The Washington herald., 1907-04-14

sixteen difefeNe -
almost as many presidents. ~
ever, there are only four; NeWfi7i-faS - -
ing president Of the New York Central
and eleven other roads which originally
were twice or three times as many. The
three other Vanderbilt presidents are DR.
W. Seward Webb, "a Vanderbilt son-in-
law. who presides over two little lines in
the Adirondacks. W H. Canniff who pre-
sides over the Nickel Plate" from Buff
faio to Chicago, paralleIing the Lake
Shore, and John NJ. Beckley. president OF
the Toronto. Hamilton and Buffalo.
short piece of road in Canada. Beckley
organized this road. and Cannin was the
Nickel Plates president before the pres
ent Vanderbilt presidential policy was
adopted.
It must not be thought that the hired
president need be less of a good railroad
man than one who is elected by the stock
holders. however. In fact, he must be of
the best possible grade 10 gain the conf
denCe OF such men as William X. Wander
bit and George Gould. They are both
good railroaders themselves. they know
good railrOader when they see him. and
neither would allow a man who didn't
make good to remain in charge
William H. Newman Is much Of the
Marvin Hughitt type, Old-fashioned as 20
training, but at the front rank IN abil-
ity. He is just ten years younger than
Hughitt and began as a brakeman. In
1859. when twenty-five. he was advanced
to the post Of station agent at Shreves-
port, La, on the old Texas and Pacific
line. lie hadn't held that job down long.
when, one day, there pulled up at the
station passenger train whose engineer
and fireman We're so drunk that the pas
sengers We're afraid for their lives
Young Newman saw that It wouldn't do
10 let the drunken men 60 out with the
train. So, ordering them both off the en-
gine, he prepared TO take the train 20
the next stop. thirty-five miles awav him
self. first wiring ahead for sober crew
to take charge on his arrival He got the
train through on time, although not an
engineer by training. and won the ap-
plause or the passengers. One of them
was the wife OF the roads general man
ager; she reported Newman's conduct 10
- ------+@-tiNf anu NiAt 9DAllE EAHLlO0 HEGUL
was recommended for promotion He oas
been going UP the railroad ladder ever
since.
His route to the Vanderbilt presidency
lay over Goulds Missouri Pacific. the
Chicago and Northwestern, and the Van
derbilt Lake Shore which he reached as
vice president twenty years after start
ing in at Shreveport. He became presi-
dent OF the Lake Shore in 1895; of the
Central three years later.
IN the days when there were ten or a
dozen Vanderbilt presidents. both under
Cornelius Vanderbilt's chairmaHship. and
afterward, when Depew had been pro-
NOTED from president 10 chairman. the
vanderbilt presidents used to meet IN the
Grand Central Station at New York AT
certain intervals to discuss the general
business of the related lines and receive
Instructions. On such occasions the big
train shed used to contain regular con-
vention of presidents ears, and the com
muters who passed twice daily through
the station came, in time, to know each
car by sight
DeBeVF and Ingalls,.
Depew himself was the first Of the hired
Vanderbilt presidents He was engaged
because he knew how to talk; how to nut
the facts about the New York Central.
as railroad people understood them. prom
erly before the courts, the legislature.
and the public through the newspapers.
Depew had proved his ability to reach the
legislature at Albany while attorney of
the line Nobody ever claimed that he
knew much about the actual operation of
a railroad least of all Depew himself. but
2 ha h., -sr
head, chosen only because he was able
to talk well, was so erroneous as TO be
almost funny All through the years he
was president he was a genuine power at
the Grand Central Station. He was the
real head of the law department long af-
ter another had been promoted to his
place as attorney; he was a factor of
great weight in the finance department.
and he might have been influential in any
other department he liked. but he chose
TO stick 10 publicity and law
None Of the Vanderbilt hired presidents
except Depew had been lacking IN knowl-
edge of practical railroad operation w
II. Cannih, now the head Of the Nickel
Plate, had a common school education
and began railroad life as a night watch
man IN 1853 In 1883 he had risen to he
superintendent Of the Lake Shore. N Z
ingalls,. long president of the Wander
bits Big -Four. who headed the Civic
Federation's delegation sent to England
last year 70 study public ownership of
utilities, was a lawyer by profession he
fore he was q railroad man but was
in railroading before hooking
up with the Vanderbilts. He is counted
a Middle Westerner now. because Of his