В книге Драйзера полно историй других спекулянтов. Вероятно, он много книг прочел по вопросу, прежде чем писать свои
А что касается конкретно Стимберджера, то это был реальный персонаж. Поискав, я нашел его упоминание. Похоже, что Драйзер оттуда и списывал, настолько cхоже
описание, c.74-75:
Цитата:
But the most picturesque figure of the time, among the number that Jay Cooke saw at E. W. Clark and Company's, was a great beef speculator from Virginia, J. B. Steemberger. "Nicholas Biddle, Cowperthwaite, Lardner, and the other high officials of the United States Bank," says the financier in his Memoirs, "were the victims of a numerous horde of borrowers, who seemed to be able to obtain from the bank all they asked for." Steemberger was attracted to the city by hope of large credits. "His operations in the purchase of cattle in Virginia, Ohio, and other states," Mr. Cooke continues, "were vast, amounting, in fact, to an entire monopoly of the business of supplying beef to the eastern cities. He forced the price of beef up to thirty cents a pound when the consumers rebelled and by general consent ceased to purchase from him. Like all such attempts to monopolize, his was brought to ignominious failure, and as his losses must have been enormous, I presume the United States Bank, whence he obtained all his funds, was a great loser. When he found it impossible to get cash advances from the bank, he would give it his note at four months with interest, and take from it in payment its twelve months' post notes in denominations of S1,000, S5,000 and S10,000. Frequently he brought down, stored away in his tall beaver hat, from S100,000 to S200,000 of these post notes. We would cash them at from ten to twelve per cent under their face value and marketed than generally in Boston through the old firm of Gilbert and Sons, realizing a profit on each transaction of three or four per cent In addition to this, as he made most of his disbursements in the West, we would pay him in packages of Virginia, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania bank notes at par and upon these we would realize a very handsome profit. He was a man of magnificent appearance and very popular. Elegantly dressed at all times, he was well calculated by his plausible statements to gain any favor from the bank he might require to uphold his speculations. Steembeiger disappeared after his financial crash and I did not hear of him for several years, when he came to light in California, shortly after the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast. Knowing the man's character, I immediately wrote my brother, Henry D. Cooke, of San Francisco, warning him against any transactions: but before my letter reached him, Steemberger had made his acquaintance and had involved him in some disastrous speculation."
Это описание деятельности Стимберджера свидетелем, другим финансистом. Так что Драйзер ничего не выдумал. Все не только правдодобно, все так и было
оплачивал учетный процент с западных штатов, что тоже давало немалую прибыль! Вот почему с ним все так дружили