The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-27
MANDY NEARLY CAPTURED!
hot the trail rope don't break the ink spill h

find MT. Nochols to have left can be
 crly approximately surnised But it was
 pres umably well up in the millions. Mir.
 NcCutcheons estate will undoubtedly be
 found to be large. although probably not
 C n.Iarable in it's magnitude to the es-
 tates of MT. Altman and Mir. Nichols.
 These three men fairly well typified mer-
 centile activities in the United States as
 ti'ese have been created and developed
 in the past 50 years. and while it is the fact that two of them were occupied ex-
 clusively with retail business, and from ttat point of view may be regarded as
 asso ciated wholly with New York pusi-
 ness life, nevertheless their influence and
 example were found frequently to have
 extended far beyond the boundaries of
 New York.
 Of Three Different Nationalities MT. Altman was Hebrew. Mir. Mich ols began life as farmers boy on the borders of Lake Winnepesankee in New
 Hampshire and there was always some-
 thing in his attitude and manner which
 reflected New England thought and ac- tion
 MT. McCutcheon was a native of Ire
 land, and his boyhood was spent in that part of Ireland in which the linen indus try predominates. There he learned the science of linen making, and it was to
 that country that he sent his son in order
 that he, too, might get good informa tion respecting the method which has made the Irish linen merchants pre-eminent Here, then, were the Hebrew the New England and the Scots-Irish types. Each maintained all his life certain racial characteristic. Yet they were singularly alike in their business methods They all built upon the sound and fundamental business philosophy. All of them con- centrated their minds on their vacations. in this respect resembling all the great Incl cf ants. That was a characteristic Of Alexander c. Stewart, who, although of Irish birth. like Mir. McCutcheon, was at
 one time esteemed the greatest of Amer ican retail merchants It was also the clara cteristic of Alexander Bro Nl. who, l like MT. McCutchean. mastered in his ap- prentice days the science of linen mak- | ing in the north of Ireland, and, having done that, came to Baltimore a linen | merchant. and was the first to develop or a large scale the business of dealing | in foreign exchange.
 The thlee merchants-Benjamin Altman I James E. Nichols and James McCutcheon | began business in New York many years | ago, two of them upon very small scale and one, Mr. Nichols, as the successor l of those who had established a whole 1 sale grocery house.
 A little closet-like store was the place selected by MT. McCutcheon, and sim | ilar one by Mir. Altman when young men | for their retail shops. Neither could 1 have had much capital; both reinvested
 their earnings in expansions until at last Mr. Altman set the pace upon Fifth ave-
 nue by building upon an entire block one of the worlds largest as well as one of l the worlds most beautiful. buildings for | the purpose of carrying on an exclusively retail business.
 There were some aecumulations which | he found it mpracticable to reinyest in 1 lis business. and these are represented by l d Dc ut $5.oC000O of securities, chiefly bank | stocks. MT. Altman, while not exactly a l rec.use, was essentially modest man of retiring disposition. and personally he was rot well known But he gained nation l al as well as European reputation not | only because of the enthusiasm with which l the great paintings Of the world l inspired him, but also the singu- larly accurate inborn judgment which he possessed respecting the artistic va,re of reiitings Paintings were his l only recreation and he obtained mental | grs tifieation from he study of them | which none but those who are able to l al preciate to the fullest works of art