Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1881 — Growth of Great Fortunes. [ARTICLE]

Growth of Great Fortunes.

It was stated not long ago, in the newspapers, that the already enormous estate of one speculator in stocks in New York was further increased last year by the sum of $30,000,000. Several other great New York estates were swelled by speculation in a degree only less colossal. Such figures are calculated to stir and dazzle ambitious young men, to whom the possession of a great fortune often appears to be the greatest height of earthly happiness. That money, in such vast amounts, should be so apparently easily and rapidly made, stimulates the young mind to seek similar methods of enriching themselves. The increased fortunes which have been mentioned were made, for the most part, by pure speculation. The men whose pockets were thus glutted did not thus add to their millions by bard and useful labor, productive and of added value to the community at large. Nor did they receive this increase by the natural and normal income of their already vast properties. The sums thus piled up came from wholesale dealing in stocks ; by influencing the money market—pressing one stock down and another up —not for the financial good of their city or country, but for their own personal profit. This is really little or no better than pgpe gambling—in one aspect, indeed, it is worse, since the operators already held, in great sums of money, winning cards in their hands against their blind opponents and victims. It is not thus, after all, that the great and enduring fortunes of the world are made and accumulated. Speculation is a wild and dangerous game. It creates a perpetual, restless fever; every day, the largest fortunes involved in it are m peril. Even the largest speculator may wake, any morning, to find his millions vanished. Such fortunes rest on no secure foundation. An unexpected event may cause a crash, when all seems hopeful and secure. That is, fortunes made by speculation in stocks may, and often do, disappear as rapidly as they are built up. The solid and lasting fortunes are those which are established gradually, step by step ; by serving some useful function in the world; by prudence, economy, and good judgment in making sound investments; by putting by, little by little, each month and each year; nay, by making a resolve never to risk the hard-earned sums in the hazardous practice of gambling in stocks. If we observe the facts which history teaches us, we find this method of raising lasting fortunes the one confirmed by events. It was by attending to their business, by slow and carelul increase, by proving tliemselves trustworthy and faithful to their clients, and by never, on any account, entering into bubble speculations, that such princes of wealth as the Rothschilds, the Barings, George Peabody, Peter Cooper, George Law, John Jacob Astor, attained their great financial influence and their huge incomes.

All these men were engaged in doing something or selling something for the benefit of mankind. Their good fortune .came justly from the confidence with which they inspired , those with whom they had relations. Through several generations the two greatest banking firms in the world—the Rothschilds and the Barings—have sustained this reputation for honesty and probity, and their strictly legitimate business thrift. Were it ever known that either engaged in the wild speculations of the stock exchange, there can bo no doubt that a large portion of their power, and very likely their fortunes also, would soon be dissipated. The best way is to acquire money by hard, honest work. It stays longer by those who so obtain it; and its possession is far sweeter when earned by the toil of the brow, than when it is got by the feverish transactions of stock gambling. Youth,'B Companion.