THE

HE figure of Benjamin B. Odell stands out prominently against the background of the autumn's harvest of campaigns. He has been conspicuous in the affairs of the Republican party in New York State for a number of years, but he now stands before the nation. That a strong party man,- -a machine man as was supposed prior to January, 1900,-could be elected governor for one term was a matter of course, but that such a man could be reëlected against a strong opposition, and by an increased vote in a majority of the districts, is by no means a matter of course. It forces the candidate outside the realm where partisan motives rule, and sets him in the other realm where men rule by virtue of what they are, the realm of character.

His recent victory, then, is far more significant than the earlier one. When the returns came in it looked for an hour as though Mr. Odell's defeat were assured. New York City turned against him with unexpected vigor. But the city's rejection of him was doubtless very largely due to local conditions.

The rest of the State, however, turned to him. Heartily disgusted with the method used against him, they rebuked it heartily. They declared their confidence in his personal aims. They expressed their cordial approval of his administration of State affairs. His home county illustrates the temper of the State. Orange increased the vote of 1900 by more than a thousand, and the city of Newburgh, which had at the earlier election expressed her pride at having one of her sons as governor by giving him a splendid majority, gave him four hundred more votes this fall.

And the test has been severe. The governor's administration has been along business lines. He had dared to reform much of the State's finance. This had thrown many out of the easy berths to which the occupants felt they were properly entitled, and had made each of them a center for anti-administration influence. The reduction of the tax rate, however, won him many friends, who were counted at the polls. He had utterly failed to show sympathy with the liquor men. They were naturally out of sympathy with him. Besides this, in the conferences with the coal operators no man had been more outspoken in his denunciation of the capitalists'

methods and motives than this same governor. In that issue he distinctly espoused the cause of the public as against the trust.

In spite of all these influences, which tended to weaken the support given at the earlier election, Govenor Odell was reelected. Men in New York State wanted him as governor. He stands therefore conspicuous, not so much as a party man, but rather as a public man, whose service of the public has been markedly independent.

Character is a product. The treasure that most men give to the world they lay up in their early years. Out of the good treasure of their hearts they bring forth good things, and if the treasure has been evil they bring forth evil things. The home, then, can tell the secret of this man's power. When election day came the governor was at his father's house in New burgh. There, in the library, he received the returns that night. His wife, children, sisters, brothers, and father were about him. It was characteristic that he went home to receive the returns. His own residence was dark. He was at his father's house.

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This father, whose name the governor bears. is a patriarchal figure in the community. little lad who came to town at holiday-time, a couple of years ago, saw him on the street, was impressed with the strong face set off by snowy hair and flowing beard, ran quickly up to him and queried, Are you Santa Claus?" It is needless to say that before he left town the little lad was sure he had found the saint. Seventyseven years of life have been his, but his eye is not dim nor his natural force abated. Alert, with rapid, springy step he walks down to the familiar office every morning and puts in a long day attending to business.

His life has been full of activity. He worked his way up from the farm. County and municipal politics interested him. For more than forty years he has been in active service. He was one of the last trustees of the village of Newburgh, and in 1866 was one of the aldermen who organized the newly chartered city. He served the county as supervisor and as sheriff, and served the city as its mayor for six terms. The city park, which extends over many acres. and occupies the highest ground in the city, a site commanding an extended view of Orange

and Dutchess counties, while in the foreground lies the Hudson, held by the Beacons, Storm King, and the Narrows, as it sweeps down against the West Point peninsula,this the ex-mayor wants to be known as his monument. Such is his interest in the better life of the city. The oldest son claimed the birthright in public affairs, took up his share of the inheritance, and has worked it well.

The governor's attachment to his home was cemented long before politics concerned him. To this home he brought President Roosevelt, that the eyes of his mother might rest on him, and she might share to the utmost the good things that filled up her son's life. This mother was a Bookstaver, a descendant of one of the staunch Dutch settlers of the county. A strong character occupied her vigorous body and voiced itself through an unusually alert mind. Her hands toiled for her children. She seconded her husband in his enterprises and helped him gather a comfortable fortune. She pushed the education of her children and started them in the world with three strong things,strong bodies, strong

minds, strong wills, and these three under the strong control of the Christian religion. The family went to church,-the old Reformed Dutch Church, that led the procession of denominations on Manhattan Island and up the Hudson, the church to which the President also declares allegiance.

To these elements of the home life there has been added a deal of heart training. The accidental death of the first Mrs. Odell, the mother of the governor's sons, broke up his home for a time, and the boys were welcomed into the fam

ily of their grandfather. A few years later the home was reconstituted, with the present Mrs. Odell as its mistress. The husband was then leading the quiet life of one of Newburgh's business men, with a large interest in local politics.

Soon after this Walter, the oldest son, then attending the academy, was stricken with paralysis after a vigorous game of football. During the six years that he lived Walter's life was the life of the mind. The body, as soon appeared, could never become normal. The intel

lect, keen at the beginning, grew wonderfully acute during the following years. The father's interest broadened, the scope of his political aims widened, and the boy breathed the atmosphere of his father's busy life. He went to Washington with him, met men of mark, and soon became skilled far beyond his years in

MR. BENJAMIN B. ODELL, SR.

theoretical and practical politics, while he enjoyed a widely cultured outlook upon the world's life.

Until he had drained the bitterness of these sorrows Mr. Odell lived a quiet life. He had shown no marked ambition, but was simply the intelligent citizen, industrious, respected, but not at all on the highway to renown. Now the eagle's nest was stirred. He became ambitious to gain wealth. He wanted place and power, not chiefly for himself, but for his son's sake. He wakened to intense activity. Larger business affairs were laid hold of. Concrete financial problems attracted him. Naturally a man of strong will power, he laid hold of everything he touched with a master hand.

