Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-09-17

me to Chicago you are perfectly vel
come. Ny son will tell you anything
you want to know about the trip" ant
with pleasant wave of his hands Mr..
Vanderbilt bid the reporters be seated
Apparently fully conscious that the.
were comforting upon Mr.. Vanderbilt
an unusual honor in permitting him t.
entertain q couple of suburban pres
representatives in his car for two whole
hours, the reporters at once made them
selves as much at home as the circum
stances and surroundings would admit
1t is unnecessary to go into all the
details of the ride to Chicago. Suffice
it to say that ample opportunity was
given the reporters by Mr.. Vanderbilt
to ask all the questions they cared to,
and the answers were made deliberate.
ly and with care, both reporters taking
full notes and perfectly understanding
the tenor of the answers. Mr.. Van.
derbilt talked with the utmost freedom,
and after he once began talking ap-
peared to take keen interest in con-
versing with news-gatherers. Upon the
arrival of the party in Chicago about 6
o'clock they fastened to the Office of
q Chicago daily, where Mr.. Bennett
joined them. They had notes for an
interview which would have filled
fully six columns, and covered the
widest possible range of subjects
history, "reminiscences, discussions of
the live and vital questions that affect
ed the railroad world, etc. Queries
were sent to one of the leading papers
in each of the principal Eastern
cities, and quick responses came
ordering that the Vanderbilt
| interview be rushed through. The re-
porters started upon the work of trans
cribing their notes, and by the time the
paper was ready for press three col
umns of solid matter had been sent to
each of the Chicago daily papers, and
to the Eastern journals that had or
dered it. In the course of the inter-
view Mr.. Vanderbilt made statement
that the limited express trains did not
pay, and he would not keep them on
his road minute if not forced to do so
by the action of competing roads that
appeared to have faith in them. One
of the reporters remarked that the
trains appeared to be very popular with
the people, and now that they had be-
come so used to them there would be a
great cry if they were abandoned. Mr..
Vanderbilt again asserted that it didn't
pay the roads to run them, and declared
he would be only too glad to withdraw
them, whether the patrons liked it OF
not.
ooh, you wouldn't do that, Mr.. Van
derbilt," observed one reporter, with O.
smile. even if they don't pay, you
would still keep them on and run them
for the public benefit, wouldn't you?"
This was thrown out more as play
full side remark than anything else, but
Mr.. anderbilt, leaning over toward
the reporters, exclaimed, in most i'm
pressive manner:
oh, the public be ID!
what does the public care for the
railroads except to get as much out
of them for as small consideration
as possible? I don't take any stock in
this silly nonsense about working for
anybody's good but our own, because
we are not. When we make move we
do it because it is our own interest to
do SO, not because we expect to do
somebody else some good. Of course,
we like to do everything possible for
the benefit of humanity in general, but
when we do we first see that we are
benefting ourselves. Railroads are
not run on sentiment, but on business
principles, and to pay, and I don't think
1 am egotistical when say that the
roads which have had anything to do
with have generally paid pretty we'll. :"
1t is from the paragraph above quoted
that the sentence so much referred to
has been taken. Mr.. Vanderbilt, it
may be stated, never pretended to deny
that he used the expression as it APP
peared in the interview, but he claimed
that newspapers and persons antago.
nistic to him had perverted his meaning
and misrepresentcd the manner in
which it was said. Talking to one OF
the reporters some time after, he re.
marked that he had no idea that they
were keeping run of every word he ut
tered and intended to report him liter
ally. He thought that their purpose
was simply to get from him informa-
ton wherefrom to build an article.
When told that the whole value of the
interview lay in faithful reproduction
OF his own remarks, with as few repor-
torial interpretations as possible, he APP
peared satisfied, and then said: of
course, can't blameyou reporters but
you know as we'll as do that had no
idea of appearing to the world as damn
| ing the public. It was merely one of
those hasty, of-hand remarks, such as
any man is likely to make, and certain
ly never deserved the storm of criti-
c SIN which it has called up"
So much for the story of "the public
be did"
Arrow Artists.
The prize contests of our archery
clubs have developed many proficient
sagitarians, yet the spur Of ambition
such as theirs can not compete with
the stimulus of necessity. The Bash
/ kir nOma1s Of tho Cocp;op .&o,,,,.