Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-13

or the modern money wizards who,
in the role of financial shepherds. have
found Wall street most excellent
grazing ground there is none more
prominent today than Edward Henry
Hartman, a swarthy, undersized man
of nine and fifty years, taciturn, care
less of dress and wearing a derby hat
scme sizes too large for a head which
in turn appears to be abnormally large
for the body charged with its support,
The greatness of Hartman is In the
brain. for physically he is almost of
the diminutive stature of the late jay
Gould, and he is not blessed with ro-
bust health. Unlike his great antago-
MIST ]. Pierpont Morgan, whose mind
operates iututively the Hartman in
tellect works by patient. logical and
concise processes. He Is a master OF
detail, although dealing i'm immense
propositions, while tight-istedness and
selhshness are dominant characteristics.
When Hartman began his upbuild-
ing of the earning power of the Union
Pacific I'm 1890 he found an ideal aid in
Horace G. Burt reconstructionist who
had already left his impress as engi-
neer of the Northwestern. Backed by
the Hartman millions he assembled
an army of contractors and laborers,
equipped the force with machinery OF
a sort then new in railway construc-
tion, and in less than two years, with
cut a days interruption of traffic, re
built the line from end to end. And
yet Burt resigned because. as he ex-
pressed it, he did not care to account
for every postage stamp used in his
office. This throws a side light upon
a phase of the Hartman character. 1t
also indicates one of the secrets of the
Hartman success and his unlikeness
to Morgan. The Hartman genius is
the genius of patience, that of Morgan
the genius of inspiration.
The ousting of Stuyvesant Fish from
the Illinois Central is an excellent in
deX to the character of Hartman. Once
Hartman was poor and in those days
he met Fish. Hartman worked his
way up the financial ladder, and Au-
gust IS, 1870. was possessed of sufficient
money to buy a seat on the New York
stock exchange. He started in the
stock brokerage business with broth
er and dealt successfully in the securi-
ties of the Illinois Central. His first
million was made when the Illinois
Central purchased the YaZoo & Mis-
sissippi Valley railroad. He established
a bank with his brother, and a brother
of Fish was q special partner. Stuyve-
SAINT Fish, a tig man intellectually as
well as financially and socially, aided
the institution with prestige and good
will. The Vanderbilt account came to
Harriman's bank. Fish invited Harri-
man into the directorate of the Illinois
Central, he helped him to form connec-
tions in financial institutions. He con-
tributed much to make the Wall street
climber possible. Even at this time
there were those who said that Ed
ward Hartman had no heart and no
for friendships where
business was involved. In answer to
that assertion there was published July
l6, 1905, this statement: The fact that
Mr. Hartman still enjoys the friend
ship and cooperation of such early
friends as Stuyvesant Fish may be re-
corded as an offset to this unchartable
assertion" In view of what Hartman
has since done to Fish the statement
reads like a joke.
February %, 1S4S, at Hampstead.
Long Island, Edward Hartman was
born. His father, clergyman of the
Protestant Episcopal church. was scant-
lily possessed of the goods of this world.
his treasure being in that place where
moth and rust are said not to corrupt.
Edward was the third son, his elder
brothers being Nelson and Orlando, his
sisters Lily and Annie. The Rev. Mr.
Hartman moved his family from place
to place as he could get charge, and
finally settled in Hoboken. The for
tunes of the family improved about
this time, as Mrs. Hartman received
a legacy sufficient to provide for the
wants of parents and children. Ed
wards schooling had ben obtained at
an institution where sons of clergy
men could he taught practically with
out cost, and he developed as a pleas
ant little chap who did about the same
things as other boys of his age, and
gave no evidence of the great work IN
which he was afterward to be the lead
ing factor.
When the Harrimans moved finally
to Jersey City Edward became a clerk
in a small brokerage office in Wall
street and Joined that army of young
sters who are about the banks and Of
fees from the time the ticker starts
until the market closes for the day.