Weekly Expositor

FOUR VERY RICH MEN.
Rufus Hatch Gives Some Very Big Figures.

"Well, there are just four of them in the first class. First, Vanderbilt and his sons; second, Russell Sage; third, Jay Gould, and fourth, James Keene. I suppose you refer to men who have been directly connected with stock operations. Vanderbilt and his sons, who were altogether, have got $300,000,000. I am sure that this is not overstated, for the $60,000,000 or $70,000,000 they have in the government loans represents their interest as it has accumulated. The next man is Russell Sage, who is richer than Gould. He is worth from $60,000,000 to $75,000,000. Gould is worth from $40,000,000 to $50,000,000, and Keene about $30,000,000. They are prodigious figures. See what they represent of others men's losses, when you look at the present state of the stock market, and what it is tumbling to. There is about $450,000,000 to $500,000,000 in the hands of four men, who have made it all around this Stock Exchange, out of the gambling propensities and the credulity of the people,"

"You surprise me in rating Russell Sage so high."

"Well, it is a fact. He has been a cool, steady, strong man, playing no tricks, but scooping it in all the time. I may say for him that if you get his name to a piece of paper it is just as good as any obligation in the world. Gould has been the most dextrous of the lot. Keene represents his name. In character he is certainly a wonderfully keen man. The history of his operations in Lake Shore and Northwestern would be a great subject for one of your letters. He took Lake Shore at 60 and got rid of most of it at a profit of 100 per cent., and in the same way he took Northwestern when it was almost 40 and sold most of it at about 300 per cent, profit, for it went up to 126 last year, and stands now at about 130 Vanderbilt now owns the railroad."

— Cincinnati Enquirer