The suburban citizen., 1901-01-12
vaErLANp,s pRAMArlc llEE.
The Conductor Picked to BE President
of whitney's Street RaIlways.

wv -'''' - ~ Ns
The Conductor Picked to BE President
Of whitney's Street RaIlways.
"The career Of II. II. Vreeland is as
| dramatic as a play. He began as a
section man on the Long Island Rail.
road became a brakeman and th m
got employment on what is now known
as the Putnam Road. One day VIII.
liam c. Whitney was making tour
OF inspection on this railroad with 9th.
er directors. He began to question the
officials Of the company on details Of
the roads business To almost every
question. they replied lamely, Guess
you'd better ask Vreeland about that
"'Who is Vreelandp said Whitney.
"Hes the conductor
"Vreeland was sent for, and Whit
ney found him Il tall, raw-boned man
with a square jaw and fine, regular
white teeth, which showed continual
ly while he answered a rapid fire Of
questions.
whitney hadn't talked with him
fifteen minutes when he had him
marked. Some time later Vreeland
received a telegram from Whitney
asking him to be at the Office of the
Broadway and Seventh Avenue Rail
road that day at two o'clock. There
was no time on the schedule which
would get him into New York in time
to make the appointment. But by this
time he was Assistant General Man
ager and had pull enough to order a
special train. He reached the Office on
time. He had been waiting for quite
a while when clerk came up to him
and asked, Are you Mr.. VreelandT
THAT'S my name said VreeIand
"'Well, Mr.. Whitney is waiting for
you inside
"Vreeland was taken in and intro.
duced to the Board Of Directors Of
the West Houston Street and Pavonla
Ferry Railway, who had just elected
him President to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of John
Crimmins. The street lines included
in this road were all badly equipped
and poorly handled. 1t was a question
of reconstruction that just appealed to
Nreeland because 1t was difficult He
grasped the situation at>once and with
in n few months had the property
moving in the right direction. In
7 speaking to one Of his associates at
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
considered the highest authority on
surface traction in this country.
"Then there was George B. M. Har-
vey. Whitney had gained control of
| all the main arteries of surface trac
tlon excepting the Third Avenue line.
! He began maneuvers to 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
| editor of the World on a small salary
To-day he is worth probably half
million. and is owner of the North
American Review, but strangely
enough, has gone over to the Morgan
camp. Meanwhile, Whitney had
banged Third Avenue so effectively
that the price Of the stock had been
cut in two. All this time Vreeland
had been studying the property. When
/ 1t was placed in the hands Of a re-
ceiyer, Vreeland secured access to the
statements, which he ate up in short
order. After day or two of dlges
tion he said to his chief:
"'NOw, Mr. Whitney, is the time to
buy.
"And Buy was the slogan for all
insiders.
with Characteristic finesse, the
Whitney 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.
1T was a smooth deal. The Whit
ney people bought the road at lower
price than they had previously offered
to the owners. They got in at about
fifty-iiye, and now the stock is quoted
at 112. In testimony Of their appre.
ciatlOn of Vreelands work in this deal,
the Whitney syndicate sent him a
check for 100000, which they could
well afford to do."-George L. Fielder,
in Ainslee's.