Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/16

 the lists of business competition, does it not become more true that that man is really great, who excels in money-making capacity every other individual in the world, who wins the prize from all his high competitors, and in his lifetime, by his own acumen and manipulation, creates a greater fortune, adds more to his wealth, than has ever any other person in the world? That is what has been done by Jay Gould, "The Wizard of Wall Street," who has just been taken from the possession of this enormous wealth, and whose death has awakened such universal interest in his life, his history and his personality.

It is hard to realize what an enormous distinction is in the fact of being the richest man in the world. For Gould not only created his fortune, but he made it greater than is possessed by any other individual in the world. It is true that there are families, the Vanderbilts, the Astors, and the Rothschilds, whose aggregated wealth far exceeds the fortune left by Mr. Gould. But no individual of one of those families possesses an amount nearly equal to that represented by the Gould properties. Mr. Gould has been absolutely unrivaled in his position as a money-maker. Though he has met with reverses at times, and was once on the verge of actual bankruptcy, these have been due, in slight degree, to the action of his opponents in the market, but rather to some relaxation of his own energies, or some unforeseen combination of circumstances. The men who have been against him, with few exceptions, have lost while he has won. To be wealthy and to play with