The age-herald., 1897-10-12

sengers between Staten Island and New York on a far-sighted judgment that there was a public demand for better service between these points. It was ths instinct or insight which made him resfstless in competitive business. Old and experienced masters of transporta- tion had controlled the steamship traffic of the Hudson river and Long Island sound for years. but in a short time, though he had less capital he drove them off these waters. He saw far in advance of his time the results which could be obtained from ocean steamers There were prosperous lines plying be- tween New York and the Isthmus of Panama and the Isthmus and the Pa eifc ports. Their managers were con seryative, old-fashicned, old fogy ana rich. They looked with amusement ana amazement at this adventurer in thelr domain, who singly and alone boldly challenged their supremacy. Thirty years afterwards I heard an old iner- chant lamenting that the Commodore forced his company to sell out to him their Atlantic line and pay him two thirds the profits on the Pacific to keep off that ocean. His entry into the rall- way world was the result of the same foresight and wisdom. His mind was like rifle barrel. It carried thought straight to the mark. It was difficult to induce him to take up a subject, but when he did, nothing could divert him II He never doubted that verdict or re- vealed 1t, but acted upon it with light ning-like rapidfty. He thus found mill lions where others had lost them.
 The development of American rail way systems has produced many strong men, but their operations had been gen erally disastrous to their stockholders and bondholders. They were, at that time, honeycombsd with parasites, while freight and passenger agents exercised an arbitrary power and petty tyranny toward individuals and localities to which most of the subsequent public animosity against railroads and rall- road msn is due. They broke connec- tions on the whim of an offended officer, and cut each othsr's throats to gratify the spite of a traffic manager. The commodore made up h,s mind that rail- way transportation was to be the lead ing business of the future that there was no limit to it's expansion, and that under business management, and with business methods, railrcad stocks were the best investment in the country. He knsw that railway chaos was his oppor- tunity The stock of the Harlem rail- road was football in Wall street at from 4hnse 10 five dollars a share, it's bonds discredited, it's equipment unfit for the service, and it's roadbsd unsafe. Capitalists had dismissed it from their calculations as a worthlsss and hopeless
 
 boats and steamships it's regeneraItor. He knsw the people and believed that the same feelings moved them on land as on water. Speed is the first demand Of the American; with safety if possible, though h.. will risk much to go on the fastest line. Wall street believed the three millions of dollars the commodore spent on the road thrown away. It gave the company nsw cars and loco- motives, a safe and stable way, and regular and rapid train service. It il- frustrated MT. Vanderb-H's genius In ms chosen field of competition.
 The commodore had given little at tention to inland transportation The roads acquired reached Chicago over many connecting lines. Each had Its policy the interests of its managers, its fight for arbitraries and it's methods of business, and the overcharged and buff fated public were enduring endless ex- pensss and Inconvenience.
 This reticent, sef-reliant and bold op-
 orator seemed to jump at conclusions by intuition as women are alleged to do.
 Intimate friends rarely knew his inten- lions and no one ever heard him give any reasons for his plans. Sententious aphorisms condensed his opinions. He refused larger salary from Gibbons, the steamboat magnate of his early career saving. 'If I am worth that to another man I must be worth 8. good deal more to myself" His son-in-law, Horace F. Clark, was a very brilliant and able lawyer, but speculative and cratic in business. heard friends plead for hours with the commodore that Clark might be restored to full confidence and shar., in the vast enterprise then project ed. "Smartest fellow I ever knew, but a cog loose in his machinery" was the only reply of this memorable relative. Fools can make money, but only wise men can keep it." was one of his max opd o;erbA lIt af millionaire contemporaries and 1nti- mates became bankrupt.
 In tha old days of leadership in finance and speculation Wall street al- ways had a recognized king. He had @ large following, and his sway was daily dlsputed. After innumerable victories, and the ruin of thousands of individuals and combinations, he was dethronsd and bankrupted in some wild panic. His successor would take the perilous place. to pursue the same career and meet a iika fate. But in MT Vanderbilt this center of the risks and values of the continent found a master whose resourc- es were great and whose judgment was unerring. It was equally dangerous to follow or fight him on account of the rapidity with which he changed his policy as he saw bsfore others d,d the gathering storm or the rainbow of pros perity Wall street owes me million a year." heard him say, and until the last he collected that and in some years many millions.
 As he wished to make the railway stronger and more popular by putting the representa- lives of more varied and independent interests in the directory, saw. at his request. a gentleman belong ing to one of the oldest and most emi- nent of our colonial families. He was a man of broad culture, the highest so- cial position and moderate fortune. It was a glittering offer and carr,ed with it the prospect of rare opportunities for making money. This gentleman declin- ed on the ground that he had sufficient for his needs and tastes and that riches did not tempt him from his farm, his cattle his horses, his books and h's life of restful work and unvexed liberty. When I reported the answer to the com modore and his amazed associates he said, ''The only man of sense in the country" Long after all these men of vast canes and acute worries were dead. my friend. then vigorous in the nineties, glesfuly recalled his investment in life rather than wealth.
 I had known the commodore we'll for several years. and one day he suddenly asked if he could retain me as attorney ox.I aI &1l