Evening journal., 1912-02-13
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Man Who Refused to
Grasp a FOrtnRe
By Holland

"When / was young man, just be-
ginning my business career at Lima,
Peru. in the ffties, l first heard Of
Allan Campbell" said the late William
r. Grace, twice mayor of New York
city and founder OF the great South
American trading house which bears
his name.
"The people Of Lima told me of the
wonderful success which an American
engineer had made in Chile He had
constructed a railroad from Valparaiso
to Santiago-the first railroad to be
built in ali Of South America--and had
partially constructed one from San
tiago towards the Andes. This was the
railroad which was afterward almost
completed by Henry Meiggs, whose
railroad building operations, especial
ly in Peru, are still the wonder of en-
eineers the world over. The people
of Peru were anxious to get. the pio-
neer American engineer TO build
railroad there He did so later on, but
at that time he declined the PROPOSE
ton and returned to the United States.
His name was Allan Campbell.
! H
in the late sixties, l again heard Of Mr..
Campbell as an engineer. Some years
later l became acquainted with him,
when he was commissioner of public
works of New York city; and when, in
1882, he was defeated for mayor on
the Fusion ticket it was to my great
personal regret. had come TO know Of
his integrity and capacity, and | have
/ r-ft II .rf lu1 N hnnf elected
would have made one of the ablest
mavors that New York city ever had.
Unouestionably, he would have been
| regarded as a model OF personal anu
financial integrity
In fact. It was something which
happened in Mr. Campbells business
life which decided the question OF his
nomination for mayor But first let me
say in a preliminary way that uon
helieye there were a dozen men in
business life In the United States at
that time who would not have been
tempted by and very few VINO Woulu
not have yielded to the situation thaI
arose out of this business experience
of Mr.. Campbell
LAS an engineer Mr.. Campbell was
sent TO make an investigation or Ger
tain coal and iron properties IN the
Allegheny Mountain range A corpora
ton had been formed to exploit the
mines, but its stock had become per-
feet football in Wall street. II was
regarded as scarcely worth the paper
and ink.with which it was printed. MT.
Campbell made a thorough investiga-
tion of the mining properties and re-
turned to the East perfectly SATISFIED
that the property was very valuable
one, and that all that was needed 10
make 1t a profitable money maker was
money with which the mine could be
equipped.
Campbell went to one or two men
Of capital with his proposition, anc
they laughed at him. Finally he called
upon partner in leading financial
house, stated to this mn what his in
vestigations had shown, declared ina
the coal WAS of very superior qual
ity, since IL contained almost no sui
phur, and gave it as his opinion tina
If a loan on the property of hve mil
lion dollars could be obtained, IT coull
be put upon a sound business basi
and would earn from eight to ten pc
cent.
"He was going on, to elaborate o.
the result of his investigation whe
the banker stopped him. He told MI
Campbell that it Ws not necessary 10
him to say another word; he said tha
he had such faith in Mr.. Campbell
integrity and capacity that he Woul
agree to make the entire loan hin
self, taking a mortgage back upon IN
property to run for twenty years an
exacting an interest rate OF six p'
cent. upon the loan
Now. how many men do you sul
pose there are in Wall street WI
would not instantly have gone out al
bought up every share of that sto'
: that could be got? It was then selliI
: for almost nothing. But instead Of d
p ing that Mr.. Campbell called meetii
!, OF the officers of the coal company al
. when they had come together he to
+ them that he had procured the loan
{ five million dollars for the develo
ment of the property
within three weeks the stock
that company jumped TO nearly sc
4 entv dollars a share. Campbell cou
3 have made a fortune Of several m
3 lion dollars. for, prior to the CALI
& in of the company's officers, he a
IS the banker who made the loan to h
were the OAi9 ptiooi VIM hhcW "a
the money could be secured TO pla
the mine upon its feet. When someo
afterward suggested to him that
had thrown away a golden opportu
ity, his only reply was Well, hs
10 saved my sense Of honor and self
spect.'
q: Copyright, 1912. by L. J. Edwards.
rights reserved.)
nt Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell
Id "The Faith That Built a Pioneer RI
road"