The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-21
oHARLEs P. CLARK.

Holland Says He mas Placed Himself in
 Line With the Great Railway organ
 izers.
 Holland, in the Philadelphia Press, has the following:
 Charles r. Clark has by this work accomplished within the last five years placed himself in line with the great railway organizer of this country. For cma MT, Clark was little oyershad-
 owed, perhaps because Whose great names in the financial world, Plerpont Morgan, William Rockefeller and the Vanderbilts were known to be asso- ciated in the development of this gi- gantie system. Undoubtedly it was their financial power which made 1t possible for MT. Clark to carry out the plans which he had in view when he accepted the presidency of the New Ha- ven road seven years ago. But, after all, the plan in its first suggestion, and in it's development, was the concep- ton of Mir. Clark. He has been a rail- way manager all his life. He began in a comparatively humble capacity up- on one of the railroads running out of Boston. His executive ability and gen jus for organization were speedily rec ognized and he became executive man. ager of the New York and New Eng land, at a time, too, when it was in dire straits. AfterWard he became president of that corporation, and although he had on his hand a company that was ntina11xy ha r1ly tO its roadbed in repair, beginning splend- idly in Boston because of its fine water front, and ending in the wilds of the Harlem valley, unable to fulfill the des- tiny which its originators had in mind, connection with the Erie railroad, MT. Clark, nevertheless, while he could not save the property, revealed himself. Therefore, the New Haven people call ed him, upon the death of the president of that corporation, to the presidency. MT Clark was the first man associated with that corporation who realized the direction in which it's development lay. It had a monopoly of entrance into New York city from the east a fran chise whose enormous value none of the earlier managers of that corpora tion seemed to understand. MT. Clark said that it should be so extended so as to control an entrance into Boston, which could only be obtained by pur- chase He declared that the policy of the road required it to obtain control Of all lines that were naturally feeders, | and thus one by one the independent | lines in Connecticut passed into it's | control. He took the audacious view | that in self-proteotionl the company | should control the steamboat lines to | Boston, and one after another it got ] possession of them, until now it controls l all of them His struggle with Mcleod | to obtain possession of the Old Colony | system, which was of itself a great combination, covering all of southern | Massachusetts, and all of Rhode Island, is recalled to this day as a masterpiece | of strategy. With the Boston and AL | hany controlled indirectly by the Van derbilts on the north and the New Ha- ven system on the south, the upper New England was between an upper and a neither mill stone. MT. Clark was compelled to rely upon Pierpont Mor- gan to prevent Mir Mcleod from main- CtlllluS HIS -COuLIOl. OLH lue ASGW ELtS- land, and of building an independent branch line, as he proposed to do, which would give the company a terminal upon the East river. When Mr. Me Loed's grip was wrested by a financial power which he could not match, then it was only question of time when that property would pass into the con- trol of the New Haven.
 'Tn addition to these things MT. Clark has caused the entire road between New York and Boston practically to be rebuilt, and our-tracked much of the way. With an eye to the future it was so rebuilt that if electricity ever sup plants steam it will be easy to substi- ute the electric motor for the locomo- tive.
 Another thing which MT. Clark did, in this respect being perhaps the pioneer among railroad managers, was to abolish all grade crossings on the main line between New York and Boston. That work has, been com pleted between New York and New Ha- ven, so that the sound of the locomotive whistle is now seldom heard. Recently MT. Clark has entered into contract for the carrying of the line into the city of Boston in such a manner that all cross ings shall be above or below grade. Unlike the experience of Buffalo, the initiative of this work was taken by MT. Clark, and he had no little difficult ty in inducing some of the cities and towns to cooperate with him. Buffalo fought for the abolis!.a4cnt of grade crossings for forty years, and has only just secured the cooperation of the railway managers. MT. Clark, on the other hand, has fought with deter imitation that could not be shaken for the same thing, gaining in many cities enly reluctant cooperation and consent from the communities through which the road passed. Within three years there will not be a grade crossing from the Grand Central station in New York to the Park Square station in, Boston"