rence said to them: "I will act in perfect harmony with you
and will see that the New York Central Railroad protects New York City
regardless of the effect upon its finances." The city representatives
said: "That is very fine, and we will stand together."

Mr. Vanderbilt immediately issued a statement that the rates to
the seaboard should be the same to all ports, and that the
New York Central would meet the lowest rates to any port by
putting the same in effect on its own lines. The result was
the greatest railroad war since railroads began to compete.
Rates fell fifty per cent, and it was a question of the survival
of the fittest. Commerce returned to New York, and the competing
railroads, to avoid bankruptcy, got together and formed the
Trunk Line Association.

New York City has not always remembered how intimately bound is
its prosperity with that of the great railroad whose terminal is
within its city limits. Mr. Vanderbilt found that the railroad and
its management were fiercely assailed in the press, in the
legislature, and in municipal councils. He became convinced that
no matter how wise or just or fair the railroad might be in the
interests of every community and every business which were so
dependent upon its transportation, the public would not submit to
any great line being owned by one man. The Vanderbilt promptness
in arriving at a decision was immediately shown. He called upon
Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and through him a syndicate, which Morgan
formed, took and sold the greater part of Mr. Vanderbilt's
New York Central stock. The result was that the New York Central
from that time was owned by the public. It is a tribute to the
justice and fairness of the Vanderbilt management that though the
management has been submitted every year since to a stockholders'
vote, there has practically never been any opposition to a
continuance of the Vanderbilt policy and management.

Among the most important of the many problems during Mr. Vanderbilt's
presidency was the question of railway commissions, both in national
and State governments. In my professional capacity of general
counsel, and in common with representatives of other railroads,
I delivered argumentative addresses against them. The discussions
converted me, and I became convinced of their necessity. The
rapidly growing importance of railway transportation had created
the public opinion that railway management should be under the
control and s