. Captains of industry ... A book for young Americans. orary bridge or scaffolding,though assured by an engineer that it was strong 312 CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY. enough to bear ten elephants. Nor can it be saidthat he was morally brave. Year after year he sawa gang of thieves in the City Hall stealing his rev-enues under the name of taxes and assessments, buthe never led an assault upon them nor gave the aidhe ought to those who did. Unless he is grosslybelied, he preferred to compromise than fight, anddid not always disdain to court the ruffians whoplundered him. This was a grave fault. He who ha
. Captains of industry ... A book for young Americans. orary bridge or scaffolding,though assured by an engineer that it was strong 312 CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY. enough to bear ten elephants. Nor can it be saidthat he was morally brave. Year after year he sawa gang of thieves in the City Hall stealing his rev-enues under the name of taxes and assessments, buthe never led an assault upon them nor gave the aidhe ought to those who did. Unless he is grosslybelied, he preferred to compromise than fight, anddid not always disdain to court the ruffians whoplundered him. This was a grave fault. He who had the mostimmediate and the most obvious interest in expos-ing and resisting the scoundrels, ought to havetaken the lead in putting them down. This hecould not do. Nature had denied him the qualitiesrequired for such a contest. He had his enormousestate, and he had mind enough to take care of itin ordinary ways ; but he had nothing more. Wemust therefore praise him less for the good he didin his life, than for the evil which he refrained PETER COOPER. PETER COOPER. On an April morning in 1883 I was seated atbreakfast in a room which commanded a view ofthe tall flag-staff in Gramercy Park in the city ofNew York. I noticed some men unfolding the flagand raising it on the mast. The flag stojDped mid-way and dropped motionless in the still springmorning. The newspapers which were scatteredabout the room made no mention of the death ofany person of note and yet this sign of mourningneeded no explanation. For half a life-time PeterCooper had lived in a great, square, handsomehouse just round the corner, and the condition ofthe aged philanthropist had been reported aboutthe neighborhood from hour to hour during theprevious days ; so that almost every one who sawthe flag uttered words similar to those which Iheard at the moment: — He is gone, then ! The good old man is shall never see his snowy locks again, nor hisplacid countenance, nor his old horse and gig jog-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booki, booksubjectindustrialarts
