The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-13

don't you take advantage of it to try
and negotiate a loan" Just then Mr..
c. P. Huntington, who was then visit
ing San Francisco on one of his an
nual tours. crossed the hotel office
and accosted me. We shook hands,
and 1, noticing that Mackay and Hunt
iEgton did not speak to each other, said.
why is it possible that you gentle
men are not acquainted? Mr.. Hunt
ington this is Mr.. Mackay." The rail-
road king nodded coolly to Mackay
and said, How do you do. sir?" A
moment afterwards the expression of
his face changed and he exclaimed
why, this is not John w. Mackay. is
it?" Mackay-wfo was evidently a
little nettled at Huntington's failure
to know him, touched his hat with
mock Difference and answered John
w is my first name, if you please, SIR"
The conversation drifted into com
ments upon the growth and prospects
OF san FRANCISCO. The people must
get rid of their expensive ways" said
Huntington, before San Francisco
will really thrive" why, San Fran
cisco is the cheapest city to live in. in
<AhtCilNSl, S1iu .hdCkdN. mat NAV
be So I suggested, "for people with
small incomes who employ no domestic
servants" San Francisco" repeated
Huntington, must get down to bust
ness. There is no coin here smaller
than nickel 1t should be so that
you can buy something for penny"
What" said Mackay. do you want
to buy for a penny?" "An apple. for
said 1, you can buy five apples for five
cents" "What?" said Mackay, '.and
give away the other four, and break his
hearth"
This, though witty, was not just to
Huntington who was not by any means
a small man in small things. In en-
gineering a financial scheme in Wall
street. or suggesting freight and fare
schedule he would mercilessly exact
''all that the traffic would bear" but ne
was loyal to old friendships and gen.
erous to old friends, and if the stubs
of his private check book were given
in evidence, they would show many
and many benefaction known only to
the recipient and himself, as we'll as
many larger benefactions to promote
public purposes and advance the sue
cess of principles in which he believed
I AAA
J Leland Stanford was the philosopher
and prophet of the pioneer overland
road. Charles Crocker was it's right
arm, but c. P. Huntington was it's
brain Crocker's favorite seat was
upon the cowcatcher of the locomotive
on the construction train, ever push
ing to the front with restless energy.
Stanford with dominant individuality
controlled men, controlled caucuses,
reconciled conflicting interests and pla-
Gated enmities But c. P. Huntington
was the master spirit. When the
financial necessities of the road called
him to New York City he was no long,
er a young man, and he was without
special training for his task. But
from the hour he entered Wall Street,
until death called him, he was success
full in his operations. Rival capital
lists could not entrap him, and he was
not to be bullied either by men or
events. When one who had come into
possession of a bundle of his letters,
that were afterwards used in the Col
ton case, tried to sell them to him for
a large amount, his cool and character
/ istic reply was, "They are worth the
money, but I have read them; you
want to sell them to somebody
who has not read them He had the
courage of his convictions. He be-
| lieved that the construction of an inter-
oceanic canal would have a tendency
to lessen the revenues of the Southern
Pacific Company, and he did not hesi-
tate to throw obstacles in the way of
/ its construction. ut will never be
built while 1 live said he.
AAA
He was strong friend and a bitter
enemy, He was grand old fighter.
who fought ever in the open. When he
entered the lists he passed by all les
ser antagonists and smote the brazen
shields of the Brian de Bots Guilberts.
When he began the hazardous expert
ment of constructing an overland road,
there were not fifty miles of railroad
all told, between the Rocky mountains
and the Pacific ocean. He lived to see
the locomotives of seven great trans
continental lines, laundering daily,
from the Missouri to the Pacific. and
to be able to ride in his private car
from Arctic to tropic seas. His most
appropriate epitaph would be his reply
to a member of a committee of the
United States Senate, who said to him
when he was examined as a witness be-
fore the Inter State Commerce Com
mission: ''Mr Huntington, have you