The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-31

expenditures. The young man did not
realize .hen that his father was testing
him. He did demonstrate to his faith
er that ne was equal to the test. He
lived for year upon five dollars
week, ard so faithful was he at his
employment that his salary was con-
siderably raised at the end of the year.
Yale's BicentenniaI Fund.
Mr. Borden made it possible for
President Arthur Hadley of Yale to Sc
cure the bicentennial endowment fund
of million dollars. President Hadley
had despaired of raising this amount
having secured less than a fifth of it
by persistent appeals to the graduates
but one day he met Mr. Borden,
who told him that he had much
to learn about the science of solicit
ing subscriptions: that he might be a
great railroad economist. but that he
had yet to be taught the science of
financing a large subscription. There
upon Mr.. Borden said that he would be
one of six men each of whom would
within three days subscribe a hundred
thousand dollars, and he added that
when President Hadley was able to 20
tic each alumnus and say that six men
had subscribed hundred thousand
dollars each to the fund he would be
amazed to discover that other rich
men were ca ger to join in that process
sion. Mr. Borden kept his promise
and President Hadley found that he
and the great lesson in the work of
financing great subscription. He had
no difficulty in securing the balance of
the fund after Mr.. Borden had secured
scriptions.
As a Business Man.
Mr.. Borden was noted as a bus;-
lh,ss man from the accuracy ard great
reach of his business forecasts He
was the first man in all the United
States to detect the change of tide of
depression from ebb to food in the lat
ond administration The business
world was astonished and startled
when it was informed that Matthew
Borden had bought a million dollars
worth of cotton. The moral effect of
that purchase. however, was benefic-
ial, and others followed where Mr.
Borden had led. The venture proved
very profitable to him, because he Was
able to buy Wien cotton was low, and
it also stimulated the revival of the
cotton manufacturing industry. In
speaking of the reason which led him
to make that purchase, Mr.. Borden
afterwards said that he was satisfied
that he had detected reaction, or the
beginning of a reaction, from the Dust
ness Generalization which prevailed he
tween 1892 and 1896. but he was unable
tc say how he detected it, His judg-
ment seemed to have been intuitiVe and
Il was characteristic OF him all his
business life that his mental processes
were those of the man who can instant
ly marshal and analyze conditions
with intuitive judgment as to their
meanings. That is a quality which has
always distinguished Mr.. J. P. Morgan.
So also Mr.. Borden's sudden and con-
siderable, as we'll as unsolicited increase
of wages started conservative manu-
facturers and he had a wonderful
skill at the game of competitive bust
ness chess, always keeping his Compel
itors guessing.
Very few persons knew that Mr. Bor-
den maintained throughout his business
life fondness and appreciation for art
which he first revealed when a student
at Yale college. He was an appre-
ciative judge of painting and bought,
quietly, almost secretly, some of the
finest specimens of the European mas
tors. He knew the worth of rare books
both their market value and their
artistic merit as we'll as ANTIQUARIAN.
and he collected one of the choicest
private libraries in New York. Had lie
been given to display and had he been
fond of ostentation, he, of course,
would have gained greater notoricty
than was the case; but if he did not
have notoriety he did not have real
fame, being esteemed by real business
men of the United States as one of thc
greatest forces of his genera
Of cotton manufacturing. At his death
he was the owner. of the largest COT
ton business in the world and as
business men he was always his own
master.
IJOT ANTI