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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1909)
4 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, AUGUST 1, 1909.. YANKEE LEADERS OF THE NEW ERA OF WORLD-WIDE EXPANSION , . mr : 1 : .... . : i- mm i hi an bimii H i mi 1 it -Tim mn rn i in turn mi - m nrr nr iiiiiiuhmwi imhi i - It's Dead Ahead and Will Be Directed by Such Well-known .Americans as A. . Stillwell, Theodore N. Va the Guenheims, the Armours and "Most of Our Leading Finan ciers. Foreign Allies Include the Roth childs and.Enrique C. Cree 1 of Mexico. . :?' ' ' - - f V i ' ; k 'k1' fr' i I v I i--' . I V- . Ji Xr- i -.4 ' . . - ! Theodore N. VaiTs Part in the Development of the Railway Mail Service and the Tele phone How A. E. Stillwell Became a . Transportation King Capitalists Who Are Turning Eager Eyes Towards Alaska and the Far East. 4 BY K. J. EDWARDS. LESS than two years ago this country was in the mid.:t of a panic that shlverpd business, paralyzed credit aDd sent hundreds of millions of cur rency frantically seeking safe hiding places. Today the. t-'nited States is pre paring to take Its place as a world power In deed as well as In name, through the stupendous world-wide industrial, com mercial and financial activities that have already or will shortly ne got under way by many of those nephews of Uncle Sam who hae attracted international atten tion by reasons of their sagacious wealth eoJnJng boldness In various fields of hu man endeavor. This new Tank4e-led era of expansion will engulf practically the whole, of the Western Hemisphere, sweeping, as it will, from Alaska, across the home coun try Into Mexico, thence Into Central America and on as far to the southward as' the cattle-grazing pampas of the Ar gentine Republic ii will be a potent fac tor In the Impending phenomenal develop ment of China. Even the great money renters of the Old World will feel its lm press. In short, hardly a portion of the civilized world will escape paying txibnte In one form or another under this new expansion era to scores of well-known Americans and the foreign money bags that are keen to work in conjunction with them. Among these latter, by the way. are the Rothschilds and Mexico's Ambas sador to this country Enrique C Creel, one of the most Interesting personalities to be found anywhere on the continent today. 9150,000,000 for Long Distance. One of the most Important of the great American developments at home which are to be Initiated or got well under way in this year, is the expansion of telephone service so that it may be possible for Chicago to talk with San Francisco or Los Angeles, or for Minneapolis to chat over the wire with Portland or Seattle. And this long-distance service is to be supplemented by such utilization of neighborhood or township telephones as will, within the next five years, bring within telephonic communication almost every part of the West, so that farmers remotely dwelling one from another may find themselves after all neighbors hold ing business or social conversations at their pleasure. All of this Is going to require a vast amount of money. The greater of the telephone corporations of the United Ptates has recently secured J150.000.000, and every penny of this is to be expended in establishing long distance and neigh borhood telephone service throughout the "West, and especially that part of the West that is beyond the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. This amazing development of the tele phone in the United States is regarded in Europe as a convincing demonstration of the prosperity of the United States and the continued growth of our indus trial and agricultural activity. Said a great banker of Loudon recently to one whose home is in New J'ork: "No wonder the United States is going to be a world power, both financially and politically, for you hae more telephones in opera tion and many thousand miles more of long-distance telephone than all of Great Britain and Europe, and. I was going to add. the Eastern Hemisphere. That, of itself. Is sufficient evidence of your ma terial prosperity" Much of the constructive work which already has so greatly expanded .the. long-distance telephone has been done tinder the direction of Theodore N. VaiJ. who is president of the telephone corpor ation now planning to spend tl50.000.000. Ho has two homes, one in Boston that Is his business home and another In Vermont. In the shadow of the Green Mountains he lives in the Summer upon a farm of considerable acreage. Mr. Vail is a native of Ohio, and when a young man was sure that his career was to be that of a physician. But ha was strongly, attracted to the then newly craated railway mail service, and when' he was about 25 years of age he became a cleric in that department of the Federal Government, under its first superintend ent. Mr. Bangs. It wsa early discovered by the latter that young Vail possessed special qualifications for the development at what was the world's first railway postal service, and when he was only 28 years of age he was made Assistant Gen eral Superintendent, and became in com plete executive charge of the railway maii service of the United States the year before his 30th birthday. Father of Fast Mail Delivery by Rail There were many persons who doubted the wisdom of establishing a postoffice on railway trains. With great difficulty Congress was persuaded that it would be a good thing for the business men of the country if it were possible to mail a let ter in Chicago or in New York and have It delivered at the other city