growth has
steadily followed the rails, that all this development of States,
of villages growing into cities, of scattered communities becoming
great manufacturing centres, of an internal commerce reaching
proportions where it has greater volume than the foreign interchanges
of the whole world, has come about during a period covered by
the official career of a railroad man who is still in the service:
an attorney in 1866, a vice-president in 1882, president in 1885,
chairman of the board of directors in 1899, and still holds that office.

There is no such record in the country for continuous service with
one company, which during the whole period has been controlled by
one family. This service of more than half a century has been in
every way satisfactory. It is a pleasure to see the fourth
generation, inheriting the ability of the father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather, still active in the management.

I want to say that in thus linking my long relationship with the
railroads to this marvellous development, I do not claim to have
been better than the railway officers who during this time have
performed their duties to the best of their ability. I wish also
to pay tribute to the men of original genius, of vision and daring,
to whom so much is due in the expansion and improvement of the
American railway systems.

Commodore Vanderbilt was one of the most remarkable men our
country has produced. He was endowed with wonderful foresight,
grasp of difficult situations, ability to see opportunities before
others, to solve serious problems, and the courage of his
convictions. He had little education or early advantages, but
was eminently successful in everything he undertook. As a boy on
Staten Island he foresaw that upon transportation depended the
settlement, growth, and prosperity of this nation. He began with
a small boat running across the harbor from Staten Island to
New York. Very early in his career he acquired a steamboat and
in a few years was master of Long Island Sound. He then extended
his operations to the Hudson River and speedily acquired the
dominating ownership in boats competing between New York and Albany.

When gold was discovered in California he started a line on the
Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Darien and secured from the
government of Nicaragua the privilege of crossing the Isthmus
for a transportation system through its territory, and then
established a line of steamers on the Pac