The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-19

The Nanderbtlts as Business Men.
Cornelius vanderbilts Gift OF a
Home for a Railroad Club in New
York Has Proved Beneficial "A
Movement to. Start Similar oreani-
cations All over the Country The
Changes in RaiIroading in the Quar-
ter of a Century DIR. Depew Has Been
With the vanderbilts- New Things
of Interest In the Great Orators
Life Work.
Copyright. 1897
New York, June 17.-Clubs are the
natural and necessary offshoot of mans
social nature, and they have been potent
in the history and progress of the world
for twenty centuries. II is a prevalent
idea of some people that clubs mean
simply places where men meet TO drink
and gamble and squander their time and
money; but it is not true. Clubs are one
OF the powerful influences of reform and
civilization and always have been so In
the last days of Athens the most power
ful institutions in her midst we're the
clubs; the same was true of Rome, and in
the last part of the seventeenth century
the coffee houses of London, out Of which
have grown the present clubs, were the
great power of reform. They were the
meeting places of the people; the rich
man and the man of moderate means
went there for their news; went there to
feel as it were of public sentiment, and it
was through their influence probably that
the Stuarts We're driven from power and
greater liberty obtained for the English
people in which we have shared. But it
is with the railroad that / wish to deal,
because that is in the line of my life work,
and the things which occupy my daily
thoughts-that is, things entirely distinct
from the thoughts have in the evening.
The Railroad Club, with its social and
religious branches, is an institution that
happily meets a demand long felt in the
railway world. This is a side to the rail
way world which is only seen through in
stitutions like that of which the one in
New York city may be said TO have been
the real beginning. This club in New
York, the home for which was gift of
Cornelius Vanderbilt, has a membership
of quite 1890, while the total attendance
for the last year was about $50, 900,
This is but part of an important move
for railroad men now extending over
many Of the great railroad systems of the
country The growth of those institu-
tions has been great in recent years
There are now ninety-six clubs in exist
ence, fostered by an association that de-
velops and improves mind and body. The
total cost OF maintaining them is close to
$l5O,000 per annum, and of this sum the
railroad employees give between one-third
and one-fourth, the remainder being con-
tributed by the railroad companies These
organizations have before them as their
constant purpose the development of
character in railroad men and have sought
to surround them while they have been
away from home with the comforts and
advantages of which they have been de
prived by the necessities of their avoca-
tion. They are not schools and yet they
maintain educational classes and lectures,
nor are they substitute for the church,
which is organized especially to save
souls, though religious meetings are con-
Quoted. -
Now take this New York institution for
example II is about to be enlarged
$4,000 worth by Mr. Vanderbilt's
generosity because il is such success.
There are 5000 volumes In It's library,
there is gymnasium and bowling alley
and billiard rooms, a lunch room where
food is served at cost price, lecture and
reading rooms and everything that the
rich man gets at his club on Fifth avenue.
To form some idea of the way In which
this building is used one should visit 1t
any week day between the hours of 12 and
l, when there are always at least so men
in the various rooms resting, reading,
playing games or otherwise seeking
healthful and needed recreation It
should be borne in mind though that the
doors of this building are never locked.
During the night railroad men arriving in
New York on late trains find and enjoy its
hospitality, and on the Sabbath there are
many who are unable to reach their homes
who congregate at this club and find the
rest and comfort so grateful when one is
among strangers and in place other than
that in which he resides
In 1S40 there were only 5000 miles of
railway IN this country with probably, at
five to the mile, only 1900 men. Then
everybody knew everybody on every road.
remember in my boyhood that the CON
ductor and the station agent were the
most important people in Peekslrill They
represented more than any one in the vii
lage they were out in contact with the
world and they brought into the town
more than anybody else But when YOU
reach the figures Of 1900 miles and
$1,000 employees or more you pass beyond
the period when the officer knows his
men, or when the men know heexecutiye
even see or recognize the superintendent
and assistant superintendent as the heads
of the different departments. You come
to the period when there is an immense
association on the one side of those who
are similarly engaged and upon sub
stantially the same plane Of occupation.
and they are without direct contact
or sympathy with the directors
or superior officers of the road, and this
leads to dangerous misunderstanding
likely to produce disastrous results.
You take, for instance, the three Van
derbilts, and they Illustrate precisely
the development of the railway in its
operation in this country. The commo-
dore was a railroad organizer. He repre-
sented type Of railway possible in his
time but impossible now. His was the
period of experiment and development.
He could say to an officer in broad way:
81 expect SO rpuch freight to be carried
next year." or ~ expect so many pas
sengers to be had, - or 81 expect such re-
suits from the operations of the com
pany," or 81 desire TO acquire such a rail
way"
In his own mind he had mapped out the
results which he thought could be at
tanned, but the officer to whom he gave
the order had that command ever before
him. He was like one of Napoleon's
marshals sent into Spain to conduer the
country with the general order from
the emperor that Sr9in should be sub
dued; or who went into Austria directed
to tumble the king from his throne. That
officer himself devised thedetails, himself
49, Al. 1IaT.