in a little over 34 hours time. Mr. Vail demon strated both In private conversation and In statements before Congressional com mitters that such a fast mail service be tween New York and Chicago represented a great deal more than letters designed for the merchants of either city. For New York and Chicago, he said, are the great distributing as well as the great concentrating mail centers of the United States,, and It meant a great deal to a merchant or a business man or a farmer who Was looking to a good marketing of his harvests if he received his mail speed' lly or was sure it would be delivered as rapidly as railroad trains could run. In time Mr. Vail made Congress see the matter his way, and so he became the father of the country's fast railway mall service, an innovation which was speedily copied in every fully civilized country the world over. But before he had garnered this distinction he and the service's first superintendent had perfect ed a system which now makes it pos sible to have upon a railway train one postal car which is. in effect, a miniature postoffice. Thus Uncle Sams railway mail service, as it exists today, is largely the child, so to speak, of Theodore X Vail. i It so happened that just about the time that Mr. Vail had perfected the rail. way mail service in the United States there came the first demonstration of the commercial practicability of the tele phone. Naturally, his vocation Intensely interested him In this new method of rapid communication of intelligence. It was Just the kind of apparatus that would appeal to a man of his Intellect and training, and it was not long there after that Mr. Vail gave up his associa tion with the railway mail service thai he might become connected with the tele phone. The first important telephonic work of this energetic, clear-eyed, prompt-man nered young man was ttte Installation of telephone systems In Buenos Ay res and Rio de Janeiro. In both capitals his hustling qualities brought him the undi vided attention of traveling or self-exiled Americans. It also brought him the ad miring observation of the home office. and when he had completed his work in Brazil and the Argentine Republic he was called to the principal office of the tele phone corporation, which is in Boston. There, some two years ago, upon the re tirement of the former president, the father of the country's fast railway mail service became the president of the world's largest telephone system. At that time it was recognized that the great work Ir. Vail had before him was to expand the system so that it would virtually network or cobweb the entire United States. This work is now in progress, and before the end of the pres ent year it will doubtless be possible for President Vail to report great expansion of the telephone service, and especially of the long-distance service throughout many parts of the West. First Long-Distance Talk. In this connection it is Interesting to note that Mr. Vail was a member of that mall group of men who gathered around Alexander Graham Bell In the offices of the telephone company in New York City some 13 years ago and took part in an epoch-marking event in the history of thd telephone the transmission of the first long-distance telephone message. It was to be a demonstration of the use to which the telephone could be put which would compare In sensational and dramatic in terest with the first and spectacular dem onstration of the telephone that was made by Professor Bell at the Centen nial Exposition of 1876. Professor Bell himself was to do the talking over the long distance wire with Chicago. No one excepting those who were constructing this service had talked with Chicago, and they only when test ing .the apparatus. There were present m&n who had won distinction, and some of them wealth for their work in per fecting the telephone. There was Pupin. an earnest-mannered. solemn-eyed, typical student of science, who had perfected the apparatus without which the long-distance service could not have been put in use. There was Pick erneli, a Jolly-faced, humor-loving, dark eyed young man, who had worked out a method for the convolution of the heavy copper wire which prevented Induction. There was J. K. Carty, who, when a boy 1 f ? 1 I' WIT. . 'iff at Cambridge. Mass., was fascinated by the telephone, began the study of elec tricity, and of ' the telephone apparatus, and at last Invented the TllfW bell, now known by his name, which rings on the telephone instrument when there is a call. But perhaps the two most conspicuous and Interesting characters, except Pro fessor Bell himself, who met upon this occasion, were Dr. Gardner G. Hubbard, Bell's father-in-law, and Theodore N. Vail. Dr. Hubbard was to see that day the finest exemplification of the commer cial expansion of the telephone which his own financial genius had so greatly aided. Theodore N. Vail was to witness what for him was an even greater ex ploit than the establishment of a fast railway mail service between Chicago and New York in 24 hours' time. Dr. Hubbard watched the telephone. but. Mr. - Vail seemed especially attracted by the picture which Professor Bell him self made. Professor Bell took his seat before the telephone and chatted- for a few moments with some of those who were about him. Mr. Vail stood silent. if completely dominated by the fasci nation and mystery of this .exploit.. He watched Professor Bell as though ' the latter were of some superhuman quality. a wonderful wizard, comprehending and accomplishing things that the average human mind cannot understand. Professor