He picked up

the old one-horse street railway of the town, and shortly after it was a busy trolley line. He promoted the affairs of the electric system and soon bought out the competing company. One business matter after another he handled successfully, and all the while he was becoming a growing factor in politics. He was State committeeman, then chairman of the State Committee, then sent on to do valued work as a member of the Assembly. He was elected governor for the first term. Now, as the reëlected governor, he stands conspicuous before the nation as the champion of right for the people. But it was the impetus of sorrow that sent him on his way.

Here, at home, we know him as a modest, unassuming man, who takes life seriously. He is too strong to feel the need of outdoor sports. and too busy to need them as a time-killer. His own residence is not on one of our high hills, surrounded by a broad domain, but in one of the city streets, where he can walk to business or the City Club. His spare time, if he spares any from the exacting duties of his office, is spent at home. When he wants rest he travels

The governor first governs himself. He must look upon the man who is consumed with passion as we look upon wild beasts. Sober-minded, he will not eat too much, drink too much, nor talk too much. He holds himself in command. while forethought and foresight are the twin qualities of his mind. Reserved, he listens to you as you put your case, and when you cease talking you know he has decided. If a monosyllable is enough for answer, why multiply words? He is fitted with a rapid-fire judgment. yet he does not form his judgment till the evidence is in. He attends to business, and there fore dispatches business. He has no time or inclination for small talk.

He is used to conflicts; they do not disconcert him. Once his mind is made up, only the access of new facts can make it over. Opposi tion he rather likes,-it draws him out. He is not tossed about with every wind. You are sure that he has his root in himself.

Yes, the governor's character is a product It was placed in a home where it was directed by the teachings of Christianity, exercised in the direction of practical interest in the welfare of others, and informed by a wide and intelli gent interest in public affairs. Then it was thrown into the crucible of sorrow, whence has come forth solid, stable, strong, to stand for the highest things in public life.

IT

T is a strange economic contradiction that, though the deep-sea steam fleet of the United States is the starveling of the nations, the greatest of ocean steamship companies should have been wrought out by American brains and money, and organized under American laws. The International Mercantile Marine Company, in its formal title, the Morgan ship "combine" in the vernacular of the "street,' -was incorporated on October 1, 1902, under a hospitable New Jersey charter, with eight American and five British directors. The chief figure among American shipowners, the head of our one transatlantic steam line, becomes the president and ruling force of this mighty combination, and the major portion of its stocks and bonds is held in American ownership. For twenty years such a union of maritime interests had been dreamed of. President Griscom confesses that he had this bold thought stirring in his head "as far back as 1884." But the fulfillment of the splendid ambition waited for the extraordinary vigor and acumen and immense wealth, which had created the United States Steel Corporation the year before this other epoch-making Trenton charter was issued to a second group of the fortunate friends and associates of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.

The significance of the International Mercantile Marine Company has not been exaggerated. It marks the beginning of a revolution in ocean traffic. It really means much more than that the new company is the largest shipping corporation in existence, with its 141 steamers and its total tonnage of 1,100,000. The world's second ship corporation, the Hamburg-American, with 127 steamers of 630,000 tons, is almost a pygmy by comparison; and the greatest of British companies, the India Steam Navigation, owns only 117 steamers of 361,000 tons. There are but 147 steamers of 327,284 tons in the entire fleet of the United States actively engaged in foreign

commerce.

No nation save Great Britain and Germany possesses an ocean steam shipping equal to that of this one corporation. The "combine" includes all but one of the first-class passenger and freight lines plying between the United States and the United Kingdom. Its vessels, most of them, are of the largest size, and thoroughly modern in design and in construction.

Size, combined with moderate engine power, spells economy in ocean transportation.

The more than a million tons of the international combination represent nominally one-third of the 3,000,000 tons of steam shipping required for the ocean trade between the United States and Europe. This, however, is not a full measure of the real importance of the allied fleet, for the 141 vessels of the "combine" are nearly all of a notably high character, worth a great deal more money, ton for ton, and capable of rendering more service and earning more dividends than the older and feebler ships of small rival corporations. Though the two great German lines, the Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd, are not technically within the combination, they have formed a hard-and-fast "working agreement" with it, which involves a certain division of revenue. Thus, for all practical purposes, the 500,000 tons of German shipping in the North Atlantic trade must be reckoned among the resources of the Morgan-Griscom combination. Allowing for the superior efficiency of the 1,600,000 tonnage of the allied fleets, it is easy to accept Commissioner Chamberlain's estimate that the International Mercantile Marine Company will actually control 60 per cent. of the enormous passenger and cargo carrying between the ports of the United States and those of the United Kingdom and the Continent.

HOW THE "COMBINE BEGAN.

It is an interesting story,-the process by which this huge confederacy of ocean interests has come into existence. The first step was the purchase, sixteen years ago, of the celebrated British Inman Steamship line by the International Navigation Company, a group of farseeing American citizens, led by Mr. Clement A. Griscom, of Philadelphia. The British Government promptly withdrew the liberal subsidy which it had been paying to the Inman liners; but Mr. Griscom and his comrades brought the New York and Paris beneath the Stars and Stripes, built the St. Louis and St. Paul, secured a subsidy from the United States, and gave the first-class British lines a most formidable Yan kee competitor. Indeed, commercial rivalry in high-grade ships on the North Atlantic soon became too keen to permit of reasonable divi

lect, keen at the beginning, grew wonderfully acute during the following years. The father's interest broadened, the scope of his political aims widened, and the boy breathed the atmosphere of his father's busy life. He went to Washington with him, met men of mark, and soon became skilled far beyond his years in

MR. BENJAMIN B. ODELL, SR.

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