Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-03-07
HARTMAN THE Man,
Some Glimpses Of the Railroad
Magnate at Sea.
QUIET AND UNoBTRUsIvE.
a War Correspondents Account Of a
Voyage With Him, In Contrast With
Two United States Senators What
the Japanese Think Of Hartman.

Ss sst0 SaPdhSSe Hlnk OF r1arfbmans
My first glimpse Of the real man was
on voyage, writes Frederick Palmer,
the famous war correspondent Id Col
lier's. When the ocean is the Pacific.
and there are few people aboard you
learn your fellow passengers pretty
well. So you did on this occasion, in.
GLIDING two United States senators.
Hartman spent more time with the
engineer than with them,
We started from Yokohama with the
idea of beating the record to San
Francisco. A smooth sea all the way
meant an even chance Of success. This
disapp for every body. except Har-
riman when the first three days were
entirely unpropitious. think that he
thought he must succeed because he
himself was aboard. When some one
offered him bet Of $1,000 to $1,000
that he would fail he took 1t. Then he.
started out to win the bet with all the
zest that he has shown In obtaining
control over new railroad. Fair
weather broke the next day and con-
tinued. We began to feel that the quiet
little man was putting demoniacal en-
/ ergy into the stokers and into the very
engines. By the dramatic space Of a
few minutes he won. Hartman never
advertised the fact that he gave the
$4,000 to the engine room crew. VIM
ming was the point in mind
On the whole he was the least obtru-
siye Of any great millionaire with
whom I have ever come In contact.
Whether he Is doing a kindness or do.
ing business, he never uses words
where thought or action will take their
place. noticed that when he told a
steward to move lady's chair to a
better position it was In an undertone
Of brevfty. The lady did not know Of
his thoughtfulnes She would IL
James J. ELL had been In Harriman's
place. Pierpont Morgan's po1iteness
would have had the aplomb Of Joye.
| The two senators were always ready
to pick up Harriman's handkerchief,
although they are on record as trust
busters. When you cut away their
legoism and glad handism the skeleton
/ that remained consisted merely Of q
rubber backbone and floating ribs. On
one occasion Senator N, looking
I around for an audience, engaged Har-
riman in discussion of the rate prob
i lem. 1t was the encounter Of a rapier
| and a pillow full Of words. Besides,
Hartman was not arguing; he was
telling us. |sg5 s :
Senator w. said that he hoped tc
!, avoid the importunate interviewers il
j San Francisco because he did not want
! any newspaper glory When he ar
i rived he graciously distributed long
| typewriter statement and called the
/ reporters boys He said that he
j would wait over a day instead Of tax.
ing the next mornings Overland linn.
1 tied. found afterward that he had
! gone on the Pacific express, because
passes are not honored on the Over
/ land.
Meanwhile the King no fat, overfed,
SNUG, vulgar, easy going king, but a
4 self made, intense, Argus eyed, little,
| efficient king-had gone aboard the tug
| waiting for him and was being shot
across the country by the mighty or
1 ganization he controlled, and controlled
SO absolutely perhaps because senators
! are cheap. So cheap were these two
| that you could not withhold your adj
miration from Hartman as thor
/ oughbred fighting man.
The contrast made me understand
the point Of view Of the japanese, who,
being foreigners, can see us in the
large. They looked on Hartman as
one Of the really great men Of Ameri-
ca, commander, who is the counter
| part of a Togo an Oyama, or Kuro-
XII; a type Of creative organizer who
has brought to America the Industrial
power which they so desire to emulate
and in the country where the civilian
is supposed to be of a lower breed than
the official they gave the man who had
never held Office at home more honors
than they had ever paid to any visiting
American since Grant