,|-"- - - IM - 'ffiyfTrt.ivn FP •M JOHNSTON IVfrgy K- fflf JrtM y ON "EH RIGHT, AND MR. CASSATT WOKING y/ i__^^bggg\ THE Maryland-'Virginia pe»- lem of how to get the products of these Regions to market quickly becam- ex ceedingly acute. At that time the method followed v,-is to transport the food stuffs to Baltimore, or some other port on the Chesapeake, ari thence despatch them nc.-th by rail, This wis a slow and roundabout method, to say the least, and a result none of the fruits and vege tables got to market in the first blush o: ipeness, and more than one cargo td daily. Norfolk wa.s the natural ••<1 c>: point for quick service, but , across the Chesapeake from the i;. ,-t cit «*, to »k : -t tfce Bay meant ion of v*l#«Me tissue. >« for fa* fea&amria, railroad con »•*««<# m &.* kordsj e.4 I>tl in/.t, o* t kit Wtsfuimi iir.« Frora DeL«a*r to Cape Charles, *t the fcp oi tfc>> yes&aaslt, t>« dictaaee U scaaety mile*. Tfce fctri yonetiiail problesn it fore tfce B»des* anient??* 1® tramspor tat ion nitteri-~tie railroad men—was how to tas both regions in os* and the time way for qusck handling of their pre •— »—» •- -vat-inr on Lake Baikal, L "PICTORIAL.COLOR AND MAGAZINE SECTION" li? HThe Cameron County Press. % EMPORIUM, PA., AUGUST 16, 1906. r f li in connection with the Trans-Siberiar Railway, tad on the Great Lakes as well GETTING CONTROL OF A RAILROAD. The highly dramatic man«er in which Mr. Cassatt secured control of the Phila delphia, Washington & RaltunD.-e rail road-sometime since renamed the Phila delphia., Baltimore and Washington—is furtner illustrative of the characteristic of boldness that has marked his railroad career almost from its beginning La 187s the P. W„ It B. w*» owned by e group of New England capitalists «ad w*» operated by them in the inter ests of the Pennsylvania. Robert Gar rett, then the big man of the Baltimore & Ohio, coveted the road as a means of reaching New York, and quietly set agents to work to purchase a controlling interest in the property. So graat was his jubilation when he became convinced that this had been done that he boast fully announced one morning to Mr. George B. Roberts, of the Pennsylvania, what he had accomplished, adding: "We are not disposed, however, to disturb your relations with the property, and ycu need not give yourself acv uneasi ness on that score." In fcte mail hours of the following norniAj tfce directors of tbe Pennsyl vania railroad, called in hurried meeting in New York City, hriro from Mr. Cas satt that the P. W. % B. ■was their prop erty and not Mr. Garrett's. He bad discovered, in the few hours that had elapsed since Mr. Garrett's boast ; that that usually shrewd gentleman had over looked a certain bloclc of stock, on the possession of which control of the road hinged. This he had bought—and Mr. Garrett was nursing a delusive victory. Then and there a check for this stock, in amount $14,949,052.20, changed hands. It retrained for teveral years the largest check ever drawn in a single financial transaction Whenever Mr. Cassatt walks into the treasury of ,jhe Pennsyl vania, all he has to do to see the check is to cast his eyes towards a certain vail of the treasury, where it has hung since it served its purpose. In the soft coa! investigation before the Interstate Commerce Commission • tnvcfc .». v ■ . ..'rt '• lie In tit: »•>-..>. '. t teretts scheme entered -'nta • - sylvacia «nd {&« Kr* Y. •> Ceair*! I+t e the regulation of traffic T&is '5 another 1 bold bif oi ongi'ai! railroading fcr> Mr. '• Cassait. When he became President of the . Pennsylvania in 1899, following the • death of Frank Thomson, the eastern t railroads were catting cne another s and 1 their own throats in a wild war for - freight traffic. This was especially true - as regards the coal business. A traffic : association, formed by the railroads to 1 put a stop to the warfare, having been • declared illegal by the courts and subse quently dissolved, all the railroads in question were at a loss for a way in 1 which to end the suicidal struggle. i i mi i ■ M»n—— It r«ruir.ex! tor Mr. Cassatt to find I *■.' « B'jy a dominating interest 1 f» the roads, was his plan. He then ! rr iids an agreement v-ith the New York Central people for them to dominate the bard-coal properties; the Pennsylvania would do the same by its rival soft coal : roads, arid the two would work together : for the good of both and all. Thus, the i Baltimore fir Ohio, the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western came • to take orders from the office of Alex ander Johnston Cassatt. Later the Penn sylvania also secured domination over ] the Philadelphia & Reading, a hard coal j property. The Central agreed to this, { since the Reading is more a rival of the Pennsylvania than of the Central. 