The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-20

70 pest both the PENNSYLVANIA and New
1of6 central systems by placing new
ouruens upon the already bankrupt Read
ing the Vanderbilt roads have steadily
grown stronger Mr.. Vanderbilt is. with
MS w-stockholders-all of them. of
course, less interested then he large
holder In most of the railroads that grid
IRON New England. 1t was in his effort
10 break the New York and New Haven
anu Inc Kindred branches running to Bos-
ton from Philadelphia, New York. Al
pany and districts they tapped, that Nc
Leod came to grief
Mr.. Vanderbilt simply stood I, his
guns and little time oiG the rest. Read
ing broke, and Vanderbilt now holds the
system OF railroads in New England at
MS mercy. The West Shore system that
was to run on the west side ofthe Hudson
river, is now Vanderbilt road instead of
IDDelng In opposition as it was built to be-
Inc Pennsylvania system and the Erie
let MIN alone, and New York state from
New York City to Buffalo recognized the
astuteness OF the present method of Mr.
vanderbilt and President Depew, and
their hold on the other trunk lines run
nlng 10 Chlcago, and as far as San Fran
cisco and Portland, is strong.
To hold all these reins in one hand one
must be strong driver And that is what
Mr.. Vanderbilt is, though he is not in any
way harsh one
IL Is now past noon, good bit past il,
when all his work is done And then he
enjoys a cigar and sees the afternoon
newspaper men, or he may for a few
moments drop over to the Railroad Club,
established by him, and where his en-
ployes may meet him cheek by jowl.
The heavy la Dor of the day is over, but
there Is much yet to be done Interviews
with other magnates arranged by him
self or Mr.. Depew have TO be held There
are old stockholders who were friends of
his father and grandfather, who would
not think of coming TO New York without
calling in to say "Howdy'' to the grand
son of the bluff, hard-fsted old commo-
dore, and to whom Mr.. Vanderbilt has
not the heart to deny an interview.
Finally, strongfaced men, some of
them gray OF hair and beard, appear on
the scene Most of then are OF goodly
glrth and as heavy financially as they are
physically. To them MIR Depew is
"Chauncey'' and Mr.. Vanderbilt plain
Cornelius" They are directors in the
various Vanderb ilt roads, and some of
them can talk of the old commodore's
famous coups from personal knowledge,
Tor they were apart of them. But these
old men treat Cornelius with as much re-
specJ as though he was of their own age.
He's got the Vanderbilt brains, and
he's got the Vanderbilt common sense
and name" said one of these veterans a
snort time ago to the writer.
Mr. Vanderbilt presides at all these
meetings. He has very little to say. but
now and then when he does speak, he
talks briefly aud TO the point. Mr.. Depew
does not generally attend these meetings.
His other work takes up all his time,
and besides he is not needed. Now and
then when some matter of detail comes
up, the particulars of which are best
known to him, he is called in and gives
such information as is needed, briefly,
and then returns to his desk. But even
this is not often. The directors in the
several Vanderbilt roads are a harmoni-
GUS group of men, as they may well be,
since their property is steadily coming
wealth for them. And so it is that MIR.
Depew does not always figure in these
conferences. But Mr.. Vanderbilt never
neglects these small duties. Some
times in an afternoon he will pre-
side at several such meetings of the
to his own. He believes it to be his duty
TO do this, and he is in no sense a shirker.
But these meetings do not take up much
time. So far as the in lerests of the vari-
Gus lines are concerned, they would suffer
little il the con ferenceS were not held at
all. But Mr.. Vanderbilt is conservative
and believes in holding to the forms that
his father and grandfather upheld.
When, finally the directors conclude
the consultations it is near the hour
when the stock exchange closes. Now.
the VanderDilts, like the Astors are not
spectators of the class that Jay Gould
was. Stocks and bonds, they have, of
course, but the main part of their wealth
is in absolute property the value
of which does not fuctuate
from year to year from purely natural
causes. Still, Mr. Vanderbilt has, of
course, a strong interest in the trend of
affairs in Wall street, where the stocks
of the roads that he is head of are specu-
lated in. Not far from his desk stands
ticker, and now and then he consulCs it
as to the condition of the market. Once
in a while he calls in Mr.. Depew, and it
may be that in a few moments a trusted
messeger will be dispatched with certain
instructions to Mr. Vanderbilt's brokers.
1t does not do to trust to the telephone
or telegraph in these matters for they
have been known to leak on more than
one occasion.
Still the head of the Vanderbilt system
may not thus interfere in Wall street
matters once in a fortnight. He mas
safer way. He has conference with Mr..
goes to see how things are going on at the
downtown offices of the New York Cen
trdl road on lower Broadway, On his
way uptown Mr.. Depew drops in upon
the brokers for Mr.. Vander0ilt), and
gives them their instructions If there be
any to give.
Later in the afternoon, when Wall
street business closes, one of these orok-
ers will call in upon Mr.. Vanderbilt for
brief conference that never lasts more
than ten minutes or Whereabouts
After this comes very different sort
of callers. They are Mr.. Vanderbilt
own men. The millionaire railroad king
has made it a policy always to see and
advise with his men on anything save the
workings of the railroad. The settlement
of la Dor grievances he leaves entirely to
Mir Depew with good results. The en-
ployes who call upon him are there on
didereut errands. These employees, es-
pecially the older ones, have an abiding
faith in the business acumen of the Van
derbilts MosU of these men have man
aged TO save money in the course of long
service at good wages, and the advice
thew seek is with reference to what they
can do to make their small investments
realize as much as possible. They do not
apply to MIR Vanderbilt in vain. he
gives them the advice they seek, and
gives it freely and cheerfully. what Is
more, he likes to do it. He believes, as
does his friend aud counselor Mr.. De-
pew, that it is to his interest TO have his
men prosperous and contented ana Is gao