of rail
Iwav properties has passed. They say
THAT a good understanding of the
lprinciples of political economy would
show that it is inevitable that a few
individuals who possess ability of q
high order, rare courage, daring to
venture much, should personally at
first reap large rewards through the
development of opportunities OF the
natural resources of a country ike
the United States.
Commodore Vanderbilt created a.
| fortune of a hundred millions chiefly
| through his daring, at the age of 81
years. to take up railway Development
| He had, when he gave up steamboat
ing to enter the field of railway de-
lvelopment. a fortune of about twenty
millions. He accumulated about eighty
millions in his career as a railway
man. which was only a little longer
than the career of E. Fl. Hartman as
the new creator and developer of the
Union Pacific railway properties
Roswell p Flower, who at one time
was a near relative of one of Commo-
dore Vanderbilt's most intimate
friends. said, in 1892, to the writer
that the development of the system
Of the New York Central railroad
and the extension of that system
through alliance with the Lake Shore
and with the Michigan Central had in
creased the wealth of the state of
New York and of the states through
which the New York Central passed
Looking back over the past forty
years, as some of our business men
have recently done, in view of the
been impressed by the fact that so
many of the creators or developers
of important railway systems in the
United States who achieved large for
Sc e~1-~2 4
have left estates which in money value
were not very far apart.
Commodore Nanderbilt's fortune of
hundred millions was made up of
eighty millions which represented his
gainings as a railway creator and de-
veloper and twenty millions which
represented his gains rs steamboat
and steamship owner and manager.
jay Gou1ds fortune is understood
to have been somewhere between
seventy-five and eighty millions. BY
keeping this estate intact as far as
possible, it is presumed to have in
creased now to about a hundred mill
lions. Mr.. Gould, however, did not
make probably more than a moiety
of his fortune by his asso citation with
railroads and certainly very little of
his fortune by any creative work
which he did as a railway manager.
Mr.. Harriman's fortune OF eighty-fOur
millions. accumulated within about
twelve years, fairly we'll matches the
estimate of Mr.. Hills fortune, which
was made five years before Mr.. Har-
riman'S death.
The late John I. Blair of New Jer-
sey left a fortune of about ninety mil
lions, much of which had been ac-
cumulated by his connection with rail- |
way development in the far west
Could G. 2. Huntington have lived |
fnteen years longer, so that he could I
have had time to work out his coIos- |
sal schemes for a transcontinental !
railway, his fortune very likely would |
have been twice as great as the in
ventory of his estate shows it to be
shout thirty millions.
There does not seem at present to !
be any vista of railway development or !
railway creative work which, from |
this time on, would make it possible |
for an individual to accumulate a for |
tune as great as that Of Mr.. Hill or
that which Mr.. Hartman gained.
The great fortunes of the future,
our business men think. will be OBJ
tanned through the development of
natural resources of the country, pos