E. H. Harriman; A Biography

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Good. VOLUME II ONLY. Ex-library. with usual library markings. viii, 421 pages. Some pencil underlining noted. Footnotes. Chronology. Index. George Kennan (February 16, 1845 - May 10, 1924) was an American explorer. As a reporter and war correspondent, he covered American politics, the Spanish-American War, the assassination of President McKinley, and the Russo-Japanese War, as well as World War I and the Russian Revolution. He also published E. H. Harriman's Far Eastern Plans, about Harriman's efforts to secure a lease to the South Manchuria Railway from Japan, as well as The Chicago and Alton Case, defending Harriman's purchase of the Chicago & Alton Railroad from criticism by the ICC and Teddy Roosevelt. Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 - September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. By age 22, he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange. He made a career as a rebuilder of bankrupt railroads. Harriman was nearly 50 years old when in 1897 he became a director of the Union Pacific Railroad. By May 1898, he was chairman of the executive committee, and his word was the law on the Union Pacific system. In 1903, he assumed the office of president of the company. From 1901 to 1909, Harriman was also the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. At his death Harriman controlled the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Saint Joseph and Grand Island, the Illinois Central, the Central of Georgia, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and Wells Fargo Express. Two chapters on his break with Theodore Roosevelt. By any account, Edward Henry Harriman was a fascinating individual and a titan of the railroad industry. What Rockefeller was to oil, Harriman was to railroads. By his death Harriman controlled the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Saint Joseph and Grand Island, the Illinois Central, the Central of Georgia, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Wells Fargo Express Company. Even by today's standards, he was a fabulously wealthy and powerful individual. In this long out of print biography of Harriman, author Kennan (cousin to the younger George Kennan) reveals the intricate power-plays that resulted in Harriman's control of properties and vast interests. He was interested in science and even learned ju-jitsu after a trip to Japan. Naturalist John Muir said of Harriman that he was worthy of admiration in almost every way. Excerpt: "One day [says Mr. Kruttschnitt] I was walking with Mr. Harriman on the road. He noticed a track bolt and asked me why so much of the bolt should protrude beyond the nut. I replied, " It is the size which is generally used." He said, "Why should we use a bolt of such a length that a part of it is useless?" I replied, " Well, when you come right down to it, there is no reason." We walked along and he asked me how many track bolts there were to a mile of track, and I told him. Thereupon he remarked, "Well, in the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific we have about eighteen thousand miles of track and there must be some fifty million track bolts in our system. If you can cut an ounce off from every bolt, you will save fifty million ounces of iron, and that is something worth while. Change your bolt standard."