East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1920-03-31
NrApoo FIRST GAINED FAME

told all the boys about 1t. We wou
write Commodore Vanderbilt. then
the public eve as railroad builder nj
financier and ask him to loan us
dollar.
Q The boys appointed me to write II
3 letter. We all went together to II
q postoffice to mail it. Then we a
8 waited and waited together at tn
postoffice for weeks and weeks. r.,
rover did we hear word from Var
) derbilt.
Yet as the fates would have It. i
1917 as directors general of railroad.
became boss of, all the Vanderbilt
l'nes."
! William Gibbs McAdoo's life ha
been fun of the realization of his boy
ssh whims. He likes to tell how at
Years old he always wanted to satisf,
his curiosity TO know how the tive
other.
81 could not get it through my head
that the tracks could cross ON the
same level. So one day 1 trudged the
distance Of two miles out to the cross
ing 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 and mother
saved the day for him.
The elder McAdoo was a versatile
lawyer and judge. His wife was Mary
Faith Floyd, descendant of the F1oyds
of Mexican war fame. Both were of
sturdy stock of eastern Tennessee.
The son was educated at the Uni
versity of Tennessee. AT the age of
10 he was appointed deputy clerk of
the United States circuit court for the
eastern district of Tennessee. When
he was % years old he was admitted
to the bar at Chattanooga.
The Hudson Tunnel.
McAdoo went to New York in 1899
and until 1908 was partner at law
with William McAdoo. The first in
cident which brought him into public
light was his idea to drill a tunnel be-
meath the Hudson river and connect
New York city TO the neighboring cit
es in New Jersey Completion of this
engineering scheme re-
Iuired seven years and expenditure of |
S72 100000
Its the insuperable that chal- |
enges me- McAdoo said. recalling the
lzys when he battled harder with en-
sineers opinions than his workmen
ater did with their drills and shovels
They told me it couldn't be done, and
hats why 1 was determined to show
hem it could be done"
McAdoo's chief task at the outset
vas to convince financiers that the
half-finished shaft under
he river could be utilized as the be-
inning of the tunnel system he had
mind. After months and months
f consultation with eminent engineers
@ succeeded in convincing them a
ew cup shield could successfully be
sed in completing the tube. With
heir o. X. he set about to raise S4,
DO, 600 by a bond issue to take over
lie old shaft.
Seven years later in March. 1910, !
lie fourth tube was opened to the pub ,
C and the system put into operation.
resident Roosevelt at Washington
,uched the button which started the
rst train through the tubes. in which ,
,de Governor Hughes of New York
Id Governor Fort of New Jersey with {
cAdoo. Completed, the system and
lie 22-story Hudson Terminal station /
lower New York represented an ex-
snditure of s72.oOO,000.
81 used to think the building of the
udson tubes was the biggest thing t
rer would be called on to handle, '
H. tar F~y l
the treasury under Woodrow VIII
m. / found it necessary to handle the d
gantic finances the war on Germany
n,,ired. my old accomplishments
nix into insignificance. Then when I
q president gave me the job of hand S
1r the railroads of the country
al 7 haven't understood yet how /
# away with it and came out alive"
Original Wilson Man.
NfcAdoo's first venture into national
,litics came in 1912 when, as a dele
ate from New York to the Balumore
.moeratic national convention, he
as among the first TO propose the
me of woodrow Wilson, then COVER
ar of New Jersey, for the presloen-
- ronoination. He became wee
hoirman of the democratic nauohai
s..rr
,mmittee and later became acting
hartman for the greater part Oh the
campaign
When Wilson announced his CABINET
fter his Inauguration in 1917
Iuded the name of william Gibos NC
400 as secretary of the treasury
hon four years later when, as war
,easure, the government took over
he rail system of the country, II was
n N1cAdoo's shoulders that teil lhe
urden of administering the lines.
81 thought 1 was pretty ouss W."
an when 1 had to divide my time pc
,yeen the treasury department ana
he railroad administration. The only
,sv m kept my health was to force my
elf to stay in bed eight hours every
ay. whether I slept or not. 1 usuil'iS
nen+ sixteen hours a day at work.
sI ,ieed to start the day at O'Clock
..t, 1ight breakfast with Mrs. Nc