Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-02
Magician Of the Overland Railroad

change, servant Of fortune. student of
times ana changes. a cold, hard, money
getting machine--no more"
That IL the Hartman handicap. He was
born in the cast, educated in the east.
graduated into the stock exchange with a
lot OF eastern money In his pocket. had all
his friends In the east was full of the
eastern idea Of specialization and high
development" abhorred the extravagsnt
diffusion OF energy that IL the natural
birthright Of the true westerner-ln fact,
was perfectly adapted by en- unkind provi-
dence TO set on edge, rile and generally fall
foul of every .true.born westerner with
whom he came In contact.
8
II-Ha rrimnn-T'he Executive.
And he did II. He had not been in the
saddle two years before Coils p. Hunting
ton ana he came TO blows. His threat to
shove branch of the oregon Short Line
from ogden into San Francisco struck the
kings Of California" about the same way
that a sightseeing trolley line around
windsor castle would strike the royal fom-
ily Mr.. Hartman hated to build that
lIne-ft was such a waste OF time! lie
dropped II when G. p. Huntington died. II
he had been the least bit OF pioneer at
heart he would have showed It through in
eighteen months IL he had. his engineers
would probably have dug cuts right
through the heart of the new Nevada gold
neids Which only goes to prove that no
man knows everything.
II Is unnecessary TO tell the Wall street
public how r. II. Hartman has come to
blows since then with J. J. Hill. J. P. Nor
gan, the First National bank, the Rock
Island crowd Edwin Hawiey, George J.
Gould. stuyvesant Fish and almost every
one else with whom he has been in con-
tact. Neither is 1t necessary to go further
for the reason. II his ambitions crossed
theirs he forgot about theirs If his mood
prompted he did not hesitate to insult
u1em-in fact, ne did not know he was
doing It, When he and J. j. Hill used to
sit on the Northern Securities ,>oard to-
gether Wall street banker made this wise
remark:
when hear that those directors are in
session always watch the ticker. Pro-
pinquity is sometimes dangerous, as, for
instance. In the case of bull pup and a
dynamite cartridge"
In the matter OF the declaration of the
Union Paoifc and Southern Pacific dlvi-
dends last week he did Just w1at one might
expect August IS, 1906, should have been
the BEedlest udy III inc iletluo VI e. H.
Hartman. He probably intended that 1t
should be, II he had been a westerner, or
even an easterner, with the least degree
Of tact, It would have been.
In his hour OF triumph, however he
trampled upon some small prerosatives OF
the great, blind, stupid public therefore,
of course, the public forgot everything but
its own rights-and what should have been
a day OF Hartman triumph became a day
OF public vituperation.
From the outset of his career as rail-
road power the policy Of 2. H. Hartman
was pronounced. 1t followed the precepts
of economy. At the beginning of this
eight-year period the Union Pacific was
just emerging from it's long receivership.
The government debt had been COM
promised. After much opposition the bond
holders had also been satisfied, and the
stockholders OF the old road had been as
sessed SIS per share. The road had started
on a new career with a fair supply of
cash, fair share Of friendly alliances and
q fair volume of business Offering
II was, however, a poorly compiled rail-