'I he Vandalia lines, the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago, and the Cleveland, ' Cincinnati, i Si Lc -,is aomplete the list of properties dorr»ii2ate»i fey the Pennsylvania under this community of interests plan. The Long Island rail road, properly speaking, is not domi nated; it is owned outright, a majority of tbe stock being in the Pennsylvania's strong boxes. Mr. Cassatt purchased the road to insure, for al! time, ample docking facilities on the Atlantic to the I Pennsylvania. During Mr. Cassatt's regime the Pennsylvania's holdings in other roads has increased enormously, reaching the grand total of more than $331,000,000, v par value. The cost of all this was about a $94000,000 less. V By direction of Mr. Cassatt the Penn- hi sylvania has undertaken to get into New tl York City and out of it through tun- P 1 w 1 11 '""n ■■■■nnr> iiiiwi'ii nels under two rivers and the city it self. More, it is going into New Eng land by an all-rail route. He instituted thr plan, now widely spread amo:ig oui railroads, of retiring and pensioning all employes when the age of seventy is reached. He secured control of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and the railroad thus became the maker of its own steel rails. He has pushed almost to completion the four-tracking of the Pennsylvania all the way from Philadel phia to Pittsburg, despite the fact feat west of Harrisbu'-g this has requntd en tire mountains to bt rtanoved. He h»» pouted out other millions of trior ev for tolling stock; when he gave the word work was begun on the new Unu in sta tion now nearing completion in Wash ington; his whole course as President of the Pennsylvania has been diame :rically opposite to the traditional one for a Pennsylvania president. From being the most conservative of American roads, under him the Pennsylvania has become what may be termed radical, fo: want . of a better word. And yet, for . ill this overturning of old, settled policies, pub j lie confidence in the road remai is un shaken and every loan that its a: ;ks for I *n order to carry on its vas* in .prove - meats is tnit-Jata op with avidity Jwat *®o t.lrcad A of fifty null, |>n <£ol- Ust wtJ f®ceotl? placed in Fraaicje. ®A»® Work won his sucarjss. M; Tassatt began his career with the Pennsylvania as rodman. That 'Was in the opening year of the Civil War.! After two years of tramping over a goodly portion of Centra! Pennsylvania !»e was ! assigned to the engineering corps, and as an assistant engineer helped cc > build the Connecting Railway, !inkin|g the Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia & Tren ton. Here he attracted the attention of his superiors, and in 1864, whum the Pennsylvania got control of the PI liladel pliia & Erie, was transferred to Kenovo as resident engineer of the mid< lie di vision. Next, he was superintend*; nt, for . a short time, of a subsidiary ro; id, the j Warren & Franklin. In April of 1566 J ie was transferred to Williamspor t, with [lie title of Superintendent of Motive 1 Power and Machinery of the PI liladel ] I, 1,,, - phia & Erie Railroad. A year and a half later he was given a like position with d the Pennsylvania, with headquarters at ir Altoona. L-ess than two years and a half 11 after this he was made General Superin s tendent of the road, and a little more < c than a year later, following the leasing of e the United Railroads cf New Jersey, he 3 became General Manager of all th 't Pennsylvania lines east of Pittsburg. He e was the first to hold this office, and as - such he was stationed tn Philadelphia, ■t the home of the Pennsylvania, for the i- first trine. * Oae of the things he did aj General 1 Manager was to aid in the establishment i of the through passenger car service be - tween different cities, even where several " roads have to be used. On his own f road he introduced the track tank, one y of the devices that makes the "flyer" I possible. He also equipped it with the - block signal system and hammered into > the road's thousands of employes that 5 discipline and politeness for which they t are justly famed. 5 In July of 1874, on the death of Presi " dent J Edgar Thomson, Mr. Cassatt got bis reward in promotion to Third Vice j president. Sis years later, when Colonel * j Thccma A. Sect*, fee famous war rail- I I road*", under wkom Mr. Cassatt was 1 jfcralsed, retired, frcaa presidency and fee Fir*! Vr.e-preirdtfflts George E Rob erts succeeded him, Mr. Cas3att £«♦'> Mr. Roberts* oH jlacv Here he remained until September .30, 1882, when he resigned. He set down in his let' of resignation: "My only object in taking this : to have more time at. my disp' any one occupying so respenr sition in railroad management c;>.. mand. If I were to remain in act. railroad life, I could not desire a position more agreeable to me than the one I now occupy, nor would I be willing to connect myself with any other company thar the one in whose service more than twenty-one years of my life have been passed." MOlir.r FASMER AND CITIZEN, "Mr. Cassatt was forty-two when he retired. He was in his sixtieth year when he asrain took up active railroad work