The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-24
THE B. & o.

The Is. q y. MAGNAIE.
A SKETCH OF A MANTLE
HAMMER IN WHICH A ROAD is MADE SELF
SUSTAINING.
"Gath" writes thus to the Chicago Tri-
bune concerning the president of the Bslti-
more & Ohio railroad: Writing in the
library of Congress last week., 1 saw a portly
figure at the head ola body of strangers
walking up and down and explaining
things. / recognized that rubicund face,
blush gray eye, and solid, ~unanxious
tread and pace-the Baltimore & Ohio rail-
way magnate, John w. Garrett. He has
been in Europe for more than two years.
In the interim his fellow-capitalist and
friend, John Hopkins, has passed to the
grave. During his absence, although for
hidden TO attend 10 business, Garrett
wrote bv every mail, and had the epitom-
lied work sent out to him. His kinsfolks-
John King and Mr.. Keyser-have been az
the quarters of the presidencyin his absence,
King exercising a viceroyalty and Keyser
moving up and down the line and through
the commercial centers. Whatever
the reasons or philosophy, this manage
ment of this railroad is vindicated above
everything ofthe kind in the western world.
The great panic swept over the country a
year ago, and drove Vanderbilt to Wall
street and Scott to protest, while these
Scotch Irish Dutchmen of Baltimore were as
oblivious of the panic as that Frederick
county man who, having ploughed all day,
said, as he came home: Il drinks / feels
some little PEBBLES in my boots" and forth
with hauls out a pair OF shutters and a cart
wrench. There was no scrip nor water in
CARROTS boots. All the stock there was old
dry.
That is the only railroad in America"
said ShanIy, the Canadian who built the
Hoosac tunnel, table in any contingency to
take care of ITSELF"
The power of The railroad is no secret. 1t
consists in learning whatever is good from
the present age, and forgetting nothing that
was good in former ones. Once or twice
there has been q stockholders movement to
divide more earnings or split tho stock a little
thinner; but the absolutnm and the old-fash-
toned sxgacity of Garrett have prevented
this going through. His motto has been:
Economy in every detail. from q pound of
nails up.' "Time,h says Carrot, is "longer
than speculation. Sell nothing; restrict div
idends for the SAX of the long credit of the
stock; all wait together, stockholders and
o~fficersi Invest the surplus in the system.
Let politics alone. Heithor conciliate it nor
antagonize it. Particularly do not corrupt
it, or you viii get its appetite on edge. and it
will gnaw you all your days. Responsible
ity in the working force;
coNsRRvATIsM IN THE MANAGEMENT;
patience in the stock list. Do not fool with
llocalisms. Side branches must construct
themselves. Push tor large terminal points,
and the side places must build toward the
stem we extend in their general direction"
Mr.. Garrett took this road a short time be-
fore the war. He was a provision dealer,
the son of a MISREPRESENTATION Presby-
terrain on one side, Pennsylvania-German
on the other. He had a hard, round
head, slow and gracious manner, a large,
rolling. acute plausibility, which reminded
people of a Holland burgOmaster. He was
never in a hurry, but always very prompt;
five minutes of reflection he gave to every
second of speech, except when he had a great
occasion. and then he had done the thinking
for weeks before. He was never deficient in
confidence. but it was diplomatic and grsdu-
ated, and it embraced people unctuously, in
stead of carrying them by storm.
His pertinacity was indeecrible. He
returned and returned again TO
the same point, and by weight and the lean
ing power, not a~ttrition nor intrigue, car
ried the position, or persisted until it was
lost. He had large Baltimore appctitcs for
TODD, and his steady animal heat counter
acted any intellectual relapse or msancholy,
if he could be capable oft. Betwsea work
and eating, they say, his organism for a
time grew unstrung. He worked on q full
stomach for fifteen years around this rail-
road, and then a tendency TO vertigo became
over and go to Europe. He told
me that he had perfectly capable assistants,
and should not resume his labor with so
much wilfulness. Garrett is essentially a
merchant. He has led this railroad from 3S
cents on the stock up to 81 30 and more,
where it stands, like A~ohammed's coffin,
against the ceiling. From a road, badly of,
between Baltimore and Wheeling, it is now
a road to Stanton, to Danviile, to Gin
cinnati, to Pittsburg, to S~andusky, TO Chi
cago. 1t may vet be a road to Omaha and
New Orleans. Its ambition stops at Balti-
more. In that city there is an undertone Of
feeling that John W. Garrett NAV become a
candidate for the presidency of the United
States.