Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
III. S..WIDE RAILROAD SEEN
In VAN SWERINCENS' MOVE
Acquisition of Missouri Pacific by Ale
gheny Corporation Leaves but
Narrow Link Absent.

Sweringens have gone would have taxed
the credulity of his adolescent readers
trifle too much. But facts care little
for credulity. Hence the story OF the
Van Sweringens is, to employ familiar
cliche, stranger than fiction.
Came to New Amsterdam.
As the name implies, the Van Swer-
ingens are of Dutch stock, but after
matter of two and a half centuries on
this side of the Atlantic there Is moth
ing but the name to indicate that an
cestly. They are as American as though
the name were Smith. incidentally
Hoover Is a Dutch name. too, but we
don't spend our time looking for Dutch
traits in our very American President.
The first Van Sweringens came to New
Amsterdam in Peter Stuyvesant's day.
But when the English conquered the
little trading post which was to become
the metropolis Of the world the Van
Sweringens did not return to Holland.
They remained to infuse their STURDY
virility into the upbuilding of New
York. In Revolutionary days Van
Sweringen was colonel on Washing
tons staff. When the Government of
the infant republic began to show its
gratitude to the men who had fought
for independence this Van Sweringen
took up some land grants in the then
wilderness near Shepardstown, w. Va.
With the passage of century or SO
his descendants had crossed the Ohio
to the rich farming land in the West
Ohio, an hours run south of Cleveland,
that the Van Sweringen brothers were
born. o. p, born in 1879, has just
observed his fifty-first birthday. M. j.
will be 40 in July. 1t Is no longer ac-
curate, therefore, to speak of them as
boy wonders" as Cleveland did a
decade and half ago when they were
first impressing their personality on
that city.
At that time their hair was blond,
inclined almost to reddishness, but to-
day they are CRAVING under the ire
mendous responsibilities they have as
sumed. The telltale plumpness of mid
die age is noticeable around their mid
sections. They are of ruddy complexion.
They are clean shaven. They are, for
all their wealth and power, just couple
of typical American business men. In
crowd no one would pick them out as
men who had carved inches for them
selves in the hall of fame.
| Neither has characteristics which i'm
| press themselves on the person who
meets them for the first time. They
| appeared before the Interstate Com
merce Commission at a series of hear
| ings some years ago, but the most vivid
recollection of those who attended the
| hearings is that the Van Sweringens
were notable only for the quantities of
| ice water they could consume in the
course of single morning. Shy in
at that hearing. They did not speak
with crispness, with absolute command
of facts and figures.
For men who have made themselves
without an abundance of outside help,
| they relied to an amazing degree on the
| retinuc of lawyers and assistants they
brought with them.
Ordinary Boys.
| Back in the eighties in the little
cchoolhouse in Wooster, Ohio. they were
couple OF ordinary boys, neither poor
ncr rinh, for their folks were in mod
erately comfortable circumstances.
Whether they had planned their lives
at that time is mere guesswork. The
! Van Sweringens have never yet revealed
| their own mental processes so it only
| can be assumed, that, like most Ameri-
| can boys, they decided either to be rich
| or be President, and, If possible, both
There is just one legend associated
with their boyhood which has q direct
connection with their careers. It is re-
lated that o. p, the elder, in one of
| those class room sessions where each
lad reveals his life ambition, told his
teacher he aspired to be the driver of
| Cleveland horse car. In the infrequent
trips to the nearest large city, that
stern dignitary with majestic mus
taches, who -tchked his ploddins
steeos through the streets of the busi-
ness section was o. P.'s idea of a great
man. Before the boy was old enough
n
cars had surrendered to the all-con-
quering march of electric power, so as
a consolation the brothers some years
later proceeded to acquire the traction
system which had been built I'D on the
| original horse car lines. Apparently the
next best thing to driving the car was
to own 1t.
Completing high school In the middle
OF the mauve COS, the Van Sweringen
brothers did not go to college. The
family was not quite sufficiently afiuent
for that. First one, and then the other.
went to the city, where they became
clerks in a chemical company. But for
the spark Of ambition which differ
entlates successful men from the vast
majority of their brethren, they might
be there yet, perhaps as vice presidents
or sales managers of the company.
They had the ambition, and with it q
vision of Cleveland which would soon
pegln TO cash in on strategic geo
graphical location and broaden out into
one of the chief cities of the country.
Buy Shaker Heights.
They were thrifty boys. They saved
their money and awaited their main
chance. Eventually, and before the
brothers were very far in their 20s
1T came. few miles outside Cleveland
nf 1ny
Shaker Heights. Rapid transit was
practically unknown then, and the
conservative realtors of the city were
not interested in remote acres. But
the Van Sweringens, with few hun
dred dollars capital, obtained an option
on the property. Then they proceeded
TO sell themselves and their ideas to
the men OF affairs in the city Two
CIVIC leaders who were impressed by
the plans for the Shaker Heights de-
velopment were Charles L. Bradley and
j. r. Mutt, important bankers. They
taught the boys the rudiments of real
estate financing. They encouraged
them when things looked black. Be
fore very long Shaker Heights passed
out OF the experimental stage and the
van SWeringens were on their way to
fame and fortune. The land was as
sessed at $240,000 when they began the
development. Today the section has
an assessed valuation OF $4,000, 900.
BY series of accidents, the Van
Sweringens extended their interests
from real estate to railroading. Very
early they realized Shaker Heights
would not go without transportation.
o. P.'s suggestion to the Cleveland Rail-
way Co. that 1t build an extension
failed to interest the executives of that
road. They demanded passengers, not
the fantastic dreams of two boys. Out
OF the impasse came a compromise
With financial backing downtown. the
Van Sweringens agreed to furnish the
right of way and to guarantee the first