Bell took up the transmitter and rung the bell. In a moment those whe were nearby heard him say in a low tone of voice: 'Is that' you, . Chicago?" You would have thought irora his man ner that he was about to chat with some one tU a telephone not more than half a mile away. Then, having heard " Chi- casus reply, Professor Bell said, still speaking in a conversational tone of voice, "How are you, Chicago?" and hav ing received the-answer he said, "I hear you distinctly. Do you hear me?" Then, after a moment, "I am glad you do. Chi cago is now next door to New York." There was perhaps five minutes' con versation of this kind, and theji Professor Bell took flown the receiver, and turning to his friends, said: "The long-distance telephone is now an accomplished fact." At no far distant date Professor Vail will doubtless be . able to. report to the directors of the great corporation which he now heads that long distance tele phonic communication is now an accom plished fact from one boundary of the United States to another. Railroad Expansion Into the Tropics Another of the great American expan sions how well under way is the finan cial and transportation conquest of the countries Immediately to the south of us Mexico, Central America and Panama. Americans of capital are daily gaining wide influence in these countries, and others high in the transportation world are pushing new railway lines into and through all of these countries, to have them ready against the day when the Panama Canal will receive the floating commerce of the world desirous of taking a short cut from one ocean to the other. These financiers and these railroad build ers realize that the canal will mean in creased business for the lower part of the North American continent, end they do not propose to be caught napping. One of the most Interesting of these railway expansions is that which repre sents the original purpose and persistent energy of A. E. Stillwell of Kansas City, who is ' to have the distinction of being the first of Uncle Sam's nephews to con struct p. railway running across Mexico to the finest of the harbors upon the west coast- of Mexico. -- And in connec tion with another young American, Edwin Hawley, Mr. Stillwell is to per fect within a year or two the shortest of transcontinental railway lines. When E. H. Harriman needed money to carry out -Ytis plans with' respect to the Union Pacific railway system, he approached some of the greatest inter national bankers of the world.- He was able to persuade .them, as James J. Hill had earlier been able to convince that shrewd conservative, cautious and humor-loving Scotchman, John S. . Ken nedy, that it was well worth while to build a railroad from Minneapolis and St. Paul across the great Northwest to the Pacific But Mr. Stillwell, when he had worked out his plans for his great "railroad, did not approach any of the famous New York or Eastern bankers. Instead, be made, friends with those sa gacious bankers of Holland whose an cestors were the first to invent and make use of bills of foreign exchange, which has so greatly facilitated inter national commerce. And today it Is uni versally recognized that he is to have a prominent part in the great world movements which are to distinguish the era now opening. v Stillnell's Vision of a New Empire. Like John D. Rockefeller, Henry M. Flagler, Edwin Hawley, E. H. Harri man and several others who have achieved greatly in these days, Mr. Stillwell was born In New York State. He is now under 50 years of age, and the youngest of all the men who have secured great fame in the world of railway affairs during , the' last 15 years. But he began as a life Insur. ance agent, and some who knew him when he was seeking to write poli cies In Chicago predicted that such a bright-eyed, earnest-mannered, quick moving and yet always self-controlled young man would not long remain a solicitor of insurance. As for this very young man, he used frequently to look towards the West and Southwest, and say to his friends: "Over there is opportunity; the South west is going to be the great empire region of the United States. It can sup port a larger popula'-ion than all oi' Europe, leaving Russia out, and it is going to develop an enormous com merce with other parts of the coun try." In time they saw Arthur Still well, when he was barely 30 years of age, busily occupied in constructing a belt railroad around Kansas City. And as he was building this railroad ram part around what Is to be an imperial city of the Missouri Valley he roust have had in mind the idea tnat som day it would serve him better to carry out some of his great purposes. Having built this belt road, Mr. Still well turned his eyes directly toward the South. Then began what many financiers regarded as his mysterious communications with the rich bankers of Holland. But something about Mr. Stillweirs manner, a frankness and earnestness many call it almost hyp notic quality, causing brilliant men to think as he does persuaded the Dutch bankers to back the ambitious railroad scheme unfolded to them, so that h who a few years earlier had been relatively obscure life insurance man of Chicago at last directed the con struction of a railroad running almost exactly due south from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico Just east or Gal veston. - Mr. Stillwell. having finished the railway from Kansas City to the Gulf, turned his eyes: still farther south. He is one of the 'men who knew that the construction of an isthmian canal was Inevitable, and he was one of the very few men