The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-09-02
new LIGHT ON The WONDERFUL CAREER
OF HARTMAN IN SPEECH BY A FRIEND

me-"
To a man so constituted, the world
did not yield it's rewards easily and
willingly. The way to the heights of
power leads always through the val
leys of envy, jealousy and animosity;
but in Mr. Harriman's case the opposi
ton, the enmities, the hatreds, which
disputed and contested his progress
were bitter, violent and numerous, far
beyond OF binary measure. Yet, by the
irresistible force of his genius, he ac-
quircd in tho brief sLace of ten years
a position in the railroad world such
as no man had held before him, and
DO man, probably, will hold again.
Though he was hacking in the faculty
Of attracting men in genera! Il say
i'm general" because upon those who
cance close TO him the spell of his per-
sOnality was most potent, he did have
the gift in most marvellous degree Of
attracting power as the magnet at
tracts iron. At the time of his death
the papers we're full of comments as
to the vastness of the territory in
which his influence was potent or con-
trolling; but the most remarkable
thing, to my mind, was not the extent
of his rover, but the fact that his COM
handing position, his control over so
many undertakings, rested not on
money, but on personality.
I do not think that the greater part
of his fortune was invested in railroad
stocks, and, If every cent of it had
been invested, it would have amounted
to but small fraction of the share
capital of the properties in which his
influence was dominant. He became
gradually the center of railroad power,
and at the same time one of the great
est powers in finance, because his mas
terful ability, his constructive genius,
the farsightedness and correctness of
his vision, his faithfulness to trust re-
posed in him, impressed themselves
finally alike upon friend and foe.
Found His Opportunity in Union Pa
ciflc.
This was Mr.. Harriman's situation
from the spring of 1908 to the time of
his lamented, untimely death in Sep
TENDER, 1909, less than twelve years
after his great opportunity had come
to him in his election to the board of
the Union Pacific railroad. Contrary
to the general impression, he had had
nothing to do with the financial reOr-
ganization of that property consum-
mated in 1897. That measure-after
years of receivership during which the
system had become dismembered
| through the secession of its most i'm
portant branches, feeders and outlets
until nothing was left of the old Union
Pacific system but the bare trunk stem,
after indefinite delays, complications
and difTiculties-was finally accom-
| plished by a committee consisting of
Messrs. Louis Fitzgerald, Jacob H.
Schiff, r. Jefferson Coolidge, Jr,
Chauncey NJ. DeLew, Marvin Hughitt
and Oliver Ames, with Mr.. Winslow
S. Pierce as counsel, and Messrs.
Kuhn, Loeb & Co. as financial manag-
ers. After the property had been ac-
quired by the reorganization commit
tee at foreclosure sale, Mr.. Hartman
was elected a member of the first
! board of directors in December, 1891
in compliance with a promise which
Mr.. Jacob H. Scniff had made to him
in the course of the reorganization
proceedings.
Almost all of the members of the
board had been previously connected
with the Union Pacific, either through
old Affiliations or through member
ship in the reorganization committee
Mr.. Hartman was a newcomer, and by
several members of the board his ad
vent was not regarded with friendly
eyes. He was looked at askance
somewhat in the light of an intruder;
his ways and manners Jared upon
several of his new colleagues, and he
was considered by some as not quite
belonging in their class, from the point
of view of position, financial standing
and achievements; a free lance
neither a railroad man nor a banker
nor a merchant. Within one short
year he had placed himself at the heaC
of the board, and became the ruling
81 irit, the dominating force of the en-
terprise. If you ask me how this
amazing transformation was accom-
plished, l can only refer you to othel
examples which history records of the
phenomenal rise of those exceptions
beings whom Providence has endowed