SOME AMERICAN MILLIONAIRES.

Western Star, Issue 778, 26 September 1883, Page 4

SOME AMERICAN MILLIONAIRES.

The return of William H. Vanderbilt, says the “ New York Star,” from a flying trip to Europe, the mysterious presence of Maud S., his famous trotter, in this city for a few hours only, and the extraordinary transfer by Jay Gould of twenty thousand shares of Western Union stock at 80, the market price being 87, to the old-time Conservative John Jacob Astor, have

attracted very general attention to the pecular relations sustained by these - eminent capitalists one to the others. John Jacob Astor inherited every dollar he owns. His grandfather, a shrewd money-grubber, invested his surplus earnings in New York real estate, which he bought at the lowest ebb price. Prior to his death values appreciated so considerably that he became the richest man in the city. Hh eon, William B. Astor, several years dead, followed in the real estate footsteps of his father. William had a number of children, but John Jacob inherited the bulk of his property. Following the Astor principle of investing in real estate, and rarely, if ever selling, John Jacob has become, chiefly by the appreciation of the property purchased by his father and grandfather, one of the three phenomenally rich men of Gotham. The Asters" of this generation are a great improvement on the two preceding generations. They have what would be called in Boston a first-class education. The Astors are nevertheless priggish, and extremely well satisfied with themselves and the programme laid out for them by their grandfather, which was: “ get all you can and keep all you get.” The second generation of the Vanderbilts -—William H. and his brothers and sisters —hare not until very recently had the proud privilege of shaking the Astorian hand or pressing the carpets in their stately halls. William H., like William 8., inherited the greater portion of his wealth. Unlike the Astors, the second generation of the Vanderbilts is not content to live in quiet style. The moment the money came into their hands the finest horses that money could procure were theirs. Then comes the third generation, analogous to the John Jacob Astor position. John J. Astor lives very handsomely, but in no ostentatious manner. He follows rather the quiet habit of his father, which was an improvement upon the miserly existence of his grandfather. The third generation of Vanderbilts are men of methodical habits and of business enterprise, and are a different strain from the Vanderbilts who preceded them. Towards this generation the Astors take very kindly. Bach knows, of course, the humble origin of the other, and each laughs at and ridicules the weak points of the other, but they are gradually coalescing. Into this peculiar mixture comes a third and most salient ingredient —Jay Gould, Now, although Mr Goula was very poor when he started in life, he had an advantage which the first Astor and the first Vanderbilt never dreamed of —a wellbased parentage and an excellent education, so that when he came into affairs he sprang fulls£ equipped mentally, and needed simply a field, an opportunity for the display of his marvellous faculties. In spite, however, of his ability, which amounts to positive genius, in spite of his marvellous success, the cloud of Erie hung over him, the shades of Jim Bisk hovered near him, and, with all his vast accumulations, it has not been possible fos him to enter even so peculiar a set as that of the Astors, parvenus and nouveaux as they are, nor until lately has it been possible for him to finS access to the gilded, flaunting haunts of the Vanderbilts, Of late, things are changed somewhat. Some time since he got his hand upon the Vanderbilt shoulder, and to-day we find him absolutely a patron of the head of the House of Astors. Twenty thousand shares of Western Union stock worth 87 were sold to Mr Astor for 80. In other words, Mr Jay Gould deliberately gives to Mr John Jacob Astor, the millionaire son of a millionaire father, himself the son of a millionaire miser, 140,000d01, a sum which Mr Astor could fling into the waves of the ocean and never know that it had gone. The complications that will arise from this interchange of millionairistic generosity are manifold. Next winter, when we give another 50,000d0l ball, we have got to invite the Goulds. Next year, when we have our quiet teas, we must invite the Goulds. Next year, when the Goulds invite the Vanderbilts, we must come, because Mr Gould has been ot great service to the head of the house : they will have the pleasure of meeting the Astors, who must come because the head of their house is Mr Gould’s beneficiary. A trio of millionaristic magnates, with hosts of little millionaries, will thus be thrown together. Intermarriage becomes not only possible but probable, and a new vein is opening in the strata of American life. The tastes of the three men are radically different. Vanderbilt cares for horses, jockeys, and bursts upon the road. Astor thinks of accumulating money and raising rents; Jay Gould aims to he the richest man r. the country, but bis tastes are domestic and find their happiest outwork in the seclusion of his library, where reads, studies and writes. Nothing but self-interest could ever have brought these three men together. The electric wire which has been held in turn by Vanderbilt and by Gould is now in the hands of Vanderbilt, Astor, and Gould, binding them together as absolutely as it binds the cties of the earth in a common circuit. Wise men on Wall street shake their heads when they hear of Aster’s investment, and laugh when they are told of Gould’s magnificent gift. Vanderbilt, with all bis brashness on the road, is timid in the street, except when the pep is in his own hand to be put when and where he choses. Gould has wrecked many a better financial mind sban that of all the Astors combined,

while in his hands Vanderbilt is weaker than a child. To reduce these two men to the plane occupied by their greatgrandfathers, or, for that matter, to that occupied by their grandfathers in the early days of their lives, would be a game the playing of which would undoubtedly afford Mr Gould intense satisfaction. But, so long as Mr Astor retains the grasping itch bequeathed him by his lathers, who inherited it from bis father, he will not part with his real estate. And, unless some marvellous bond convulsion occurs, Mr Vanderbilt’s 250,000,000d0l will long resist even a wilier attack than that which Mr Gould’s fertile brain can devise. Therefore, knowing that Mr Gould’s grasp of affairs is great, I believe that he is playing a social rather than a financial game. Whichever it may be, the lookers-on are bound to be amused.