Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-12-14
A DRAMATIC CAREER.
The Conductor That whitney Mad
President OF Ills Railway.

The Conductor That whitney Made
President OF HIS Railways.
"The career OF II. IL. vreeIand Is rs
dramatic as a play" writes George l..
Fielder In Ainslee's. tie began as a
section man on the Long Island rail-
road, became a brakeman and then
got employment on what is now known
as the Putnam road. One day William
c. Whitney was making a tour of In
spection on this railroad with other d.
rectors- He began to question the Of
ticials Of the company on details of the
roads business. To almost every ques-
ton they replied lamely. Guess you'd
better ask Nreeland about that
"'Who is VreelandT said whitney.
He's the conductor
"Freeland was sent for, and Whitney
found him tall, rawboned man, with
square jaw and fine, regular white
teeth. which showed continually while
he answered rapid fire of questions.
whitney hadn't talked with him Is
minutes when he had him marked.
Some time later yreeland received a
telegram from Whitney asking him to
be at the office of the Broadway and
Seventh Avenue railroad that day at .
O'Clock. There was no train on the
schedule which would get him into
New York in time to make the ap-
pointment. But by this time he was
assistant general manager and had
pun enough to order a special train.
He reached the office on time. He had
been waiting for quite awhile when a
clerk came up to him and asked, Are
you Mr.. Vreeland?
That's my name said Vreeland.
We'll, Mr.. Whitney is waiting for
you inside
"Vreeland was taken In and intro
ducedvte~the board of directors of the
West Houston Street and Pavonia Fer
ry railway, who had Just elected him
president to fill the vacancy caused by
the resignation of John Crimmins. The
street lines included I'm this road were
all badly equipped and poorly handled.
1t was question of reconstruction
that just appealed to vreeland because
IL was difficult He grasped the situa-
ton at once and within n few months
had the property moving I'm the right
direction. In speaking to one of his
associates ut this time he said. I'D
rather do this than make money But
the making of money was not far Off.
To-day Vreeland is president of the
Metropolitan Street railway and is con-
sidered the highest authority on sur
face traction in this country.
Then there was George Il. NJ. Har-
yey. Whitney had gained control of
all the main arteries of surface trac-
tion excepting the Third Avenue line.
lie began maneuvers 80 secure that.
Planning to beat the price of the stock
down, he made newspaper campaign
and picked Harvey up as his press
agent. Harvey was then managing cd
itor of The World on small salary.
Today he is worth probably half n mil
lion and is owner of The North Ameri.
can Review, but, strangely enough, has
gone over to the Morgan camp. Mean
while Whitney had banged Third Ave
nue. so effectively that the price of the
stock had been cut I'm two. All this
time Nreeland had been studying the
property. When il was placed In the
hands of n receiver, Vreeland secured
access TO the statements. which he ate
up In short order After n day or two
OF digestion he said TO his chief:
Now, Mr.. Whitney, is the time TO
buy
"And buy was the slogan for all in
siders.
with characteristic flncsse the Whit.
ney crowd worked the market both
ways. Some OF the shrewdest men In
the street thought that the Whitney
people were selling. but no one seemed
TO know what was going on.
ut was smooth deal The Whitney
people bought the road at a lower price
than they had previously offered TO the
owners. They got in ut about 80. and
now the stock is quoted ut 112. In ties.
timony OF their appreciation of Vree-
lands work In this deal the Whitney
syndicate sent him a check for $780, |
QUO, which they could well afford TO
do"