OCR Text |
Show HARRIMAN AND ROOSEVELT. HI' 5 During recent months It has become the BB tf fashion to berate tho heads of railroads, yet It BB r' Is certain that despite the misuse of (treat prV. Bv ' lieges and the public these same railroad mag- BB nates have accomplished great and wondrous BB. things for the country. In a recent Issue of BB "Opportunities of Today" a comparison of the BBY lives and accomplishments of two great presl- BB dents, Roosevelt and Ilarrlman, is made, and BB' while that comparison is somewhat to the dls- BB,i advantage of the first named, much of great BB' interest Is told of the accomplishments of Har- BBV rlman. BB' Ilarrlman Is the son of a preacher, and his (schooling was limited. When a boy he became a clerk In a broker's ofllce on Wall street, and at 30 was a millionaire. At 34 he was made director and at 39 became vice-president of the BB Illinois Central railroad. In '07, '08 and '09 he BB ' came to tho front as head of the Union Pacific, BB Southern Pacific and Oregon Short Line, and BB at that time theso roads were little mote than BB strings of rusty rails and of inadequate equip- BB v ment. (Ie spent $20,000,000 the first dash, and B3 u In the past seven or eight jeais lias spent BB ' $250,000,000 in Improving these roads. 'I ho BB, Union Pacific Is earning (00,000,000 a year now BB , as compared with $32,000,000 before and this BB U earning is made on much cheaper ficlghtand BB 'passenger rates. BB ' Ilarrlman's aid to San Francisco In that BB v city's distress, his mastery of the Colorado BB ' river when the government failed, and the BB''4 building of the Lucln cut-off arc counted as his BB o greatest achievements One hundred thousand BB tons of material were used In turning the Colo- BB jr rado back to its channel, a 2,250 feel dam was BB4; built and fifteen miles of levee completed. An BB v example of Ilarrlman's determination is found BBrjf inilhe Lucln cut-off woik. By this cut-off 1,500 BBH feet of vertical climb and rorty-lhree miles of BB' space was annihilated. As the roadbed across BB ' J the lake was being constructed, engineers gave BB up In despair at different times, but Ilarrlman BB ji said "Go ahead." They said It was impossible. BB " Ilarrlman said "Do the Impossible, then, even BB j' If you have to dump Promontory Point into BB the lake." The work was finally accomplished B at a cost of $4,000,000. BB Of President Roosevelt and Mr. Ilarrlman, BB , "Opportunities of Today" says in part: BB I "It is dltllcult to say which is the more in- BB terestlng, the systems these men control or the BB j men themselves, as men we find much In BB , thein that is alike. There Is a great similarity BB In their motives. Mr. Roosevelt Is supposedly BB ' controlled by love of power, Mr. Ilarrlman, by HH , love of money. Both suppositions are Incor-BB Incor-BB i "The personal desire toaccomplish all they BH ;i can for the peopfe seems to be the -underlying BH 1 motive of each. This motive Is seldom attrlb- BH uted to Mr. Roosevelt, almost never to Mr. BH Ilarrlman. HH ' "These two presidents, so dissimilar In BH i many ways, are alike when they Ynakc up their BH It minds to anything. They will not be turned HH v aside BH "It Is here we find the basic motive for their HH achievements. BH I i "There are things they want to see accoiu- BH plished. They make up their minds that these BH ' things shall be done; to that end their efforts HH t are bent. HH (. "Political preferment would not be a suf- HH 4 flclont motive for President Roosevelt. Prob- HH , ably he has as little uu for political oillcc per HH so as anyone In politics. He uses politics as a HH means to an end. lie wants to see things done HH ' tho way hu wants them done. Ho wants to HH, . witness change?, changes made for what he rc- HHi gards as the betterment of the race or the na- HH tion. He employs politics to accomplish his HJ( 't ends. This is why lu Is In polities. Probably HHv no one would accuse him of sacrificing a single BH ' principle, or personal belief for anything that HH ' politics could oiler him. HH "Ills reputation for sincerity Is his strong HH card, Right or wioug, the people everywhere HH look to him as a man who is doing aod saying HH ' what he believes true and best. Ho is a HH j preacher w ho never seeks the wilderness for HH j his sermons, but delivers them in tho ear of HHV1 the people present that all men may hear him." |