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EDWARD H. HARRIMAN AS HE APPEARS TO-DAY..

HARRIMAN:

COLOSSUS OF ROADS."

“COLOSSUS

BY CARL SNYDER.

THE
HE cynosure of the moment, beyond Still further, the notion prevails that in
doubt, is Mr. Harriman. The literary 1898, when he was made chairman of the
accumulation regarding him is already exten- Executive Committee of the Union Pacific,
sive, threatening a mild deluge. Throughout he was an entirely unknown man. Then, as
it all there is to be traced a determination to now, perhaps more then than now,-for
regard Mr. Harriman as a sudden advent, doubtless he is growing more accustomed to
a sort of flaming meteor that had recently the limelight,-Mr. Harriman disliked pub-
come in the sky, if you like, a stella nova. licity. But he was not unknown to the men
This is dramatic, picturesque, but not very who associated with him to pay the United
accurate. For example:
States Government a slight matter of $50,-
000,000 or $60,000,000 for the control of
the Union Pacific Railway.

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The other day when the Fish-Harriman in the Illinois Central ended with the ousting of Mr. Fish, one of the things that undoubtedly stirred public sentiment in the latter's favor was his long term of office. He had been president of the Illinois Central for 19 years. This, as our little human concerns go, is a long time. You will remember this was the term of Jean Valjean's imprisonment, and you will recall the thrill which Hugo gets out of the idea of a man's life being a blank for all these years. point of fact, few great railroad presidents of the country, Mr. Hill, of the Great Northern, excepted, have served anything like so long.

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But when Mr. Fish was deposed Mr. Harriman had been a director in the Illinois Central for 23 years. He was elected in 1883, four years before Mr. Fish was chosen president, and, with an interval of a few months, has served continuously ever since,that is, nearly a quarter of a century.

HIS LONG RAILROAD EXPERIENCE.

Again, the idea persists that Mr. Harriman bolted into the saddle of the Union Pacific presidency with little previous railroad training, much as some effete Easterner might essay a bucking bronco on the plains of the West. This again is forcing the dramatic note. Mr. Harriman was vice-president of the Illinois Central, as an operating official, as far back as 1887. In the absence of Mr. Fish he was for a time its acting head.

The Union Pacific was not his first railroad presidency; it was his third or fourth. Even before he had gone into the Illinois Central he had bought a small road and built it up by precisely the same method that he afterward employed with such amazing suc

And yet, again: Last August, when that road made a very sensational increase in its dividend, and prices of Union Pacific soared in a fashion to bring much dismay to reckless folk who had sold stocks that were not their own, there was the same notion that Mr. Harriman was new to this sort of thing. It was then recalled that he had been a member of the Stock Exchange for 36 years.

HARRIMAN AND VANDERBILT.

He is not a young man. In another month he will be 59. He was past 50 when he began the chief work of his life, the rebuilding of the Union Pacific. Yet in this regard he preceded Commodore Vanderbilt by six or seven years. When the creator of the New York Central entered railroading he was past 56. One may recall that he lived to build up the most extensive railroad system of his day, and what was then the most extensive in the world.

This is a queer little teapot of a world, and we fume a good deal. A short time ago it was announced that the Union Pacific,that is to say, Mr. Harriman,-had secured a large block of Baltimore & Ohio stock, and it was assumed that he thereby became dominant in the affairs of that road. He was already at the head of the most militant and, perhaps, the richest railroad organization on the continent. A short time afterward came the ousting of President Fish from the Illinois Central, giving the Harriman interests practical command of that rich old road. Adding these two lines to the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific puts Mr. Harriman, or the group of men whom he chiefly

[graphic]

EDWARD H. HARRIMAN AS HE APPEARS TO-DAY.

HARRIMAN: "COLOSSUS OF ROADS.”

BY CARL SNYDER.

THE cynosure of the moment, beyond

doubt, is Mr. Harriman. The literary accumulation regarding him is already extensive, threatening a mild deluge. Throughout it all there is to be traced a determination to regard Mr. Harriman as a sudden advent, a sort of flaming meteor that had recently come in the sky, if you like, a stella nova. This is dramatic, picturesque, but not very accurate. For example:

The other day when the Fish-Harriman "war" in the Illinois Central ended with the ousting of Mr. Fish, one of the things that undoubtedly stirred public sentiment in the latter's favor was his long term of office. He had been president of the Illinois Central for 19 years. This, as our little human concerns go, is a long time. You will remember this was the term of Jean Valjean's imprisonment, and you will recall the thrill which Hugo gets out of the idea of a man's life being a blank for all these years. point of fact, few great railroad presidents of the country, Mr. Hill, of the Great Northern, excepted, have served anything like so long.