of America who realized that the building or a canal across the Isthmus, instead of checking railroad construction, would vastly .stimulate it. causing, railroads to be . projected from this country far into and probably through Mexico to the very borders of the canal Itself. Hence, Mr. Stjllwell joumej-ed to Mexico, there found that all that had been said in praise of the harbor of Tapolobampo, on -the - Pa cine Coast was understatement rather than exaggeration, and equally im portant to his plans came into com munication with Enrique C. Creel,, one of the ablest living men of Mexico, al- tYZZ, CGBWtt TJS though he is an American by birth, hls'l Mr. Perkins has chiefly in mind the rall- ready to pour millions of European capi tal into the torritory If the. investiga- father having been a Kentuckian Self-Made Ambassador and Banker. . S e t- y , v ! -MoiJLii FIGUREHEAD OF BATTLESHIP OREGON IS TO BE LOANED TO STATE OF OREGON. BREMERTON, Wash., July XL (Special.)- This picture shows figurehead ; on the bow of the battleship Oregon, recently removed, and which-has been loaned to the State of Oregon, at request of Representative Hawley. It is understood that the. figurehead will be placed in front of the State House at Salem.. If any one desires to see exempli fied the finest qualities -of Spanish courtesy, all of -the traditional graces, the polite and kindly consideration which distinguish the Spanish nobility, let him seek out Senor Creel, a self made man , in the best sense of the word. For Mr. Creel bad to go to work at an early age. At one period he was a school teacher, at another a farmer, . at a third a tanner, and at still another a miner. And he reported for newspapers, sold drygoods over the counter, and all the time was educating himself. All the time, too, he was planning for bigger things, and while still a young man be took it upon himself to explain to the leading men of Mexico the great opportunities for commercial, mining and railway development that lay before him in the state of Chihuahua. In his ambi tious expositions he found an attentive listener In General Terrazas, of Chihua hua, one of the richest men of the world. Later on, General Terrazas became the father-in-law of Mr. Creel, and lived long enough to see his son-in-law magnificent ly developing Northern and Central Mex ico, Governor of Chihuahua, and at last Ambassador to the United States from Mexico, -oday many close observers of Mexican affairs are of the opinion that Ambassador Creel may some, day become President of the Mexican Republic. With Mr. Creel A. E. Stillwell became intimate, both personally and In business, and when the latter explained to the bril liant Mexican banker and statesman why he had planned to construct a railroad running almost exactly southwesterly from Kansas City to Topolobampo Har bor. 'Mr. Creel became speedily associ ated with this young railway genius. Therefore, Mr. Stillwell, still seeking the financial support of the bankers of Holland, also obtained strong financial and political aid from the bankers and the government of Mexico. It was easy enough for the engineers to lay. out a route for the. railroad, from Kansas City across Oklahoma. Texas and Eastern Mexico,, and it was also no diffi cult matter to construct a railroad from Topolobampo Harbor northeasterly, about 100 miles. But between these two great links stood the gigantic ramparts of the Sierra- Madre Mountains: They must be conquered before the shortest and, in some respects, the most important of American transcontinental lines could be completed. . When the Mexican government and American and English capitalists wanted to extend the national railway system of Mexico from . Mexico City to the Pacific, the question was how they were to take their railroad across, through or under the Sierra Madre Mountains. " Pioneers and pathfinders rode far and near to dis cover some opening in the mountains that might'prove to be a natural one. At last one venturesome explorer discovered a little 'opening and rode towards it, fear ing that be might have been -deceived by a mirage. But it was a real opening. He, a . solitary horseman, ventured in, and continued-oh, forever. winding' in and out, the. pass deviating at times from a straight line by many miles, but at last opening out upon the Pacific side. In such fashion . was the Sierra Madre range conquered for the branch railroad from Mexico City to the Pacific. But Mr.' Stillwell and Mr. Creel found ho pass in the 'part of the Sierra Madre range through which It was necessary for their transcontinental system to be con structed. In the old days the plan would have been, abandoned. .In these days of great -world movements, even the lofty and presumably Inaccessible, or Insur mountable, fastnesses of Nature are not permitted to be an ' obstacle to any scheme. Mrj Stillwell and Mr. Creel agreed that the railroad must be taken under, 'over, or through the mountains, and this year the work ,of conquering thenvwill be well under way. i The end of this year will also witness great progress In the construction of the railway which Mr. Harriman is driving from this country down along the West Coast of Mexico; and it may be that some day not far distant, this road will con nect with others that will take, it right up to- the banks of the, Panama Canal itself.. Great Things in ' Store for ' Alaska. So much for 'Mexico and Central Amer ica,' By mid-September i there will be an Interesting story to tell of - the result of the investigations now'- being made in Alaska by men of capital, or their repre