The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-03

United States were merly an incident in
 our material life, and that it is inevitable
 that change will come which will be
 the beginning of an era of prosperity, the
 like of which the world has never seen
 Many times in the last summer of his
 life MT Ream spoke in such manner as
 to make it clear that his confidence in
 our institutions, in our business prosperity
 and in the future of our railroads was
 unshaken, Had he been disposed to spec
 ulate, making ventures upon the bear side
 of the market he could have made a
 great deal of money. but he had no dis
 position of this kind, and he said only
 a few weeks before his death that had he
 been actuated solely by a mercenary or
 acquisitive purpose he could have made
 so much money that he would have been
 ashamed to disclose the amount of it. His
 impulses were in the direction of achieve
 ment, and it was for that reason that
 he became much interested in the Balti-
 more and Ohio, the Erie and the Seaboard
 Air Line Railroad companies. He had as
 profound a faith in the future of the
 Erie railroad as did E. H. Hartman, and
 if the opportunity had opened to him as
 it did to MT. Hartman he would have
 cheerfully raised the several millions
 which were needed to protect the Erie
 from receivership. Mir. Hartman in a
 manner which has now become one of
 the dramatic traditions of the financial
 district did thus serve the Erie
 One Of the reasons why MT. Ream was
 abundantly fortified for taking action es-
 pecally in the way of congratulations. is
 to be found in the patient and exhaustive
 stury which he gave to conditions even to
 aff,Rtf tfN- I@%.
 and scrutiny of this kind which made it
 possible for him to work out the plan
 which led to the organization of the Ma tional Biscuit company. In the mid nine ties of the past century MT. Ream made an exhaustive study of all conditions as socated with the iron and steel industry in the United States. To a much greater extent than the public ever knew the late ]. P. Morgan relied upon Mir Realn for information and advice at the time Mir. Morgan was considering the financing of the organization which was to become the United States Steel corporation.
 MT. Ream's Courage
 When in midsummer of last year the United States Steel corporation seemed to be facing a desperate emergency, for it's plants were occupied to only about B per cent of their capacity, MT. Ream $ faith in the future of the company was unshaken. He had supreme confidence that prosperity would be restored to the corporation and he gave little attention to market quotations which showed a
 rapid depreciation in the market price of the common stock.
 He was confident that his own holdings
 would at some time in the future com
 mand a higher price than he paid fol them. Only few weeks before MT Reams death he had several conferences at his New York office with Daniel Will lard, president of the Baltimore and Ohio | railroad. Of course, these were of pri- vate and confidential character, but they | justified MT. Ream in saying that the flu 1 ture of the Baltimore and Ohio was as promising as that of any railroad com pany in the United States. If there were l depreciation, considerable in amount ir | the market prices of Baltimore and Ohio stock in comparison with the price al | which MT. Ream bought this stock, ht was not concerned. The day would come | in his opinion, when the Baltimore anc | Ohio would be able to tell story similar 1 to that which the Reading Railroad com pany in recent years has been able to tell Mir Ream was especially pleased with the success of the undertaking by which the Clinchfield coal region was brought intc | excellent railroad communication Witi | tidewater at Charleston, S. C. He seemed not to tbink for moment about any per sonal money gain that had come to hin by reason of his participation in this un'
 dertaking. He was fond of talking of the new Clinchfield railroad as distributing | avenue which had opened a new gateWa ; between the Ohio valley and the sea. II was the sense of achievement that in the ! latter years of his life especially in- spired MT. Ream. He may have contem- plated the shrinkage in the face value ol 1 the securities, as C. P. Huntington did feeling that the day would come when 1 that shrinkage would disappear and ap' preciation come in place of il.
 Mr Huntington did not live long enough l to know wsat his executors and helrs learned two or threeyears after ms oeath nely that the appreciation in the value I of his securities increased his total estate 1 bv some $6,0O00O0 or $7,00o,0t1. It remains l for MT. Reams son, Robert carefully te nurse and protect the estate which hls father left. He had thorough training - | tbis work since for nearly 10 years he was | intimately associated with his father | so that MT Ream became confident. that | if anything happened to him the son was | abundantly competent to manage the es' l tate Today, if all the property Of whicf Mr Ream died possessed in December o' 1 last year. were sold, the probabilities arc that inc aggregate amount realized there hy would not be much more than one. half of the amount of the estate estimated | hv nrices that prevailed severai years go Rut almost all of his properties possess | great inherent values of which MT Rear bad nerfect knowledge and it was these | values which led him to contemplate witf perfect serenity his possessions.
 l
 Heroic Treatment