The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-09

sra H hattled n their B.G.FORBES l n~,n way without influence, from the bottom. .o N, ;s
 O. P. Van Sweringen is AS, M. J. IS Al They made their first mark as real estate salesmen Then they De- came real estate operators. 1t was their desire to furnish first class trans nortation to a section they developed on tbe outskirts of Cleveland that they first became interested in transporta- ton. From street railroadlng they branched out to steam railroadlng'
 Their operations have been slngu- lsrlv successful. At first Wall street regarded them lightly; Wall street has a habit of imagining that nobody or any great caIiber lives outside or New York. Today Wall street IS watchlns these same Clevelanders more closely than it is watching any other raliroad operators in the whole country. .,
 If was shown in this column the other day that they now control al, most ten thousand miles ot railroad and that their properties have total rehabilitation exceeding billion dol- lars. ko.
 Their capture of the Erie mas caught the imagination not only or Wall, street, but of the American pup lie.
 What A contrast between the methods pursued by the Van Swerlngen ana the tactics employed by Jay Gould anu Him Fiske and Jay Cooke in the uays when the Erie was sensatlonally e&- plotted and shamelessly footed. 1nese old buccaneers operated through stoGA market manipulation and questionaDie financiering. They were lnIint.ely more interested in Wall Street stoek than in rolling stock They used and misused the newspapers 10 hoou"lhA opponents and the public.
 The VanSwerginens shun publicity. They spend no time pouring over the stock ticker in Wall Street brokerage offices. They indulge in no financial high inks or chicunncry. Their mann, interest is not in stock market mlnlp- ulation but in railroad upbuilding.
 One of their intimates gives me thls brief character sketch of them:
 ."The VanSweriDgen brothers are most unusual. Their affection for each other is extraordinary. Both are bachelors they live together; they have enc common bank account. They have no paEtnership agreement; no plan for dividing up profits. When you see one you see the other. Whatever one says is indorsed by the other.
 "They are the least mercepary ot men. They care nothing about amass- ing millions for themselves Their whole heart and soul is in pressing steadily towards the fulfillment. along sound lines, of their constructive ambitions. They live for their work. They have no hobbies. They take no vacations. They find their great pleasure in turning their dreams into solid realities.
 "Oh, yes. they certainly are ambi- tious. Could the American public see into their minds, it would be astound- ed. Although they already have gained control of Chespeake and Ohio, Nickel <. Plate, Hooking Valley, Pere Marquette other roads. And they'll get them one by one
 Where do they get all the money necessary to corral a billion dollars worth and more of railroads? asked.
 Which banks are behind them?"
 Anybody and everybody who knows them and analyses what they have al- ready accomplished is ready and eager to become associated with them finan- cially' came the reply. 'They are us- der the thumb of no banks or bankers. The strongest banks are willing to give them all the credit they want. And then don't forget, they had millions of their own before they became big fac tors in the railroad world Look, too, how the securities of their roads have increased in market value since they took hold.
 "They know what they want do and why they want to do it. They are fitting together different railroads into enc system just as a wagon builder fits spokes into a wheel. No master chess player ever studied his moves more carefully and intensely than they study each move before they make it."
 Finally he told me that their guiding axiom always has been Give the other side the best of the bargain"
 It is common for New York and New York interests to reach out and size control of important enterprises in other cities. John Hertz has reversed this process. Through him Chicago has reached out and taken over the Fifth avenue bus sytem in New York. Hertz has had quite as picturesque and dag zling a career as the VanSweringens have had. An outline of it was given in this column recently. If Hertz has any guiding maxim I should say, know ing him as 1 do, that it would be something like this: You and your enterprises can succeed only as you make it possible for all your workers and other associates to succeed" We repeatedly hear that the day of in dividualism has passed and that every thing big nowadays is done by corpo- fations. These three men are demon strating that there is still abundant room for individualism.