In

But when Mr. Fish was deposed Mr. Harriman had been a director in the Illinois Central for 23 years. He was elected in 1883, four years before Mr. Fish was chosen president, and, with an interval of a few months, has served continuously ever since,— that is, nearly a quarter of a century.

HIS LONG RAILROAD EXPERIENCE.

Again, the idea persists that Mr. Harriman bolted into the saddle of the Union Pacific presidency with little previous railroad training, much as some effete Easterner might essay a bucking bronco on the plains of the West. This again is forcing the dramatic note. Mr. Harriman was vice-president of the Illinois Central, as an operating official, as far back as 1887. In the absence of Mr. Fish he was for a time its acting head.

The Union Pacific was not his first railroad presidency; it was his third or fourth. Even before he had gone into the Illinois Central he had bought a small road and built it up by precisely the same method that he afterward employed with such amazing suc

Still further, the notion prevails that in 1898, when he was made chairman of the Executive Committee of the Union Pacific, he was an entirely unknown man. Then, as now, perhaps more then than now,-for doubtless he is growing more accustomed to the limelight, Mr. Harriman disliked publicity. But he was not unknown to the men who associated with him to pay the United States Government a slight matter of $50,o00,000 or $60,000,000 for the control of the Union Pacific Railway.

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And yet, again: Last August, when that road made a very sensational increase in its dividend, and prices of Union Pacific soared in a fashion to bring much dismay to reckless folk who had sold stocks that were not their own, there was the same notion that Mr. Harriman was new to this sort of thing. It was then recalled that he had been a member of the Stock Exchange for 36 years.

HARRIMAN AND VANDERBILT.

He is not a young man. In another month he will be 59. He was past 50 when he began the chief work of his life, the rebuilding of the Union Pacific. Yet in this regard he preceded Commodore Vanderbilt by six or seven years. When the creator of the New York Central entered railroading he was past 56. One may recall that he lived to build up the most extensive railroad system of his day, and what was then the most extensive in the world.

This is a queer little teapot of a world, and we fume a good deal. A short time ago it was announced that the Union Pacific,— that is to say, Mr. Harriman,-had secured a large block of Baltimore & Ohio stock, and it was assumed that he thereby became dominant in the affairs of that road. He was already at the head of the most militant and, perhaps, the richest railroad organization on the continent. A short time afterward came the ousting of President Fish from the Illinois Central, giving the Harriman interests practical command of that rich old road. Adding these two lines to the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific puts Mr. Harriman, or the group of men whom he chiefly

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of nearly 25,000 miles of main track,-say about one-eighth of the railroad mileage of the country. He is the head of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as well. His road, in addition, owns about a third of the Chicago & Alton, and until the present year was in control of that line. It is supposed to hold, indirectly, a very large block of Atchison. Mr. Harriman is likewise a director, and a very active and inquiring and directing director, in the Erie, in the

Delaware & Hudson, etc. He is said to own the St. Joseph & Grand Island personally, and he has behind him undoubtedly the richest combination or group of banks national, banks private, capitalists, investors, insurance company presidents, et cetera and et cetera, that this slight fragment of the solar system has ever known.

All this seemed a trifle formidable. Despite piping times of prosperity the usual warning note" was heard. Mr. Sereno Pratt, who writes so brilliantly the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal,

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had a very striking article on The Colossus of Roads," meaning Mr. Harriman, and closing with the menacing remembrance that the original Colossus of this homonym was destroyed by an earthquake. The phrase has traveled over the country. Looking back 50 or 60 years, it will be seen that the public temper does not vastly change.

A BAFFLING PERSONALITY."

Curiosity regarding a man who wields such power, for good or evil, whose acts may affect so large a number of people, is doubtless justified; but it is not satisfied. Few men have ever been more reticent regarding themselves, their aims, than Mr. Harriman. Even to men of his own world, that Higher World of which Mr. Cromwell spoke so touchingly, when Wells-Fargo shareholders unblushingly demanded to know a little more regarding their property,-Mr. Harriman is more or less of a mystery, a "baffling personality." This must be largely due to a highly developed ability to keep his own counsel.

The past of this Colossus does not differ from that of the average successful American. He began young, he began poor, and he has worked; an intensive adverb might be attached to each of these phrases. He has worked very hard, he began very young. He was 14 years old when he quit school to go into a Wall Street broker's office. His first year's salary went to his father; he never got a dollar of it.

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THE HARRIMAN HOMESTEAD AT HEMPSTEAD, LONG ISLAND.

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