The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-19
IS CLOSELY GUARDED
Gay, RoIlicking Blade in Y Youth
Not Overly Sedate Now.
Gossip and Matters of Interest
in Railroad Circles.

a really big" man who didn't sell |
newspapers when he was a boy and |
who never worked "a hours day. AS /
an apostle of accomplishment, Alex |
ander Johnston Cassatt, president of |
the Pennsylvania Railroad company, |
has nothing to learn from Russell |
Sage, and he is a much more com
Portable model for the fun-loving |
American youth.
In addition to being the head and |
dictator of the greatest railroad sys-
TEN in the world. Mr.. Cassatt is presi-
dent OF six other companies and a di- |
rector in %; and he has very large
personal fortune to look after, for he
was ready made man before he
started in to make himself over again. |
He came of a wealthy family. and ne
might have lived in luxury all his life
without ever turning a dollar out of
railroading. When he was born in !
Pittsburg, in 1888, fortunes were not
SO colossal as they are today. Mr..
Cassatt is estimated to be worth at
the present time $4,000, 900, and at
least $T9000,000 of that he made out
thro.e is not more closely guarded
man than he. and it is much easier to
gain an audience with the President
of the United States than to gain ad-
mittance to the private Office of Mr..
Cassatt in Broad street station.
This sanctum is a large room, about
40xS0 feet, guarded by four negro
porters and f1anked round about by one
secretary, three stenographers and
three officials who have the title Of
assistant to the president but who
in themselves are large systems They
are TO Mr.. Cassatt what the larger
planets are to the sun. The presidents
office is furnished in mahogany. The
president sits in a mahogany chair
uph olstered in leather before fat
top mahogany desk. He does not like
roll-top desks because he frequently
wants to spread out large maps and
plans before him. In one corner of the
room IS a large geographical globe.
Deals in Millions.
All the orthodox rules of business
nave been cast aside by this Napoleon
OF transportation. He deals in mill
lions as other men deal in hundreds.
and he does it without Worrying him
self much. His office hours are rarely
longer than from 9: 80 in the morning
to in the afternoon. with an hour
and half or two hours for luncheon
in the handsome private dining room
adjoining the Office. There is a bath
room in the suite also, and the presi-
dent often finds time to refresh him
SER with plunge. But despite his
pre-em1nent position, Mr.. Cassatt is
one of the most difident of men. He
IS very easily confused. and rarely in
dulges In wordy battles. The man
ner in which he forestalled the Van
derbiltS by acquiring the Long Island
railroad and then proceeded to estab-
lish passenger and freight terminals
in the very heart Of Manhattan bv
means of tunnel system costing
100000, proved his genius for
immense accomplishments. He thinks
out his schemes while riding about his
stock farm "Chesterbrook," near
Berwyn, turning his attention readily
from a plan to fasten control upon
new soft coal territory to a SPAWN on
the leg of a favorite hackney
It is doubtful if an ADLER civil engi-
neer lives in America than Mr. Cas-
satt- He is no rich idler, no high born
incompetent. His education is we'll
grounded. It was trimmed off by a
course in the German university of
Darmstadt, and finished in the Rens-
selaer Polytechnic institute of Troy,
from which he was graduated in 1859,
well equipped civil engineer at the
age of 20. He had a clear head, a
wonderful talent for mathematics. and
a constitution that seemed to be de-
signed to stand anything.
Has Not Been a PrOhibftionfst.
If this were a sketch of your old
fashioned business man, it would be
strength, but he didn't. He has al
ways smoked large, black cigars, and
has never been a prohibitionist-in
fact, he was a gay, rollicking blade in
his youthful days. and there is moth
| ing particularly sedate about him now.
But when he worked. he worked. and
when he played. he played, whole
souled in one as he was in the other.
Can't Make Public Speech.
Mr.. Cassatt never made a speech be-
! fore a large audience in his life and
frankly confesses that he can't Among
\ a Of ho fa1
forcibly and incisively, but when the
crowd swells beyond the dimensions of
! directors meeting he becomes tongue
| tied, and can't find the right word That
a man so bashful, so timid. could ever
| become captain of finance seems abb
surd yet such are the contradictions of
the man.
At Broad Street station and at his
country mansion in Haverford, he lives
/ in regal fashion. but in the old Davis
mansion on his Chesterbrook farm he
frequently entertains distinguished
guests at meals which they cook them
selves and which are served without
walters. He is impregnable in his Office,
/ but he will stop to chat with the hum
blest citizen of Lower Merton township
where he has been superintendent of
roads for years. and has constructed a
system of highways which are unequal
4 ed anywhere else in the United States.
He is an enthusiastic member of the
New York Yacht club He has ridden
horseback so much that his legs are
quite bowed.-New York Evening Post.
] Gulf Line Changes.
T. o. Wood purchasing agent of the
Gulf. Colorado & Santa Fe has been an
| pointed purchasing agent of the Gulf
/ lines of the Atchison. Topeka & Santa
Fe system, with headquarters at Gle
burne. Tex. Edwin S. Clayton, hereto
fore assistant foreman in the store de-
partment, has been appointed chief clerk
/ to Mr. Wood E S. Newton has beer
appointed general storekeeper.
Conductors "Size Up" Passengers.
u y many SoltN ~ ~ dlEect.ns