The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-11

The Strategy Of Great Railroads. by
Frank H. spearman. Published by
Charles scrlbner's Sons.
The foundation structure and building
OF any great enterprise is of interest to
the thoughtful reader and should bear
in the recital the same helpful lesson
and stimulant that is to be found IN the
story OF a successful life. In writing Of
the greas railroads of this country, Frank
! II. Spearman has chosen to tell OF a
number of the greatest enterprises and
achievements of the century. His more
formal business part Of their formation
is most Interestingly combined with
| something Of the personal element, for
most of the systems have now the name
of thsi. founders irrsvocably associated
with thtm-
The text is accompanied by number
of llusu atoms and maps which make 1t
doubiy valuable in calculating the exact
location of the road under discussion.
and adds very much to It's educational
value. Such a volume must be of meal
culable assistance to one in the railroad
business who wishes to be thoroughly
familiar with the exact proportions and
history OF each road.
In reading this volume through, one
naturally wonders with what feelings
these same railroad magnates follow the
recital OF their circumstances and OBJ
scure and lowly origen. OF course In
several as the Vanderbilt and Gould
lines, the great founders who may have
justly taken pride In their rise and
achievements have passed away, SO that
the personal "reminiscences must be
even harder to bear by the heirs with
possibly extreme social ambitions. or
the Vanderbilt lines the author writes;
"On the lower river front of a little
New Jersey town. hanked on the one
hand by dreaming hulks Of rheumatic
towboate, and on the other by the decay
Ing buildings OF past generation, stands
a forsaken hotel. - The name of
the place was once the Steamboat hotel
the gsrius of It's owner breaking out
even then In the title he chose for his
Inn. What now lends strange interest
to the shabby landmark is, that out of
the magic of It's early days have risen
stately lalaces, lofty facades, a dynasty
of American railway magnates, the
splendor of oriental dreams, and a sys-
tenn of transportation unapproached In
the stoiy of the world for under the
roof of this New Brunswick ruin Mrs
Vanderbilt, 1t is said. saved the first
eight n,.edred dollars that gave her hus-
band, the commodore, his start in the
transport alton business.
To-day the Vanderbilt's are the princes
Of the railway world. When the
founder of the Vanderbilt fortunes lay
in swadGling clothes the house of Barring
Bros & Co stood at the height of its
power, and its founder, Sir Francis Bar
ing, was writing his Observations on the
Founding of the Bank Of England
When tris young Cornelius Vanderbilt,
the future commodore, had reached the
obscurity of twenty-first year, Nathan
Rothsoh-d, already powerful was spur
ring upon London with tho secret of
the French defeat at Waterloo, but the
Vanderhlts have lived to see the name of
Barring forgotten and the fame even of
the Roshschilds equalled by their own"
A valuable chapter is devoted to 1.-THE
Rebuilding of an American Railroad"
He sayg;
In American railroad management