CORNELIUS 1794-1877

“Law? What do I care about the law? Hain’t I got the power?” That was the way defied the government and the public to make his millions. Born in , he had started as a ferry boy when still quite young. He was quite illiterate but his Herculean strength, his dexterity, courage, and shiftiness made him a master of river and coastal sailing vessels in five years. He started his business career at the age of sixteen when he borrowed $100 from his mother to buy a shaky old boat, and in five years he owned a sizable number of ships, had repaid his mother and saved $1000. He possessed a wharf rat’s tongue and a rough wit. He took joy in combat. All his life he loved a fight. Opposition was a tonic to him. When there wasn’t any competition, he set out to create some. When his keen eye detected a line making a large profit, he would swoop down and “drive it to the wall” by offering better service at lower rates. When the opposition was driven out, he would raise rates without pity for his clients’ misery. During the War of 1812 the British fleet moved into and menaced the people and the shipping. The American commissary general called for bids to transport supplies to the military posts around the harbor. Cornelius bid for the job and got it. He quickly gained a reputation for daring and reliability. No voyage stumped him. He delivered supplies any time, anywhere, no matter where the British ships lay. He added more and more boats and ferries. Once he bought a condemned schooner from the government and used her to carry an oyster cargo. In her he raced to the oyster beds off Virginia, winning over the New York fleet. Then, appropriating the best oyster beds, he would load up and race home to put his oysters first on the market. [Oysters were a very prized food in the 19th century and were even shipped on trains to the Mid-West and Western states and territories.] He sold his first cargo of oysters for a price sufficient to pay for his ship. But the fishermen bore him no love. By 1850 he owned the largest fleet of and ferries in the world. He was given the title of “Commodore.” His lines crossed the Atlantic, New York to France. He had over one hundred vessels afloat, earning about $100,000 a month. His chief rival was E. K. Collins. At one time Collins paid Vanderbilt $56,000 a month to keep silent and inactive while he (Collins) collected a government mail subsidy of $900,000! In 1853, from such deals as this, Vanderbilt had a fortune of $11,000,000, which he kept invested at 25% interest. “The Commodore was taking in money through every port hole.” It was when he was past seventy that he became a railroad magnate. He entered into combat with , , and for the control of the . By 1873 he controlled the railway systems reaching as far west as Chicago. Most men would be content with a fortune of $10,000,000 when they were seventy, but not the Commodore. He had to start in on a new career and fight his way to a fortune ten times that in the last years of his life. To raise $7,000,000 due to his stockholders as dividends, exorbitant freight rates and economics had to be put into operation. The rolling stock [all the vehicles that move on a railway] was consequently neglected, repairs postponed. As a result there were many accidents, people lost their lives or were permanently injured. But the Commodore was making his $25,000,000 a year! It is said that $50,000 of absolute water [refers to , which means that on the corporation’s books it looks like the stock is worth more than it actually is] was poured into each mile of his railroad, but the investors could rely on their 8% dividend. Once, when he was on a European tour, Vanderbilt’s enemies seized control of one of his properties. He sent a note to them that has become historic: “Gentlemen, you have undertaken to cheat me. I will not sue you, for law takes too long. I will ruin you.” And he did. The Commodore was well known on . He was tall, handsome in a way, wore a fur coat and plug hat winter and summer. Though he gained financially from both the War of 1812 and the Civil War, his deed bore no marked patriotism like Jay Cooke’s [financier who helped fund the Union effort.] He lost a son in the bloody battle of Shiloh, but didn’t commemorate his son’s memory like Leland Stanford did [Stanford University is named for his son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died of typhoid as a teenager], although he did give $1,000,000 to . His money, invested heavily in New York real estate, made huge sums for him as the city grew. At one time he was referred to as the landlord of . Though no American ever began his career on a thinner shoestring, his estate was estimated to be worth $105,000,000 at his death.