sentatives, with a view to developing that country in a way undreamed of even a few years ago. The Guggenheims, the representatives of Baron Rothchild, and George W. Perkins, representing the Mor gan group of capitalists, are now in Alas ka, so that tdey may- see witn- tneir own eyes and weigh with their own Judgments the opportunities lor expansion in tne great territory. . Thev are not joomng tor. tne goia tor which the territory has become world famous. . The Guggenheims Senator Si mon, or uoioraao, . aaniei ana Isaac, among the rest who have carried Ameri can smelting interests to such a degree of prosperity that not even the great smelting works - of South Africa are re garded of greater consequence, axe es pecially interested in copper and eoaL j tions now under way are favorable to sucli a move. Of course, It Is impossible now to pre dict what the result of this exploration and investigation by men of capital in Alaska will be. But the fact that it has been undertaken is regarded as indicating that one of the. chief features of the world-wide expansion of industry . this Fall will be the beginning of a much higher and greater development of rail way, mining and possibly agricultural in terests in Alaska. Thus this new impulse is sweeping from Alaska across the United States, and on into Mexico. Central America find South America. For early in the Fall new steamship lines, connecting the United States with the Argentine Repub lic, and bringing to the United States beef carcasses, will be established. No doubt this expansion represents in part the recent vast investment in South America by the Armours of capital for the maintaining of millions of acres of Ka3 ..nnh.a en 4kal t hM I. an. falling off in the beef supply in the United States It may be made good by imports from South America. But these commercial, industrial and financial expansionists are not going to stop with South America. Jacob H. Schiff, James Stillman, George F. Baker, J. P. Morgan and a few others, compris ing an American syndicate, will have shared before long with the great bank- ers of Germany, France and London in. the marketing of a Chinese loan. And undoubtedly some time during the early Fall American securities in large amounts are to be placed upon the list of securities offered in the great Paris Stock Exchange. These examples are sufficient to illus trate the facts that the year 1300, and especially the latter half of it, is to be come traditional by reason of the world wide expansion of American financial, in dustrial and commercial activities. We are going to take our place as a world power. . (Copyright, 1909, by .E. J. Edwards.) MYSTERIES OF THE LAW Omission of "the" in Indictment ' Gives Missourian New Trial. - - New York World. Ferd Werner, former member of the St. Louis House of Delegates, has again been indicted for bribery, and will be placed on trial. His previous conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court of Missouri because the ' indictment ' read "against the dignity and peace of state," whereas it should have been "the state." Such Is the importance of the article in law. "The" is printed in the new indict ment in heavy black type, so the defend ant's rights are properly protected. Inci dentally, the state pays for an extra trial. Times change, and sometimes the law changes with them. Sometimes it does not About 400 years ago one Home was tried for falsely charging that "Sir Thomas Holt - hath taken a cleaver and stricken his cook upon the head, so that one side of the head fell upon one shoul der and the other ' upon the other shoulder."- It was solemnly Judged that this was insufficient, for it was not stated that the . cook was dead, "the cook's death. after the . splitting of his head, being matter of Inference only," and the law requiring a positive statement of fact. About the same time a learned English Jurist held that it was not slander to call a clergyman a fool, whereas It would be to apply such an epithet to. a lawyer. tor a Clergyman s qualities are rather of the heart than the head, whereas the qualities of a lawyer are rather of the head than of the heart, and one may be rooi ana still a good clergyman. ' A little later a conviction for murder was set aside because the Judge In pronounc ing sentence had omitted to order that the bodies of the prisoners should be buried within the precincts of the Jail, hence the sentence was Illegal; and Lord Hale thought that an Indictment for ma liciously infecting a person with the plague was not murder, for "Infection is God's arrow." A few centuries afterward there was some .improvement, for Lord Maule sustained a pleading where a man was described as '1 Jones," since, al though Initials were prohibited. It did not appear that the man's name was not "i." Sky Pilots Enact Jesse James' Life. Springfield (O.) Dispatch. Portraying the life of Jesse James and the nefarious work of his band of train robbers in all Its glaring and revolting de tails came near costing Rev. John E. Hall and Evangelist John Thumb their lives in Oklahoma, according to letters re ceived by friends at New Carlisle, the homes of the two gospel messengers. On the occasion In question they were con ducting a meeting in which they had glaringly portrayed the life of Jesse James.. The majority of their audience was made up of cowboys and rounders from, the Western plains. The idea of ha. vine themselves compared to Jesse James was too mucfi for the Westerners, and they started a raid on - the ta ber nacle. Hall and Thumb were forced to flee for their Uvea.
