TH - Canada Southern Railway

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adopted the name of the "Republican
Party." Thus he may be said to have
been a charter member of the party
•with which he was affiliated for the
remainder of his life. As soon as he
had received his degree he threw himself
enthusiastically into the Presidential
campaign of 1856, supporting
Fremont and Dayton, making speeches
in their behalf and beginning a political
career which made him so prominent
a figure in every succeeding
presidential campaign.
As Politician in New York
Mr. Depew was a member of the
New York Assembly in 1861-2. He
was not a candidate, but was nominated
during his absence from the
State. Of course, he could expect
nothing from his father, and his own
earnings were not large, so he had to
rely upon a personal canvass of a district
which had been largely covered
by rich candidates running against
each other and spending large
amounts of money. But Mr. Depew
made a hot canvass, speaking every
day, and with an investment of less
than $100 for traveling and other expenses,
he was triumphantly elected.
Few men have done so much for
others in politics and sought or received
less for himself than Chauncey
M. Depew. This service in the legislature
was followed by a term as
Secretary of State of New York.
The first National Convention Mr.
Depew ever attended was held in Baltimore
in 1864, when Lincoln was renominated.
Thereafter he was a regular
attendant at National Conventions.
He was delegate-at-large, representing
the whole State, to the Republican
National Convention in 1888,
1892, 1896, 1900, 1904, and was a delegate
in 1908, 1912 and 1916. At the
convention in 1888 he placed Benjamin
Harrison in nomination for the
presidency and he nominated Governor
Morton in 1896.
At the Republican Convention of
1888 Mr. Depew received 99 votes for
the presidential nomination.
His Senatorial Career
He declined election as United
States Senator in 1885 and also declined
appointment as Secretary of
State in the Cabinet of Benjamin
Harrison. But later on he thought
better of the attractions of a term in
the Senate and became Senator from
New York for the two terms from
1899 to 1911.
In 1866 Commodore Vanderbilt sent
for him and offered him the position
of Attorney for the New York & Harlem
Railroad. Mr. Depew had just
been nominated and confirmed United
States Minister to Japan. The appointment
was a complete surprise to
him as he had not been an applicant
for any federal position. The salary
as a Minister was $7,500 a year and
an outfit of $9,000. Commodore Vanderbilt's
offer of the attorneyship for
the Harlem Railroad, which was his
first venture in railroading, was far
less than the salary as Minister.
When Depew called Vanderbilt's attention
to this discrepancy, the old
Commodore said:
"Railroads are the career for a
young man; there is nothing in politics.
Don't be a damned fool."
Upon this presentation of the case,
Mr. Depew decided, then and there,
not to be "a damned fool." On the
first day of January, 1928, he rounded
out sixty-two years of continuous
service with the great railroad system
of which the New York & Harlem
was the nucleus.
Mr. Depew was fond of telling
about the entrance of the Hudson
River Railroad into Peekskill. The
event was locally celebrated. When
the locomotive steamed into the station
many of those present had never
seen one. The engineer was continuously
blowing the whistle to emphasize
the great event. This produced
much consternation and confusion
among the horses, as all farmers were
there with their families in carriages
or wagons. One team of young horses
was driven into a frenzy. Their owner
was unable to control them, but he
kept them on the road as they ran
away in a wild dash over the hills.
In telling this story at a dinner in
England once, Mr. Depew said that as
far as he knew and believed, those
horses were so frightened that they
were still running. A very successful
and serious-minded captain of industry
among the guests sternly rebuked
him by saying:
"That is impossible! Horses were
never born that could run for twentyfive
years without stopping."
The Railroad in 1866
When Mr. Depew entered the service
of the railroad, January 1, 1866,
the Vanderbilt system consisted of the
Hudson River and the Harlem Railroads,
the Harlem ending at Chatham,
128 miles, and the Hudson River Railroad
at Albany, 142 miles. The total
railroad mileage of the United States
at that time was 36,000 miles.
Thus his connection with the New
York Central Railroad covers practically
the whole period of railway
construction, expansion, and development
in the United States. It is a
singular evidence of the rapidity of
the country's growth and of the way
in which that growth has steadily
followed the rails that this development
of states, of villages growing
into cities, of scattered communities
becoming great manufacturing centers,
of an internal commerce exceeding
in volume the foreign interchanges
of the whole world, has come
about during a period covered by the
official career of a single railroad
man: an attorney in 1866, a vicepresident
in 1882, president in 1885,
chairman of the board of directors
from 1898 until the time of his death.
This is a record without a parallel.
One of the lessons taught by the
Civil War which closed in 1865 was
that the country needed more railroads.
The country had learned that
without transportation its vast and
fertile territories could not be made
productive. Conditions due to expansion
of currency and banking practices
encouraged vast schemes of railroad
construction. This and wild expenditures
resulted in the panic of
1873. Really, the whole country went
bankrupt, but recovery was rapid.
Constructive talent of the country
New York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928
realized that restoration of credit and
prosperity must be led by railroad
solvency. The eastern railway situation
was then dominated by Commodore
Vanderbilt, Col. Thomas E. Scott
of the Pennsylvania, and John W.
Garrett of the Baltimore & Ohio.
Both Scott and Garrett were empire
builders. The head of a railway system
in those days had practically unlimited
power in the operation of his
road. The people were so anxious for
the construction of railroads that they
offered every possible inducement to
capital. The result was a great deal
of unprofitable construction and enormous
losses to the promoters.
As New York Central President
Mr. Depew was made president of
the New York Central in 1885, an office
which he held continuously until
1898. During his presidency the labor
question throughout the country
was very acute, and strikes, one after
another, were common. The method
of getting the demands of labor at
that time was to have a committee of
employes or a leader present them to
the division superintendent or the superintendent
of motive power. These
officers were arbitrary and hostile as
the demands, if acceded to, led to an
increase of expenses which would
make them unpopular with the management.
They had a difficult position.
Employes often came to the
conclusion that the only way for them
to compel attention of the higher officers
and directors was to strike.
Against the advice of his associates
in the railroad management, Mr. Depew
opened his doors to any individual
or committee of the company. At
first he was overwhelmed with petty
grievances; but when the men understood
that their cases would be immediately
heard and acted upon they
decided among themselves not to take
any matters to the president unless
they regarded them as of vital importance.
In this way many former
eruptions which led ultimately to serious
results no longer appeared. Mr.
Depew therefore had no trouble with
labor unions and found their representatives
in heart-to-heart talks very
generally reasonable.
There was but one strike on the
New York Central during his administration
and that one occurred while
he was absent in Europe.
Mr. Depew retired from the presidency
in 1898 to become Chairman of
the Board of Directors, a position he
held until the time of his death. As
President and Chairman of the Board
he was, necessarily, a director on the
New York Central and of its numerous
subsidiaries.
Perhaps no other man in history
ever attended so many public dinners
or made so many after-dinner speeches.
On this subject, therefore, he may
be regarded as an authority, and his
pronouncements thereon are worth
preserving. Of food and drink, which
precede oratory, he once said:
"I have never experimented with
strange foods. My health and longevity
are due, more than anything else,
to the fact that I have been very careful
what got inside of me. I have
seen a flow of champagne suggestive
of Niagara, but I have never been
,\ew York Central Lines Magazine for May, 1928 15
AT 4-6. IN 1880, WHEN HE WAS VICE-PRESIDENT AT 8£ . FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN OH.
of the New York. Central. Railroad Company his birthday, April £3,1916.
Seventy years of Mr. Depew's life In pictures, from college graduate days through two distinguished careers of politics and
railroading.