The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-15
HARTMAN.
4 Striking Study of His Charac.
ter and Career.
wall Street JournaU

~ SsEiAluk STUDY OF HIS 0n0faac. y
ter and Career. .
wall Street JournaD =
: . . = . . q ee~><~> . :
In the early spring OF 1895 the new
board Of Union Pacific directors was
elected. and, down about the middle of
the list. appeared the name of E. H.
Hartman. In such list the name was
unimportant. The names of James
saltwater, Marvin Hughitt, president
OF the Northwestern, Roswell Miller,
president Of the St. Paul. George ].
Gould. president Of the Missouri Pa.
cific. overshadowing it. The only ques-
ton in mems minds was whom this
Hartman represented.
Yet, in the next scar E. H. Harri-
man was chosen chairman of the exc
cutive. He stepped at once from the
ranks and assumed the power of COM
mand. In Community of interests
railroad" there Is always mind above
all other minds. In this case the mas
ter mind was that of E. H. Hartman.
In the eight years intervening the
policy OF the Union Pacific has been
the policy OF f. H. Hartman. 1t has
been q daring, fearless. confident pol
icy. Without boundless prosperity it
the country at large it would not have
been possible. Because he has worked
hand-in-glove with Fate and Fortune,
this man has done in eight short years
task equal to the labor of the life
time OF James ] Hill. Lord Strathcona
or any other of the builders.
For E. II. Hartman is not railroad
builder. He is not pioneer. He took
the labor OF the hands Of other men.
Croker. Stanford. Huntington, bought
In a lump the life-labor Of these men,
greater. perhaps. than himself. and
reared upon their hard-built founda-
tons structure Of his own planning
the Hartman system. Here and
there. in Arizona. Mexico. Oregon. he
allowed his lieutenants to break into
the wilderness. but for himself he fol-
lowed the path blazed out by the great
pioneers-followed 1t and built it over
anew upon plan and scale of mar
velous perfection.
Therefore. Mr.. Hartman has missed
the romance that clings about the
names of Leland Stanford. Coils P.
Huntington. James j. Hill. Lord
Strathcona and the rest of the coterie
of daring men who led the first strug-
Cling cohorts OF capital and civilization
into the grim. forbidding wilderness.
So 1t is that even today if Mr.. Harri-
man were inclined to say of the Union
and the Southern Pacific. 10, this is
the work Of my hands," there would
be half a thousand men on his own
payroll who. in their hearts would an
swer him: 1T is not yours-it is of
the giants who went before you, who
plotted 1t all and planned 1t all and
gave their lives and labor of their
hands to the breaking of the fields
from which you reap the harvest. You
are son of the New York Stock Ex-
change. a servant of Fortune. student
Of times and changes. a cold, hard,
money-getting machine-no more"
That is the Hartman handicap. He
was born in the East. educated in the
East, graduated into the Stock Ex-
change 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 develop
ment." abhorred the extravagant ditfu-
sion OF energy that Is the natural
birthright OF the true westerner-in
fact. was perfectly adapted by an un-
kind providence to set on edge. rile
and generally fall foul Of every true
born westerner with whom he came in
contact.
And he did it. He had not been in
the saddle two years before Coils P.
Huntington and 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
Family. Mr.. Hartman hated to build
the line 1t was such a waste OF time.
He dropped it when C. P. Huntington
died. If he had been the least bit of
a Pioneer at heart he would have shov-
ed it through in eighteen months. II he
had. his engineers would probably
have dug cuts right through the heart
OF the Nevada gold fields: Which on
~ goes to show that no man knows
everything.
1t is unnecessary to tell the Wall
street public how E. H. Hartman has
come to blows since then with ]. ).
Hill. j. P. Morgan. the First National
Bank. the Rock Island crowd. Edwin
Hawley. George j. Could. Stuyvesant
Fish. and almost everyone else with
whom he has been in contact. Neither
is necessary to 20 further for the rea-
son. If his ambitions crossed theirs.
he forgot about theirs. II his mood
prompted he did not hesitate to in
suit them-in fact he did not know he
was doing 1t. When he and ]. J. Hill
used to sit on the Northern Securities
board together. Wall street banker
made this wise remark:
when I hear that those directors
are in session, always watch the
ticker. Propinauity is sometimes dan
gerous, as for instance. in the case Of
bull pup and a dynamite cartridge"
In the matter OF the declaration Of
the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific
dividends last week. he did just what
one might expect. August IS, 1906,
should have been the greatest day In
the lifetime Of f. H. Hartman. He
probably intended that it should be-
If he had been a westerner. or even an
easterner with the least degree OF tact,
| 1t would have been.
In his hour Of triumph. however, he
trampled upon some small preroga-
| tives Of the great. blind. stupid pub
lie. Therefore. Of course, the public
forgot everything but its own rights
and what should have been day of
Hartman triumph became a day of
public vituperation.
| For the West his policy has created
new highway from tho lakeo IN the