had profited by bribery and theft. Horace Greeley was actuated
by pure humanitarian motives, but such incorporators as Prosper Wetmore,
Ulshoeffer, and others were, or had been, notorious in lobbying by
bribing bank charters through the New York Legislature.

[133] "The New Yorker," Feb. 17, 1838.

CHAPTER V

THE MOMENTUM OF THE ASTOR FORTUNE

It was at this identical time, in the panic of 1837, that Astor was
phenominally active in profiting from despair. "He added immensely to
his riches," wrote a contemporaneous narrator, "by purchases of State
stocks, bonds and mortgages in the financial crisis of 1836-37. He was a
willing purchaser of mortgages from needy holders at less than their
face; and when they became due, he foreclosed on them, and purchased the
mortgaged property at the ruinous prices which ranged at that
time."[134]

If his seven per cent was not paid at the exact time, he inflexibly made
use of every provision of the law and foreclosed mortgages. The courts
quickly responded. To lot after lot, property after property, he took
full title. The anguish of families, the sorrow and suffering of the
community, the blank despair and ruination which drove many to beggary
and prostitution, others to suicide, all had no other effect upon him
than to make him more eagerly energetic in availing himself of the
misfortunes and the tragedies of others.

Now was observable the operation of the centripetal principle which
applied to every recurring panic, namely, that panics are but the easy
means by which the very rich are enabled to get possession of more and
more of the general produce and property. The ranks of petty landowners
were much thinned out by the panic of 1837 and the number of independent
business men was greatly reduced; a considerable part of both classes
were forced down into the army of wageworkers.

ASTOR'S WEALTH MULTIPLIES.

Within a few years after the panic of 1837 Astor's wealth multiplied to
an enormous extent. Business revived, values increased. It was now that
immigration began to pour in heavily. In 1843 sixty thousand immigrants
entered the port of New York. Four years later the number was 129,000 a
year. Soon it rose to 300,000 a year; and from that time on kept on ever
increasing. A large portion of these immigrants remained in New York
City. Land was in demand as never before; fast and faster the city grew.
Vacant lots of a few years before became congested with packed