Many a good plan has failed through oversight of some forgotten or
neglected factor.
Two years after Mr. Cassatt became general manager of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, Robert Garrett walked into the office of
George B. Roberts, then president, and exclaimed gleefully: “Mr.
Roberts, we have secured control of the Philadelphia, Wilmington
and Baltimore Railroad. We are not disposed, however, to disturb
your relations with the property, and you need not give yourself
any uneasiness on that score.”
This road, owned by New England capitalists, extended from
Philadelphia to Baltimore, and had been operated in the
interests of the Pennsylvania. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
always on the lookout for an open path to New York, coveted
the small but important stretch of track and resented the
Pennsylvania’s control of it.
President Roberts was amazed and not a little discomfited by the
easy assurance of Mr. Garrett. As soon as the exultant Baltimore
and Ohio man had gone there was a conference between President
Roberts and Mr. Cassatt.
“Garrett says they’ve got the P. W. & B.,” said Mr. Roberts.
“Oh, no, they haven’t,” replied the general manager.
That night there was a meeting of Pennsylvania Railroad
directors in New York. Mr. Cassatt was the presiding genius.
He told them where he could lay his hands on a block of P. W.
& B. stock that would put the control forever in the hands of
the Pennsylvania Railroad. Before the directors rose from their
chairs a check was drawn for $14,949,052.20. It hangs in a frame
now on the walls of the treasury of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
canceled to show that the money was there waiting when it was
presented. At the time it was written, it was the largest
check ever recorded. The Garretts were completely routed. They
couldn’t understand how they had come to overlook that block of
stock, and they were equally at a loss to know how Cassatt had
discovered it and negotiated the purchase over night.
(2285)
=Ownership Settled by Sheep=--See TESTIMONY, A SHEEP’S.