genius, displayed the forces that were to create a new American
world. Although this man employed his great talents in a field,
that of railroad transportation, which lies outside the scope of
the present volume, yet in this comprehensive view I may take
Cornelius Vanderbilt as the symbol that links the old industrial
era with the new. He is worthy of more detailed study than he has
ever received, for in personality and accomplishments Vanderbilt
is the most romantic figure in the history of American finance.
We must remember that Vanderbilt was born in 1794 and that at the
time we are considering he was seventy-one years old. In the
matter of years, therefore, his career apparently belongs to the
ante-bellum days, yet the most remarkable fact about this
remarkable man is that his real life work did not begin until he
had passed his seventieth year. In 1865 Vanderbilt's fortune,
consisting chiefly of a fleet of steamboats, amounted to about
$10,000,000; he died twelve years later, in 1877, leaving
$104,000,000, the first of those colossal American fortunes that
were destined to astound the world. The mere fact that this
fortune was the accumulated profit of only ten years shows
perhaps more eloquently than any other circumstance that the
United States had entered a new economic age. That new factor in
the life of America and the world, the railroad, explains his
achievement. Vanderbilt was one of the most astonishing
characters in our history. His physical exterior made him perhaps
the most imposing figure in New York. In his old age, at
seventy-three, Vanderbilt married his second wife, a beautiful
Southern widow who had just turned her thirtieth year, and the
appearance of the two, sitting side by side in one of the
Commodore's smartest turnouts, driving recklessly behind a pair
of the fastest trotters of the day, was a common sight in Central