The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1920-04-14

1903-PreSident of Manhattan &
Hudson R. R. Co., formed to
build tunnel system under Hud-
son river.
1909-Fourth tube opened under
Hudson river.
1912-Death of Mrs. McAdOo.
19l3-Secretary Of Treasury un-
der President Wilson.
1914-Married at White House
to Eleanor Randolph Wilson,
daughter of President Wilson.
1917-Director-g r-general of rail-
roads.
1919-Resigned as Secretary of
Treasury and director-general.
1920-Practicing attorney in New
York.
"It's funny thing, how fate will
treat you once in a while" said for
mer Secretary McAdoo.
II remember as a barefoot boy
playing around Milledgeville l was
the leader of gang of half dozen
kids who longed very much for a
baseball bat, but never were able,
even jointly to raise the necessary
dollar.
zone day / hit on a scheme. told
all the boys about it. We would write
Commodore Vanderbilt, then in the
public eye as a railroad builder and
financier, and ask him to lend us a
dollar.
The boys appointed me to write
the letter. We all went together to
the postoffice 10 mail it. Then we
all waited and waited together at the
post office for weeks and weeks. But
never did we hear a word from Van
derbilt.
yet as the fates would have it, in
1917 as director-general of railroads
Il became boss of all the Vanderbilt
lines"
William Gibbs McAdoo's life has
been full of the realization of his
boyhood whims He likes to tell how
at 9 years old he always wanted to
satisfy himself how the two rail-
roads. at Millegeville crossed each
other.
Il could not get it through my head
that the tracks could cross on the
same level or that one might pass
over the other. So one day l trud-
ged to see for myself"
McAdoo's boyhood was spent in the
wake of Sherman's march to the sea.
Left poverty stricken in barren
country, only the pluck of the boy
and the character of his father saw
ed the day for him.
The elder McAdoo was a versatile
lawyer and judge. His wife was Mary
Faith Floyd, defendant of the Floyds
of Mexican war fame. Both were OF
sturdy stock of Eastern Tennessee.
Court Clerk at IS.
The son was educated at the Uni
versity of Tennessee. At 19 he was
appointed deputy clerk of the United
States Circuit Court for tn Eastern
District of Tennessee. When he was
% years old he was admitted to the
bar at Chattanooga.
McAdoo went to New York in 1892
and until 1903 was partner al law
with william McAdoo The first incl
dent which brought him into public
light was his idea to drill a tunnell
beneath the Hudson river and con-
meet New York City to the neighbor-
ing cities in New Jersey. Completion
of this stupendous engineering
scheme required seven years and ex-
~o,.xtura of e79 000 600
Its the insuperable that challen-
ges me-" McAdoo said, recalling the
days when he bzttled harder with en-
rineers' opinions than his workmen
later did with their drills and SHOW
els. "They later told me it couidn I
be done. and that's why I was deter
mined to show them it could be done.
McAdoo's chief task at the outset
was to convince financiers that the
abandoned, half finished shaft under
the river could be utilized as the be-
ginning of the tunnel he had in mind.
After months OF consultation with
eminent engineers. he succeeded IN
convincing them a new cup shield
could successfully be used in COM
pletfng the tube. With their o. k. he
set about to raise $4,000, 900 by bond
issue to take over the old shaft.
Opens Hudson Tunnels
Seven years later, in March. 1910.
the fourth tube was opened to the
public and the system put into oper,
alton.
at used to think the building Of the
Hudson tubes was the biggest thing
would ever be called on to handle
said McAdoo. "But when. as Sec
retary of the Treasury under Wood
row Wilson. I found it necessary to
handle the gigantic finances the war
on Germany required. my old ac-