Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/270

242 threatened strike of laborers by conciliation and compromise. With equal prudence he avoided a contest over his father's will with his brother, Cornelius Jeremiah, and two of his sisters, by agreeing to pay the brother the income from $1,000,000, which was five times as much as the will awarded him, and increasing by $500,000 the legacy of each of his sisters. Under his administration was completed the acquisition of the Canada Southern railroad, which was effected by a guarantee of its bonds, and that of the Michigan Central by purchases in the open market. Between 1877 and 1880 he gained control of the Chicago and Northwestern line, comprising with its tributaries 4,000 miles of road. He obtained connection with St. Louis by means of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis railroad. In November, 1879, in order to obviate financial rivalries by interesting other capitalists in the New York Central road and to put his own property into a more manageable shape, he sold 250,000 shares of the stock to an English and American syndicate, investing the $30,000,000 that he obtained in U. S. government bonds, of which a year later he held $53,000,000. In 1880 he sold his interests in the Western Union telegraph company. In 1881 he lowered rates in competition with the New York, Western, Lake Erie, and other trunk lines, primarily in order to discourage the construction of the &ldquo;Nickel Plate&rdquo; railroad. On 4 May, 1883, he formally resigned the office of president of the New York Central and Hudson River, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, and Michigan Central companies, and sailed for Europe. At the same time the companies were reorganized by the election of his son Cornelius as chairman of the board of directors of the New York Central, and Michigan Central companies, and of his son William Kissam as chairman of the Lake Shore road. The Nickel Plate road, when completed, was acquired and added to the New York Central system, while the West Shore road was forced into bankruptcy by a reduction of rates. Mr. Vanderbilt built a fine mansion, which, with two other family residences, is shown in the illustration, in New York city, which he filled with modern paintings, chiefly of the French school, and with other works of art. Five houses were built for his sons and daughters in Fifth avenue near his own. He was fond of driving, as his father had been, and purchased Maud S. and other famous trotting-horses. He added $200,000 to the endowment of Vanderbilt university, and gave $100,000 for a theological school and $10,000 for a library in connection with the university. In 1884 he gave $500,000 for new buildings to the College of physicians and surgeons, and a year afterward his daughter, Emily, wife of William D. Sloane, built

and endowed in connection with it a maternity hospital at a cost of $250,000, and his four sons have erected and equipped a building for clinical instruction in connection with the college as a

of their father. He distributed $100,000 among the train-men and laborers of the New York Central railroad when they refrained from striking in 1877, gave $50,000 to the Church of St. Bartholomew, and paid $103,000 for the removal of the obelisk that the Khedive Ismail gave to the United States and for its erection in Central park, New York city. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, two days before the failure of Grant and Ward, borrowed from Mr. Vanderbilt, on an exchange check, $150,000, which went to protest. The general then sent to Mr. Vanderbilt, as security for this loan, deeds to certain real estate, and his swords, medals, works of art, and the gifts made him by foreign governments. Mr. Vanderbilt proposed to return all this property to Gen. Grant, but found that impossible, as it was liable to be seized by creditors of the firm of Grant and Ward. He then offered to give them to Mrs. Grant; but she declined to receive them. He then proposed to transfer all the property to the Union trust company, in trust for Mrs. Grant and her heirs. Mrs. Grant and the general refused this, on the ground that the original debt was a debt of honor. Mr. Vanderbilt then proposed that the presents should be transferred to Mrs. Grant during her life, and at her death be placed in the archives of the National government at Washington. This proposition was accepted, and Mrs. Grant immediately transferred the articles to the government. By his will he left $10,000,000 to each of his eight children, one half of each bequest to be held in trust; to his eldest son $2,000,000 more; $1,000,000 to the eldest son of the latter: and the residuary estate in equal parts to his two eldest sons, subject to the payment of an annuity of $200,000 to the widow, to whom he left his house and the artistic objects that it contained. He bequeathed $1,000,000 for benevolent purposes, including gifts to Vanderbilt university, the Metropolitan museum of art, the Young men's Christian association, the missions of the Protestant Episcopal church, and St. Luke's hospital. He also provided for building and maintaining a Moravian church and a family mausoleum at New Dorp, Staten island. The bulk of the family fortune, including the railroad securities, has, by agreement among the heirs, been left to the management of the two principal heirs, Cornelius and William Kissam. &mdash; The eldest son of William H., Cornelius, financier, b. on Staten island, N. Y., 27 Nov., 1843, was educated at private schools and trained to business. He was treasurer of the New York and Harlem railroad from 1867 till 1877, then vice-president till 1886, and since that date has been its president. In addition to his connection with the roads previously mentioned, in 1883 he became president of the Canada Southern company. He is a director in thirty-four different railroad companies, and is a trustee of many of the charitable, religious, and educational institutions of New York city. Among Mr. Vanderbilt's benefactions are the gift of a building in New York city for the use of railroad employes, a contribution of $100,000 for the Protestant Episcopal cathedral, and a collection of drawings by the old masters and the painting of the &ldquo;Horse Fair,&rdquo; by Rosa Bonheur, to the Metropolitan museum of art. &mdash; The third son,, is secretary and treasurer of the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis railway company, and is a director in most of the roads comprising the Vanderbilt system. &mdash; The youngest son,, has established a free circulating library in New York city, which was opened in July, 1888, and has maintained a manual training-school.