Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1882 — Vanderbilt. [ARTICLE]

Vanderbilt.

Gath. The general impression among hi 9 fellow-citizens about William Vanderbilt is that, on the whole, he is a remarkable product, considering his bringing up. His father was a heartless old man, yet with strict views of business morality as speculators go. He would water almost any stock as regularly as a milk-man his pail, but he would not let Bill leave work on his Staten Island farm any afteroon in the year, ami if be caught him in New York he always horse-whipped him. In this way the son carries out thescriptua! prophecy ot respecting his father’s memory. Old Vanderbilt thought Bill war nearly grown at forty, let him take the hay-seed out of his hair and come 1o New York, and go into the railroad office as a clerk. By this time Bill had been married, and had a considerable family, so that he did not begin to sow his wild oats. The old man’s confidence grew in him more and more, until he finally left that huge railroad estate to this son, only letting him do as he pleased with his bretheru and sisters. Considering the immense temptation', Vanderbilt has been a good citzeD, and he has recently shown inflexibilty in his contests with, other corporations. There is not much belief that Vanderbilt (fares much about New York City, but on the whole he is good deal better man with such an immense property than if he was purely a speculator and restless. He has no desire for show, and proceeds in everything methodically. His big{ house on Fifth avenue presents a very different appearance from most ho'uses in America. Instead of rushing it up, so as to get inside of it at once, they are working as slowly on it as If they were building a mousoleum for a man not yet dead. Meantime the house Vanderbilt occupies at present is going to be a clubhouse, and that seems to be the fate of most of the big mansions on Fifth avenue. . „