El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-26
Americas First Millionaire
John Jacob Aston First Carried a
Pack; Then Traded With Indians
and Died Worth $4,000, 900,
= By Madison c. Peters
= ON JAcoB AsToR, a buteher,s

= Ohm JACOB ASTOR, a butchers
son, was born in waldorf, Ger
- many, July II, 1853. At IS he went
to London, where his brother, George
Peter, was engaged in the selling of
musical instruments. At 20 he ar
rived in Baltimore with zone good
suit of Sunday clothes, seven flutes
and five pounds sterling" He pro-
ceeded to New York, where he became
apprentice to a German baker, named
Dietrich, at 351 Pearl street, for whom
he padded cakes. Later he entered
the employ of Hayman Levy, from
whom Aston acquired his first expert
ence in the fur trade. Upon Levy's
books are entries of money paid to
John Jacob Astor for beating furs at
81 day.
Walter Barrett. in THE Old Mer-
chants of New York, says: For a
long time he (Astor) peddIed (fur)
SKINS and bought them where he could
and bartered cheap jewelry from the
pack he carried on his back"
In 1886 AStor started in the fur BUSH
ness for himself, in a small store on
Water street. Throughout the colo
MES it was the general practice of the
merchants and traders to swindle the
INDIANS, first by getting them drunk
and then, by cunning, getting the furs
they had gathered for a few bottles of
rum, blanket an axe, tobacco, guns,
powder or shot Even those saints
who fined men for not attending
church were guilty of this practice of
befuddling the indians for the pur-
pose Of swindling them and there is
good evidence for the belief that As
tor made money first by selling the
indians whisky and then still more by
trading for their furs while they were
drunk. All the government REPORTS of
those days point to the truth of these
statements. The indians were good
Judges of the value of skins and upon
very few could fraud be practiced
when sober
Was Accused of Treason.
A beaver SKIN bought for dollar
from the indians was worth Sc in
London. Astor was the American Fur
company. He supplied its capital and
dictated its policy. The United states
documents, of the first session of the
XVII congress, in 1S2122, show that
Astor was accused by the government
OF betraying the American cause at
the outbreak of the war of 1872 and
OF his monopoly of the great riches
of furs in the great northwest coun-
try.
refer to Joseph Pitchers report in
1873, TO Lewis CasS. secretary of war.
when shows conclusively that the
traue OF the indians was mOnopoliZed
by force and fraud, the government
plotted
furs sold in London by investing the
money in English goods and bringing
them TO this country. carried in Astor's
own ships and sold here at exorbitant
prices His profits from a single voy-
age reached as high as $4,000 Four
dollar blankets were sold for sic A
rifle costing 81 brought $50. Brass
Kettles Aston bought for As cents he
got $50 for from the indians. Powder
that cost 20 cents per pound he sold
1or 81, while for tobacco for which he
paid 10 cents q pound, he sold. at the
rate of five small twists for Sc
Astor moved to Broadway and Vesey
street, then fashionable neighbor-
hood His marriage to Sarah Todd
brought him a wife as economical as
she was respectable.
Some idea of the enormous profits
OF MS dealings with the indians may
be gathered from John Jacob Astor's
ing to the secretary of war. under
date of November %. 1881, said: You /
may, however, estimate our annual re-
turns at half a million dollars The /
capital at this time amounted to one /
mlllIon dollars-pretty good returns
$500, 900 per annum on a $1,000. 900 cap /
Everybody worked for Father.
At Broadway and Vesey street, with /
the store on the ground floor, his F.!
chief heir, William B., could be seen I
Everybody worked for father, who /
lived with his family over the store, (
as he did in Water street
In 1900 New York City had a popu- 4
lation of 10000 The northern boun- I
dairy of dense habitation was marked I
by Chambers street The front of city I
hall is marble, the back brownstone. I
owing to the belief of the thrifty citi- /
zens who built it in 1909 that the city /
would never grow above Chambers I
street and therefore the difference /
would never be noticed.
Astor had faith in the future of 1
New York. Above Chambers street /
there were a number of outlying vii !
lagos. Here Aston invested in farm
lands. Much of the property was bar 4
rem rock, but the growth of a great /
city and the development of trade /
made the land valuable. In 1913, when /
John Jacob AstOr died, his holdings
had increased until they were worth 1
$50. 0O0,O At this time there was I
in New York City one pauper to every /
125 inhabitants, and one out of SO had 4
to be supported by public charity. 1
Twenty years later the Astor estate l
had grown in value to $780, 600, 600 I
and the struggle of mankind for a /
footing on this thickly settled spot in |
the western world has given a value
today of s5OO,O00,OO0 to the Astor es-
tate.