DEATH OF HARRIMAN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 609, 11 September 1909, Page 5

DEATH OF HARRIMAN

RAILWAY MAGNATE.

EXPECTED BY BTOCK EXCHANGE. A STRENUOUS PERSONALITY, ' (By TelcEropli.-Press Association.—OoDyrlcht.) (Rec. September 10, 9.35 p.m.) , i Now York, September 10. Mr. Edward HenTy Harriman, railway magnate, diod after-a relapse duo to acuto indigestion; aged 61. ; Heavy selling took place on the New York Stock Exchange in anticipation of his death; but the actual news of his decease T?as leceivcd too lato to further affect stocks.

HARRIMAN'S CAREER,

THE PANIC OP 1907—WHO WAS TO ' BLAME? . ;• In Juno last, and at intervals since, the Now York Stock Exchango has been violently agitatod by reports of tho illness and probablo retirement ot Mr,E. H. Harriman, fclio "control" of so many markets. For instance, on jtho afternoon of Juno . 21, Union Pacific Common, dropped 3J and Southern Pacific ■ Common 3 bn. news of oho illness of Mr. Harriman, then in Vienna. As recently as August 21, in order to reassure'the market, a statement ivas issued that the surgeon's_ examination had disclosed nothing wrong with this financial colossus, and that ho only required a rest. And now the colossus ,is dead.

Worst In tiio Class, but Top. Tho' lato Mr. E. J. Harriinan, American railroad king, . was • borri at" jlampslead, Long Island, in 1348. V His father) tho.Kev. Orlando Harriman,' was rector of tho littio parish' of St.-.- George's'. at Hampstead. Young Harriinan was, by; all accounts, very much tho fatherof tho manho was a -'scrappcr," and a . day begun without n shindy , was not',begun properly. An associate 'of. .. his !, school- days described him as. ; "the; 'worst. little devil .in his class, and ,at tho top of it;". For a time the boy and Jiis brothers, attepded Trinity School, in iNe.w. York,V After: leaving: school, Harriman outfered an office iii Wall . Street, New York. Four years later—he was then 18—lie had a_ partnership.'.; At 22 ho entered business on his own- account, and bought a seats on tho New York' Stock Exchange.' That, soat ho held .throughout, his .'career,r. a striking con)incut Oh'tlie manV personality) when it' is fcmcmjjcretl that ■ few j men have' held .their sof.ts in ()liat sonienhatuncertain. chamber longer than -'ho; did: Tho firm of E.' J. Harriman' and'.'Co; got , on. . Later it .became known as : Harriman and Co! In 1883 tho fight with, tho Illinois Central Railroad came on;, Harriman held'a considerable block of shares in that- concern and ho became a director. His influence arid rich connections turned the scale, and the fight' w,as. t-licirs. A Railroad GoMus.

lii •: 1887 '. he... hecamo . vice-president of. .the' k»3. Very"; soon Hnrriraan took. , th«, . reins, of. ." government . into hia : v-own ■ handß,';, and sot ahoiit tho task of re-constructing. the Illinois: Central. This road wm suffering .from a plethora. of traffiojKwithiirhieh, in its then-inefficient coiidition, it' WTis unable to cope. Herd,' Hamming previous experience in railroading enabled him to grip the situation. Some years befor* he had got control of a little lino that ran southward,' 34"miles,, from'.- gfidus.• Hay. on Lake. Ontario. ' It ,'was .a- fragile affair.: with' a. traffic as .light- as. it& roadbed 'and equipment. '.Harriman made it a good road, handled the. traffic successfully, and made it pay,' finally: selling "it-to .tlio Pennsylvania Company. His .work on that'tiny railroad struck: the keynote, of .hi, s wholo policy, efficiency. .Tho prevailing "idea in:,those.. days,', and,even now in. some .places; ivas .to'run a railway sis chcaM* 'pb&tyle','!aM'> 6CcutV big 'dividends/ -'Harriman',s' notion' was;,that there rerc bigger dividends' ih making adequate provision fortrnffic, No'expense: was sparedby him. in attaining-that,iacal, with: the result that' tho Illinois Central became a conspicuous ;*cxatnple; of ali- cfßcicnt high-grade-modern: railroad'.: The; grefct financial erash of 1893 made havoc of many of tho principal American railroads, among them being the Union Pacific,; aggregating about 7500 miles,ef .railway.',-. This; line 'was''struggling along under a lmgo debt'.to tho United' States .Government,' of. something like; 84,000,000" dollars,; reokquing. simple ■ and. compound, interest. . 'Against this wore securities- amounting (to '13,000,000; dollars', - it, whs not: aii' in-.Tiling-wreck;- Harriman was made, Chairman, of '..tho - : Executive' Committee set up by ,; 'a wealthy . corporation, , which had ■ paid, . over, '..something ': like 00,1)00,000 i■ to - the; •• V Govdrnmont; for tho control of tho road, .and the work' of rooonstruotion began.. ; This '.was in -1898:

Rovlvlng tha Union Paclfio. With tlio eagacity ■. of pr-cseieiico, Harriman made arrangements for. candling the coming enormous traffic arising from tho recovery of tho prosporitv. ;of the .West 'from the debacle, of 1893. : Ha- wont Mover tho entire, track, niilo by mile, telegraphing huge orders fori'equipment'as he went. His anticipations were; realised, tlio crops fulfilled their promise, and tho Union' Pacific shot up with a bound. 'Hsrriman's .noxt, step: was tlio rebuilding of the mountain 'sectionof the road. 20,000,G00. dollars, were eaten up in this daring enterprise.,. Hie ilin'o was levelledv to a maximum grade, of 41 foot to tho mile, .tlio Union, Pacilio occupied v tho Jmost advantage-, ous route, through its territory, and practicaHy barred competition. -.Tho-next development. in Harriman's gigantic scheme -of operations was, tho purchaso of tho control of, an entire' system—tho Southern Pacific, with which was incorporated the old Central deal, representing, as a cash investment,, something liko' *0,000,000 dollarß. This, however, was merely a priludo to tne expenditure of : huge sums, in, improvements' of tho l newly-acquircd- systems in conformance with tho policy adopted with tho Union Pacific. In a period of six years, Harriman's two roads $pent a total ,of over 200,000,01)0 dollars—an' .'average ,of ' about . 14)000 dollars por niilol '.The appropriations for. 1907 totalled 35,000,000 dollars. Tlio' results of this policy aro interesting. In 1906 tho gross ; income , of- tho system totalled 170,000,000 dollars, ,a largor income than was possessed, by any.''railroad system in the world, : tho _ Pennsylvania' Railroad excepted

His Personality—A Now Scheme. ' Mr. Harriinan,'tho' man, was physically,,, a slight, ratlior stooping figuro, with, a' very largo head, viry piercing ovos, and an air of command.' He was a tremendous worker. The day began with a round at the telephone, ono secretary or assistant after another being called up; reports read, and correspondonco dictated. Ho had, in ten unusual degree, the faoulty for : rapid work, lightning decisions, which enabled him to got through a vast amount, of business. ■, Even as lately as July last wo .hear :of a new .Napoleonic schcmo of railway construction associated with tho hamo of Mr. Harriman—a. great trunk railway thi'ough Mexico,, connecting tho United States; system; with tho Panama CaHal, ''terminating either at' this western cnt) oil tlio Pacific Ocenh, or at tlid eastern end on the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Harriman himself paid, a. visit to, Mexico, and was reported as saying that tho now railway would bo completed when the Canal is ready to bo opened, for traffic. f ' Who Caused tho Panic?

Mr. Harriman'a cncountors with tho. Interstate : Commerce Commission, in tho matter of railway trusts'nnd sccrct rebates, ttnd his position in the panic of 1907, are recalled by a rccont interview in which' ho strove to put the hlamo alid responsibility for that panic on to tho colossal lino of 29.000.000 dollars imposed by Judge Llndis (and subsequently quashed by tho highor court) on the Standard Oil Trust.' Whereupon tho "Now York .World 1 ' 1 remarked , (fit-is a mistake, says Mr. E. H.-Harri-Hi.iu, to think. that the panio- of -1907 was, caused by spcculntfto oxtfosses and financial crookedness; 'it carao about bcoauso.; tho people were frightened by. the big Standard Oil line, nnd at onco began to hoard monoy.' Cause.and effect are thus'inextricably mixed M Usual, If there had been no frenzied flnnaoo, no Harriman 'deals,' no violations of Ms.l® t&o troatv itaire- would haveboen bo

Standard Oil fino. When our distinguished;' financiers have thoir .own interests undwyif consideration they Bre. neither superficial iWh-.i. ■ trifling. Why should' tboy. triflo - with - the. . people?" ' , A "Mr. Harriman (commented tho Now York ! j "Journal of Commerce") does not know;, I what he is talking about, is not a specialist';; I in panics and is nb financial physician at all,-' t but an uriexoellod export in produoing tho-.i ] unsanitary and unhygienio. conditions that,; 1 priparo the way for panics;, which tho - doctors havo to treat whoa' tho outbreak* { cpmea." - ; ' j Mr. Harriman' also ' broko a 1 larice in; 1907 • . j with President' Roosevelt, alleging .'that in - j 1905, in threo hours, ho (Harriman) collected";- ■. i £40,000 foi; ;the Rejiubiicati funds, \rtiick, bought 50,00(1 in No'w York City aloftoj; —this money being collected on' condition. .-i that Mr. Cbauricejr Detw was appointed' Ambassador tq: Paris;: Mr. ItOosovelt ropliodt' - • that Mr. Harriman's 'statements were, ''do-t----liberate and wilful untruths, which shonla. •; bp characterised by a shorter and uglier 1 Word." .