Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-17
HARRIMAN
TN ALMosr every center Of popula-

TN ALMOST every center of popula-
ton in the United States Harri-
n mans s. p. machine is famous.
Politicians and newspaper men have
made it the subject of conversation In
the corridors of the hotels of Chicago,
New York and other eastern cities.
Much-impressed groups have often
been assembled around a visitor from
California" in the east while he ex-
planned how Hartman did it. Mr.. Har-
riman's methods have been admired as
often as they have been condemned. 1t
is Idle nonsense to make believe there
are not many good American citizens
in the east as elsewhere to whom sue
cess is the standard of conduct and
everything else in life, and success
means achievement. After the end is
accomplished it is bad form to inquire
too carefully into the means used to
attain 1t. For instance, it would never
have done to have interviewed Chaun-
cey Depew on the subject OF the tunnel
steal in New York or the other big en-
terprises which made the Vanderbilts
rich and famous. It would never do co
make careful inquiry as to the num-
Der OF fortunes it took to build up
Russell Sage's or ]. Pierpont Nor
gan's or Jim Hills. So Mr.. Harriman's
machine was accepted by the New
Workers. as evidence OF his ability, and
when the "boys" in the corridor of tho
Fifth Avenue hotel said There's that
fellow Hartman. over in California.
HE'S got 1t down fine-owns the legis-
lature. by jove"- it was with adj
niration. and sometimes, in spite of the
seeming irreverence Of the language IN
which it was couched, with respect.
Now we are told-by the New York
political reporters-the successors to
the Fifth Avenue hotel crowd-that "E.
H. Hartman is said to have decided to
rid the Southern Pacific Of it's incubus
of political supporters, constituting the
notorious S. P. machine, and to adopt
an entirely different policy as to the
attitude of his interests in that state
toward politics" Harriman's methods
are not original The man responsible
for them is the celebrated Vanderbilt !
who once said, 1.-THE public be damned"
The Vanderbilt legislature at Albany. |
for years operated by the skillful Jim |
Hustled, who was actually elected |
speaker for session after session, was |
guarded by the most powerful lobby |
system ever devised. the product of the
brain, ingenuity and FEASIBILITY of
Chauncey NJ. Depew, the greatest lob
byist the world has ever seen. 1t was |
only natural that a system that met |
with such prodigious success in New |
York should be adopted in California, |
where it worked as effectively as in
New York, but much more creakily and |
noisily, for the S. P. was never lucky |
enough to find a Depew and Hustled |
It's most renowned experts were crude |
compared with the two eastern mas
ters of the art of magnetizing legisla-
lures and bamboozling and jollying the
people.
When the Vanderbilts had reached a !
point where they were not as generous |
as they used to be, when a prominent
Vanderbilt ''passed out" and his
brother joined the Four Hundreds d.
vorce club, and when to cap the catas-
trophe. Jimmie Hustled died, the magi-
cal spell of vanderbiltism was no
longer potent in New York. The maya
zines eagerly turned loose David Ora |
ham Phillips and other professional
exposers" with instructions to remove
DR.. Depews hide; then came the in
surance scandals, and, as far as Depew
and his clique were concerned, the !
heavens fell.
It looks as if Hartman were deter
mined to outwit fate, and, taking time |
by the forelock, to rid himself of his |
incubus" before it's inevitable and
catastrophial exposure involves him in
the ruins, like his eastern prototype, |
the genial Chauncey