The Washington times., 1903-04-28
The Contradictions Of BaeT.
Consequences Of Taking a One-Sided
View of Life.

SCAkSE 4ELlIES VI dELLlS d OuE-S14Eu
View of Life
Mr.. Baer is one of the most re-
markable characters in the United
States today, and as such 1t must
be added he has not received due
recognition. To the average person
he IS known as the coal magnate who
at the time of the great anthracite
strike last summer, persisting that
he would ne'er consent to arbitration.
consented.
In connection with that momeutous
controversy he gave out a number of
interviews, wrote d few letters, ard
delivered one or two speeches which
created the impression that he was a
hard taskmaster and a constituencies
money-grabber. It may as well be
confessed that the great public does
not look on the mine operator and
railroad manager with the eye Of low
ing kindness.
Yet Mr.. Baer has succeeded IN ac-
eompishing what he set out to do,
and success-worldIy success-in
these days Of commercialism Is ac-
counted the meritorious thing. He
took a broken-down railroad system
and made it a sound and productive
property. He has increased the out
put of his stockholders mines and
marketed it at very profitable
price Beginning as a struggling
lawyer, he has made his way to the
head Of one Of the most formidable
eapitalistie combinations in this eoun-
try.
As president and director of more
corporations than he can remember
the names of, as he says, and espe-
cially as the dominant power IN the
Reading Company, which title covers
vast railroad and mining interests, he
practically dictates the price Of coal
for domestic as well as industrial
purposes on the Atlantic Seaboard.
First by digging the fuel and then by
carrying 1t TO market, he has given a
very. practical demonstration of how
TO make money with both hands
As a business man, Mr.. Baer be
Iieves IL making as much money as
possible His methods have been saw
agely assailed, but he has not changed
them because of any outside criticism.
His legal training has so far kept him
clear Of the pitfalls of the law. and
he challenges his enemies 10 show
where he has been guilty Of technical
wrongdoing. Il believe IN the mai
esty Of the law" he has proclaimed,
somewhat pompousIy, to be sure, on
a number Of occasions, although the
constitution Of Pennsylvania specific
ally prohibits his railroad company
from mining coal
Moreover, MIR. Baer Is a man Of
unquesnoned piety. In his religious
views he incHnes to sternness. Has
he not unfaIteringly declared tIat he
Is the personal agent Of God in the
direction Of the property interests of
the anthracite basin? It Is a mistake
to question the sincerity of his re-
ligious and business views He Is
sincere, as a matter Of truth. to the
point of fanaticism. What with his
monumental seIf-esteem and his I'M
pregnable faith IN the holiness Of his
earthly mission, he Is never IN d6lbt
as to the rectitude Of his own conduct
or the infallibility Of his human judg-
ment.
Once or twice of late he has be-
trayed something Of an irritable
temper when accused of questionable
acts, but his replies TO his critics have
been uniformly seIf-approving in
tone and eontemptuous Of public
opinion. To give good measure to
the sum of his contradictions, he pro-
fesses to be a Democrat In politics.
and on a recent occasion he went to
the trouble Of expounding the prin-
ciples Of Democracy 10 his own entire
self-justiication.
Yet with al this superior virtue
and rigid devotion to dogma and
principle, Mr. Baer Is without
spark Of human sympathy Take his
business methods alone-and he IS
particularly fond of defending their
correctness on legal and religious
grounds. If some millions of his
eountrymen differ from him, they are
wrong, and that settles IT. II his
mine workers. who risk their health