inal cost,
or $100,000, and would make the cargo worth $700,000.

"The cargo of teas would be sold almost on arrival (say eleven or
twelve months after the ship left New York in May), to wholesale
grocers, for their notes at four and six months--say for $700,000. In
those years there was _credit given by the United States_ of nine,
twelve, and eighteen months! So that the East India or Canton merchant,
after his ship had made one voyage, had the use of Government capital to
the extent of $400,000, on the ordinary cargo of a China ship.

"No sooner had the ship Panama arrived (or any of the regular East
Indiamen), than her cargo would be exchanged for grocers' notes for
$700,000. These notes could be turned into specie very easily, and the
owner had only to pay his bonds for duty at nine, twelve, and eighteen
months, giving him time actually to send two more ships, with $200,000
each, to Canton, and have them back again in New York before the bonds
on the first cargo were due.

"John Jacob Astor, at one period of his life, had several vessels
operating in this way. They would go to the Pacific, and carry furs from
thence to Canton. These would be sold at large profits. Then the cargoes
of tea to New York would pay enormous duties, which Astor did not have
to pay to the United States for a year and a half. His tea cargoes would
be sold for good four and six months paper, or perhaps cash; so that,
for eighteen or twenty years, John Jacob Astor had what was actually a
free-of-interest loan from Government of over _five millions_ of
dollars."

It is estimated that Mr. Astor made about two millions of dollars by his
trade in furs and teas. The bulk of his immense fortune was made by
investments in real estate. His estate was estimated at twenty millions
of dollars at the time of his death, and has now increased to over forty
millions. He had a firm faith in the magnificent future of New York as
the greatest city of the continent, and as fast as his gains from his
business came in, they were regularly invested in real estate. A part
was expended in leasing for a long period property which the owners
would not sell, and the rest in buying property in fee simple. These
leases, some of which have but recently expired, were extremely
profitable. In his purchases of land Mr. Astor was very fortunate. He
pursued a regular system in making them. Whenever a favorable purchase
could be made in the heart of the city, he availed hims