to our customers." And the answer was:
"Young man, you must tell the customer only what she will believe. The
actual truth is for ourselves."

Stewart worked for an average of profit and this he secured. His
receipts mounted steadily year by year, until in Eighteen Hundred Fifty
they were ten thousand dollars a day. And when he moved into his
Business Palace at Astor Place, Tenth Street and Broadway, the sales
jumped to an average of over fifty thousand dollars a day.

* * * * *

When A. T. Stewart built his Business Palace in Eighteen Hundred
Sixty-five, it was the noblest business structure in America. Much of
the iron used in it was supplied by Peter Cooper, and that worthy man
was also consulted as to the plans.

Just a square away from Stewart's Business Palace stands Cooper Union.
In selecting this location A. T. Stewart was influenced largely by the
fact that it was so near to that center of art and education which Peter
Cooper had made worldwide in fame. Stewart said, "My store shall vie
with your museum, and people will throng it as they do an exposition."
And his prophecy proved true.

At his death, in Eighteen Hundred Seventy-six, Stewart was the richest
man in New York, save an Astor and a Vanderbilt, and these had inherited
their wealth--wealth made through the rise of real estate--while Stewart
had made his money in legitimate trade.

A. T. Stewart was worth forty million dollars. This vast estate was
mostly frittered away, honeycombed and moth-eaten, by hungry attorneys.
The business was carried on by Hessians who worked both ends against the
middle, and let the estate foot the deficits.

A. T. Stewart had a genius for trade, but he had no gift for giving. The
world needs a school for millionaires, so that, since they can not take
their millions with them, they can learn to leave their money wisely and
well. After an up-and-down--mostly down--career of a decade, the
Business Palace was bought by John Wanamaker. Again, and almost
instantly, the Business Palace became a center of light and education,
and the splendid aisles that a generation before had known the tread of
the best people of Manhattan, again felt their step.

When Stewart built the Business Palace, people said, "Oh, it is too far
uptown--nobody will go there." But they were wrong. When John Wanamaker
moved in, many said, "Oh, it's beautiful--but you know, it is too far
downtown--nobody will go there."