The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-08
Hartman NowCOntroIs Railroad
From Atlantic to Pacific.
Was Successful in Ousting Fish
From Illinois Central.
FORMS PIE LAST LINK.
Purchase of b. & 0. Stock Gives
Him Atlantic Terminals.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
in Railroad Circles.

New York. Nov. S.-By the election
Of J.. T.. Harahan AS president of
the Illinois Central railroad to succeed
-Stuyvesant Fish it is believed E. H.
Hartman has at last realized the full
fTment Of his plan to control a rail-
road line from the Atlantic to the Pa
cfhc oceans. In this great plan the Hi
nois Central vas the one link missing
TO complete a line of track from New
Ore, from the great lakes to the gulf
of Mexico and from the gulf to the
Pacific again. Until within a few months
eastern terminals of the Hartman
and New Orleans. The first important
step in the direction OF securing the
outlet on the Atlantic staboard of the
Union Pacific and Southern Pacific is
believed to nave been taken by Mr..
Hartman several weeks ago when it
was reported that one Of the roads I'M
der his control had taken over control
of the B. & O.. by purchase of a block
of 400, GOO shares of the B. & O.. COM
pany which was sold by the PennsyI-
vania railroad company. This would
giVe Mr.. Hartman a route from Chi
cagO and st. Louis to Baltimore and
New York To complete the ambitious
proposition for q continuous line from
ocean to ocean it was necessary only
to connect the western terminals of the
B. & O.. with the eastern terminals OF
the GGuIAACiI L dCAAAC aAA0 AlAOA l. 81
and this purpose the Illinois Central
serves amply. Its lines from Omaha to
Chicago tied together the Union Pa
cihc and b. & o., while the Illinois
Central branch from Chicago to New
Orleans gives the Southern Pacific en-
trance into Chicago and the seaboard.
Taken together the system if unified,
puts under one control more than ZS,OOO
miles OF track, capitalized at more than
81, 700, 900, 600.
James T. Harahan, vice president of
the Illinois Central, was elected presi-
dent at a meeting Of the board of di-
rectors in this city by a vote of 5 to o,
the adherentS of President S~tuyVesant
Fish not voting. The meeting is re-
ported to have been a stormy one. The
directors who voted for Mr.. Harahan
were John Jacob Astor, John w Auch-
inclOSs, Robert w. Goelet, James i.
Harahan, f. H. Hartman, Walter
Luttgen, Charles A. Peabody and Cor
nelius Vanderbilt.
The following directors did not vote:
S~tuyyesant Fish. Charles NJ. Beach, J.
Dewitt Cutting and Charles s.. Deneen
governor of Illinois, who is eX-officiO a
member of the board. JohnsC. yelling,
another director, was not present owing
to illness.
chosen but the other officers of the COM
pany whose terms expire were re-elect-
ed by a vote of 10 to g.. MessTs. Flshi
and Beach not voting
Shortly before the meeting the d.
rectors who voted for Mr. Harahan sent
a letter 10 President Fish giving their
election The letter declares that IN June
last without consulting the other mem
bers of the board of directors Mr.. Fish
issued 9 circular to the s~tockho-ders re
questing proxies for the annua1 election.
At the next meeting of the board 1t
was declared. Mr.. Fish by breaking the
quorum defeated d resolution for the
appointment of a committee to solicit
proxies. Later Fish and Hartman ef-
Facro1 an aUraampnf that the Hartmann
kuhn-Loe proxies should be given to
Fish. who would vote for Harrinan's Sc
annual meeting. Henry W. Deforest was
Harrinan's choice, but the statement
says Fish absolutely refused TO vote the
proxies as agreed and instead useu the
proxies to elect Fish's individual nom
inee. Fish further wrote and caused to
be published statements rejecting on his
fellow directors. The letter continues:
This incident is the climax of a series
of events during the past few years show
ing an inability on your part to distinguish
between the powers and duties OF the
president and those OF the directors OF a
we viii not for a moment admit that
you are more loyal to the
or more keenly alive to the interests OF
the public in the performance OF your du-
ties of the company, than your Fellow dl--
~rectors. nor win we, while directors OF
the company. permit you to assume to
act "a the entire board to make agree
ments and violate them, or to asperse
the motives OF your fellow members in
the expectation OF securing personal al
vantage from their expense
THE situation is solely of your own
creating: but in view of what has taken
place Of your deliberate violation of an
agreement intended to create peace IN
the board n your attitude toward your
fellow members We are convinced that
YOU have rendered impossible that har-
mony which must exist between the pres
ident Of the compan and members Of the
board and that you have so seriously inn
paired your usefulness as an officer OF
the company as to compel US to refuse
to vote IN favor of your reelection
After the meeting Mr.. Hartman said:
This is not my fight; it is a fight Of
the board of directors and Mr.. Fish? 1
acceded to the July agreement regarding
the election OF directors at the annual
meeting only in Difference to the wishes of
the board. The July agreement was made
primarily to quiet the public elamor
which was being raised in the press and
to silence the various examinations
which were being made in the public
prints as an outcome of the contention
which had arisen in the board of direc-
tors. Personally. I had not a word to
saw at today's meeting of the board. The
board took no action whatever in regard
to the appointment Of any committee to
take charge of the management of the
road
Tho Elections Legality Questioned.
The question of whether it was legal to