The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-07
NEW YORK TOPICS
GOSSIP AND CURRENT COMMENT
FROM THE METROPOLIS.

The Contest Between Pennsylvania
Railroad Interests With Those of
the GOuIds-GeOrge Gould and A.
j. Cassatt as Personal RivaIs-Ad-
vantages Possessed by Each in the
Gigantic Campaign of Opposition
to Each other They Are Now Con-
ductinG-HOw George Gould Was
Trained for His Predestined ca
reer by Jay Gould, His Father.
The Present Service on the EIe-
waited RniIroads-How Ii Was Inn
proved in the Last Half Year.
Progress of the Subway and How
II Is Being Hindered by the Strike.
New York, June 6.-More and more,
as the years roll by, the worlds of the
higher finance" of business and af-
fairs are recognizing in George Gould
a power that must be reckoned with
seriously in whatever he decides to in
terest himself with.
Just now he is receiving a great
deal of attention in the New York pa
pers because of the growing antag-
onasm between the general Gould in
teFests, of which he is the personal rep
resentative, and the interests of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company,
whose interests are personally repre-
scented by A. J. Cassatt, its president.
Within a week several journals have
printed portraits of these two men,
side by side, as if they were personal
rivals.
Broadly speaking, they are not, of
course, and yet the big contest be-
tween the vast interests they repre-
sent must of necessity be conducted
by them personally, so that COM
parison of their personal qualities is
sure to be made both by the public
and all who are individually interested
in the contest.
In several respects Mr. Cassatt would
appear to posses decided advantages.
He is a man of vast and extremely
varied experience. He has behind him
a group of corporations possessing al
most unlimited power and almost I'M
limited money. The railroads owned
by these corporations connect all the
larger cities of the republic, save half
a dozen, with each other by direct
routes. New York, Philadelphia, Wash
ington, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Cleveland,
Buffalo, Cincinnati, Louisville, st.
Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Column
bus-all of these are strung, like beads,
on the Pennsylvania lines. Only Bos-
ton, New Orleans, Detroit, San Fran
scisco and the twin cities of st. Paul
and Minneapolis among the really great
towns of the country are not reached
by Pennsylvania lines, and even in the
cities reached by Gould roads, such
as st. Louis Pittsburg, Chicago, Buff
falo, etc, the Pennsylvania interests
are far stronger and more command
ing than the Goulds.'
But the advantages are not all with
Cassatt. To begin with the matter of
age. Here Gould is decidedly to the
good. He is still we'll under fifty, while
Cassatt is well over sixty, Cassatt's
present life of contest was entered up
der protest some few years ago, after
he had definitely retired from active
life that he might enjoy the remainder
of his existence as he saw fit. Gould
is apparently only beginning his period
of strenuous effort and he is going at
it as if he liked it and meant to keep
going to the top notch for many years
to come.
Undoubtedly the destruction of his
telegraph lines by the Pennsylvania
warmed UP his fighting blood not a
little, and gave added impetus to his
energy. If he has succeeded, as sus-
pected, in gaining control of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad, then he has
already won victory which, while
not decisive, will help him immensely
in the carrying on of his campaign.
There are some New Workers., main
ly among the very rich, who will SYM
pathize personally with one or other
of the contestants, but in the main
those who live here will be interested
Nv in he
papers of a serial novel in one of the
magazines, or in the plot develop
ments of strong play. Those who.
uninhuenced by reason of their invest
ments, sympathize with either, will
probably side with Cassatt, for, ex-
cepting Miss Helen, the Goulds are
not specially popular in the metropo-
lis.
This arises from the Goulds' con-
duct of the elevated railroads. Most
New Workers consider this to have
been essentially selfish and without
consideration for the comfort and con-
venience of the public, and also,
though more remote, from the tactics
of the elder Gould when he was
manipulating the Erie Railway years
ago. Cassatt's personal popularity is
a negligible quantity so far as the
mass of New Workers is concerned,
for until lately they have known
MIN sCulelly DIS d pdlTOH VI the
turf and a regular exhibitor at the
horse show in Madison Square Gar
den.
To those who study the develop
ment of the men who play the greater
games of life the development of
George Gould has been very interest
ing. and there are many who would
not hesitate to bet on his winning
at least his share of the honors and
the points.
AS a boy he was probably better
prepared for a life of good. hard, stiff
knocks than almost any other multi
millionaires son now living He didn't
go to college for the simple reason
that both he and his father believed
1t would be better, alike for him and
the family fortunes, if he got into
training as soon as he could. So he
began in earnest at the early age OF
II. His beginnings were as boy" in
the Office of Washington E. Gonnor
in whom the elder Gould had un-
bounded confidence. In the three
years he was with Conner the young.
er Gould undoubtedly gained a thor,
ough foundation for the work of whar
was predestined to be his career.
At 20 George Gould took up the de
tails of railroad management. A yea
later his father having become con