White, then president of
Cornell University, afterwards Ambassador to Russia and Germany, and
our chief delegate to the Hague Conference.
Here in the Nineteenth Century Club was an arena, indeed. Able men and
women discussed the leading topics of the day in due form, addressing
the audience one after another. The gatherings soon became too large
for a private room. The monthly meetings were then held in the
American Art Galleries. I remember the first evening I took part as
one of the speakers the subject was "The Aristocracy of the Dollar."
Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson was the first speaker. This was my
introduction to a New York audience. Thereafter I spoke now and then.
It was excellent training, for one had to read and study for each
appearance.
I had lived long enough in Pittsburgh to acquire the manufacturing, as
distinguished from the speculative, spirit. My knowledge of affairs,
derived from my position as telegraph operator, had enabled me to know
the few Pittsburgh men or firms which then had dealings upon the New
York Stock Exchange, and I watched their careers with deep interest.
To me their operations seemed simply a species of gambling. I did not
then know that the credit of all these men or firms was seriously
impaired by the knowledge (which it is almost impossible to conceal)
that they were given to speculation.
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