The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-06

on millions when these millions are di-
rected by bold and resourceful minds
Whitney as Lawyer and Politician.
The three men composing this COM
bination- of financial giants are widely
different in character and antecedents
but they are alike in their ability TO
control men and capital.
William c. Whitney is the youngest
of the three. He was born at Conway,
Mass. fifty-eight years ago. He was
graduated from Yale in 1868, and from
the Harvard law school two years later.
Then he came to New York to practice
law. He had fairly established himself
as an able attorney at the beginning of
the fight that overthrow boss Tweed.
He became acquainted with Samuel j.
Tllden and that aStute judge of men,
attracted by Mr.. Whitney's brilliant
qualities, was influential in securing his
appointment as corporation counsel.
For six years Mr.. Whitney held this
Office, being twice reappointed by diff
ferent mayors and resigning in 1882 of
his own choice. During this time he
swept the cobwebs out of the corpora
ton counsel's office, cleared away a
vast amount of business that had ac-
cumulated there, and is said to have
saved the city 100000 by defeating
fraudulent claims against il that had
originated in the Tweed regime.
In the meantime he had married the
sister CT his college classmate, now
Colonel Oliver H. Payne. the Standard
Oil magnate. That brought him into
intimate friendship with men who had
millions to invest in any scheme that
man of brains and executive ability
could suggest. Whitney had the brains
and the executive ability, and he has
not failed to retain the backing of his
Standard Oil friends.
Mr. Whitney is undoubtedly one of the
shrewdest manipulators of men in, the
country. He demonstrated this fact by
his management of Grover Cleveland's
political fortunes. He despises the
methods of the cheap politician. When
Mr.. Whitney wants the help of any
man he begins by gaining the mans
friendship. by helping him, not openly
and ostentatiously, but in ways that
are substantial and certain to be ap-
preciated. Then if Mr.. Whitney wants
the assistance of that man he asks for
it frankly and openly, and he gets 1t,
because he has made it to the advan-
tage of both to work together.
Mr.. Whitney is a man OF genial man
ner, fastidious tastes and decided opin
ions. He has accomplished more and
with less blare of trumpets, both in the
political and the business world. than
almost any other man that can be
mentioned.
Elkins' Career Like Rockefeller
William l.. Elkins is nearly ten years
Mr.. Whitney's senior. He was born in
West Virginia of Quaker parents, in
1892 He began his business career at
the age of 10 as entry clerk in store.
Before he was 90 he became the pro-
prietor of lumber yard, but freshet
swept it away and drove him out of
business. His next venture was to eS-
tablish produce commission business
in Philadelphia-the same line of bust
ness in which John d. Rockefeller
madc. his start. BY the beginning of
the civil war he had the largest pro-
duce business in Philadelphia, and had
accumulated a comfortable fortune for
that time.
When the oil fever struck Pennsyl-
vania Mr.. Elkins sold out his business
and went to the oil fields intending to
purchase wells. Like Mr.. Rockefeller
again, he decided that the business of
oil was more promising than
that of a producer. He returned to
Philadelphia and started the first large
refinery in that city. In 1875 he went /
into the Standard Oil company. in
which he is still a large stakeholder. /
Soon after that he began his active |
interest in street railways.
Widener, Butcher and Politician.
Mr.. Widener, the other member of |
he combination, and the one who has !
has been most prominent in the man |
agement of its municipal enterprises, |
lad neither the early advantages of Mr.. |
Whitney nor the early difficulties of |
Mr.. Elkins. He was born in Philadel- /
Dhia in 1884, was the son of a brick
maker, and graduated from the Phila- |
lelphia high school into the meat shop /
by his elder brother. In
leu of a college education he had a |
practical training among the Philadel-
)hia politicians of the war period, |
rom which a clever young man was
certain to learn a great many things.
Mr.. Wideners political affiliations
stood the meat business in good stead,
or his firm secured a contract to sup
'ly all the Union troops in and about
which was the great hos
)ital headquarters during the war. Out
# this contract they cleared several
thousands. and Mr.. Widener proceeded
o invest his share in street railway en-
erpriseS. He was appointed city treas
lrer in 1870, and was elected to two
terms in that lucrative office.
Since he retired from politics in 1877 he
las devoted himself continuously to his
treet railway and other enterprises.
All three of the street railway kings
ire still in the active and direct man
cement of their business undertakings.
t is not likely that the final extent of
heir vast enterprises has yet been
cached. z. w. MAYO.
Why He Wasn't.