It has often been urged by the sinister-minded, that it was something
against him to have gained so much at the hands of the Vanderbilts. The
truth is that this is his chief badge of honor. Many times he has won
influence and votes for the Vanderbilt interests, but always by the use
of wit, oratorical persuasion and legitimate, honorable argument,—never
by the methods of the lobbyist. Commodore Vanderbilt engaged him as
counsel for the New York Central Railroad, at a salary of $25,000
a year,—then equal to the salary of the president of the United
States,—and he always acknowledged that Mr. Depew earned the money.
He is now the head of the entire Vanderbilt system, or the controlling
spirit of thirty distinct railroads, besides being a director in the
Wagner Palace Car Company, the Union Trust Company, the Western Union
Telegraph Company, the Equitable Life Insurance Society, the Western
Transit Company, the West Shore and International Bridge Company,
the Morris Run Coal Mining Company, the Clearfield Bituminous Coal
Corporation, the Hudson River Bridge Company, the Canada Southern
Bridge Company, the Niagara River Bridge Company, the Niagara Grand
Island Bridge Company, the Tonawanda Island Bridge Company, the
American Safe Deposit Company, the Mutual Gas Light Company, and the
Brooklyn Storage and Warehouse Company.
“How much of your time each day,” I asked, “have you given, upon an
average, to your professional duties?”
“Only a moderate number of hours. I do not believe in overwork. The
affairs of life are not important enough to require it, and the body
cannot endure it. Just an ordinary day’s labor of eight or ten hours
has been my standard.”
“Your official duties never drew you wholly from the political field, I
believe?”
“Entirely, except special needs of the party, when I have been urged
to accept one task after another. I believe that every man’s energies
should be at the disposal of his country.”
“On the political side, what do you think is the essential thing for
success?”
“The very things that are essential anywhere else—honesty, consistency
and hard work.”
“It requires no strain of character, no vacillation?”
“For twenty-five years,” answered Mr. Depew, “I was on all occasions
to the front in political battles, and I never found that political
opinions or activity made it necessary to break friendships or make
them.”
Mr. Depew’s political career is already so well known that it need not
be reviewed here.
After three years of service as vice-president of the New York Central
Railroad, he was elevated, in 1885, to the presidency. While thus
given a position of great influence in the business world, his growing
reputation made him eligible for greater political honors than any for
which he had yet been named. In 1888 he was the presidential candidate
of the Republicans of New York state, at the national convention of
the party, and received the solid vote of his state delegation, but
withdrew his name. President Harrison offered him the position of
secretary of state, to succeed Mr. Blaine, but he declined.