"Cornelius Vanderbilt began his working life as a ferryman in New York City's crowded harbor. It was a rough business, no place for a milquetoast. Driven to destroy his competitors, the Commodore, as Vanderbilt styled himself (dressing in a mock naval uniform), fired the cannon that sank more than one competitor's harbor barge and negotiated many a contract with a stout club.
Vanderbilt gave up brawling as his shipping empire and responsibilities grew, but he was as tough and unscrupulous behind a broad oak desk as he had been at the tiller of a ferry after his waterborne transportation empire led him into moving the commerce of America's greatest city overland, too. Once, when a reporter suggested that he had broken the law in a conflict with a rival, Vanderbilt snapped back gruffly, "What do I care about the law. Hain't I got the power?"
The Commodore was never quite respectable. His rough-and-tumble origins resonated in his wharf rat language. The mention of his name caused ladies and gentlemen of noble New York society to shudder--for a while. Because he said out loud what other businessmen did quietly--that ethics and social resposibility did not always make good business--he was an easy target for moralists."
Taken from page 469 of "The American Past" part two, Second Edition
