Speech of Hon. Russell Sage, of New York, on the Professions and Acts of the President of the United States; The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise; ... Influence and Aggressions of the Slave Power
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Russell Sage was an American financier, railroad executive and politician.
Background
Sage was born on August 4, 1816 in Oneida County, New York, United States. He came of pioneer New England stock, being a descendant of David Sage who was living in Middletown, Connecticut, as early as 1652. His father, Elisha Sage, veteran of the War of 1812, his mother, Prudence (Risley) Sage, and five children were emigrating by ox train from Connecticut towards Michigan. Observing that the land was good, Elisha Sage settled in Oneida County, and there Russell grew to the age of twelve, working on the farm.
Education
He received a public school education. Notwithstanding his long hours, he attended a night school, paying a dollar and a half of his monthly salary of four dollars to learn arithmetic and bookkeeping; meanwhile, he also studied markets and read newspapers omnivorously.
Career
In 1828 he went to work in his brother Henry's store in Troy, N. Y. Before he reached manhood he began to do trading on his own account and at twenty-one, with the capital thus acquired, he bought out the store of his brother Elisha Montague, and a year or so later resold it at a profit.
Later he (with a partner) started a wholesale grocery business in Troy. The firm had its own sailing vessels on the Hudson, and traded in other things than groceries - Vermont and Canadian horses, for example, fresh and cured meats, and grain.
In 1845 Sage was elected alderman of Troy and later treasurer of Rensselaer County. In 1848 he was a delegate to the National Whig Convention. He was nominated for congressman in 1850 and defeated, but ran again successfully in 1852. He was reelected representative in 1854, but retired at the end of that term.
Leaving Congress in 1856, Sage continued to build up his fortune, adding banking to his other activities. A chance meeting with Jay Gould in a railroad station was a momentous incident in his life, for it led to a close association and to Sage's interest in railroad affairs. He had already loaned some money to the La Crosse Railroad, a small line in Wisconsin, and was compelled to advance more to save the first loans. The road was eventually expanded into the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system, in which promotion Sage made large profits. He was for years a director and vice-president of the corporation.
By 1863 he was giving most of his attention to stocks and finance, and he decided to move to New York. His fortune was greatly increased by advances in the value of securities under the skillful manipulation of his ally, Jay Gould. The methods used in their campaign to gain control of the New York elevated lines in 1881 were bitterly criticized by the press and business men. Cyrus W. Field, whom they had taken in with them to court public confidence, was eventually ruined, but Gould and Sage came through unscathed and with the desired control.
His philanthropies, such as the education of more than forty Indian children and the presentation of a dormitory to Troy Female Seminary, were popularly credited to Mrs. Sage's prompting. In 1891 Sage was seriously injured in his office by a bomb exploded by one Henry W. Norcross, who had first demanded $1, 200, 000. Norcross and a clerk were killed, but Sage, despite his years, fully recovered. He died at his home on Long Island at the age of ninety, and his fortune at that time was estimated at $70, 000, 000
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Religion
Sage was a member of West Presbyterian Church on West 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, which later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West-Park Presbyterian.
Politics
In Congress he advocated the Homestead Law and free soil for Kansas, but his most noteworthy act was a resolution asking that the government take over the old mansion, "Mount Vernon, " and make it a permanent memorial to Washington. This was one of the first moves toward its restoration and preservation.
Views
He preferred small, sure profits or those which resulted from manipulation, and his occasional speculative purchase was usually based on very canny foresight.
Personality
Sage was one of the shrewdest and most conservative of all great financiers.
His frugality was proverbial; he loved to chaffer, even over the price of an apple, and there was no epicureanism in him. He preferred comfort rather than elegance; plain food and cheap clothing satisfied him as well as the richest. His homes on Fifth Avenue and Long Island were comfortably furnished, however; he indulged himself in a love of good horses, and did not question his wife's expenditures.
Connections
His first wife, Maria Winne of Troy, whom he had married in 1841, died in 1867, and on Nov. 24, 1869, he married again, in Troy, his second wife being Margaret Olivia (Slocum) Sage, who outlived him.