Evening star., 1909-08-29
LINE OF UNCROWNED KINGS
Hartman at Present Held in Spe
cial Reverence.
STRUCTURES AS MONUMENTS
Stories Ahoat Which Have No
Foundation - Edwin Hawley's
Method of Compelling Respect.
By w. g. Nicholas.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
NEW YORK August os, 1909.
One of the conspicuous weaknesses of
Wall street is indulgence in hero worship.
1t must always have some over
whelming personality to bow down
to. If it is not one man it
must be another. Just now Mr.. Harri-
man is the object to which the knee is
bent and obeisance made. The crowned
king before him was ]. Pierpont Morgan,
who. by the way, has never abdicated,
and who is today as powerful as ever.
though not SO much In the limelight.
Previous to Mr.. Morgan's reign there
were Jay Gould, W. H. Vanderbilt,
Cornelius Vanderbilt, the founder of the
family fortune: Daniel Drew and others
almost as we'll known. Many times dur
ing his thirty years in Wall street James
r. Keene has been the star performer
and has swayed markets at his will.
Cammack. Woershoffer, John w. Gates,
H. H. Rogers, the Guggenheims, Edwin
Hawley, H. C. Frick and William Rookie
feller. with others, have been stars
of near-first magnitude There are
dozens of others equally important in
their day. There never is time, how
ever that some big man is not filling the
stage of Wall street affairs TO the OBJ
scuration of everything that happens to
be behind him.
All of which is more or less foolish.
because the biggest of men in Wall street
and the most important groups of men
pass away without serious interruption
of the business of the country or back
setting of it's interests. OF those who
have joined the majority the leave-tak-
ing Of the greatest of them made scarce
ly a dent It is in Wall street the same
as in the larger political stage. There
has been witnessed a procession of Pres1-
dents. each of commanding Importance
in his day, yet many of them are al
most forgotten by name.
Monuments He Built.
With Mr.. Hartman it may be said In
all truthfulness and without disparage-
ment of his genius that he could die and
not be missed after very short interval
of the adjustment of the affairs with
which he is intimately identified Under
his directing hand great property struc-
lures have been created which Will en-
dure long after he has gone to his Ia
thers and when Hartman the man has
been forgotten. He has built monuments
that will endure, however.
Among the many crazy stories anoat
about and concerning Mr.. Hartman is one
to the effect that his return to America
was hastened in order to defeat a oeep
laid conspiracy to divert the accumulated
cash and other assets of the Union Paclhc
for the profit of the conspirators-a plot
predicated on the theory that Mr.. Harri-
man would not return alive and that IT
was entirely safe to claw at his corpora
tions. Mr.. Edwin Hawley was named In
this story as being the man selected to as
sumo the official management OF the Har-
riman properties. 1t was added, in order
to give strength to the tale, that the bit
terest feelings existed between the two
men.
Now, there may be the faintest shadow
of a foundation for the theory that Mr.
Hawley is slated to succeed Mr.. Hartman
in an official way, but it is entirely untrue
that Hartman and Hawley are enemies
They were at swords points for several
years, but are now close friends, both
business and social A little explanation
on this point will be enlightening: Mr..
Hawley engineered the sale of the South
ern Pacific to Mr.. Hartman, and was TO
have been given place on the new Harri-
man directory and also important Stand-
ing in the conduct of the property. Mr..
Hawley had been Colts P. Huntington's $
right-hand man and felt that he was en-
titled to heavyweight recognition under
the new regime. MIR. Hartman forgot
him entirely in the makeup of the new
roster, whefeat the neglected one searched
him out and gave him vitriolic tongue
lashing. They parted openly hostile.
Forces Harriman's Respect.
Backed by the Huntington millions. Mr..
Hawley launched out upon railroad
career of his own. Colorado Southern was
his first ambitious enterprise. He took up
that road and built it into state where
it became attractive to James ]. Hill, who
annexed it to his Burlington system at
great profit to the Hawley combination.
Meantime Hawley had gone into Iowa
railroads and had taken over Clover Leaf.
Quietly and unknown to the public he
reached out and acquired control of Alton,
which Mr.. Hartman had gotten out of at
high prices with the expectation of being
able to pick 1t up again from the bargain
counter. When he discovered that Mr.
Hawley was after Alton, Mr.. Hartman
called on him and proceeded to read the
riot act, saying in blunt language that he
would not tolerate such interference with
the Hartman plans. He wound up the In
terview with the remark: Alton Is mine
and you can't have it,
unfortunately, retorted Mr.. Hawley,
u will have it and I've got 1t already"
To demonstrate the correctness of his
statement Mr.. Hawley within few days
transferred the control of Alton to the
Glover Leaf treasury.
Then a great light dawned upon Mr..
Hartman and by methods OF his own
he sought peace with Hawley. and with
in few weeks the two men had buried
the hatchet and were on friendly terms.
mans departure for Europe they fire.
quently 1nterchanged business and So
cial calls. Mr.. Hawley was often a
special guest of Mr.. Hartman at Ar
den. remaining there for days at a
time. The entente cordale was COM
pletely restored. Mr.. Hawley may be
Mr.. Harriman's official heir, but if he
is the succession will he handed over
to him by Mr.. Hartman himself and
not by the Hartman enemies or in un-
friendly spirit There is probably no
better man for the job than Mr.. Haw-
ley. He knows the west and the west
ern railroad situation in it's broadest
sense as well any man in the coun-
try; as an executive and constructive
and operating manager he is the peer of
any.
Market Discounts Misfortune.
The stock market has been discount
ing every misfortune that could pos