University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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1907 CORKS AND CURLS 13 them have done the work of statesmen. The idea of the Southern Railway as a vast developer of the resources of a rich and almost untouched empire grew in the brain of J. Pierpont Morgan and others who stood where they could survey the whole field. The man to realize that idea was Samuel Spencer. In June, 1894, Mr. Spencer became President of the Southern Railway Com- pany, a system developed out 0f the properties of the old Richmond Terminal and East Tennessee, Virginia 81 Georgia systems. The Southern Railway system has been gradually extended under his direction, until it now operates seven thou- sand five hundred and fifteen miles of track, and controls subordinate companies, operated separately, to the extent of two thousand t'hirty-eight miles, and gives employment to more than thirty-seven thousand men. When Mr. Spencer assumed its leadership, there were four thousand three hundred and ninety-one miles of track, and sixteen thousand employes. The guiding mind in the practical development of this great industrial achievement was Samuel Spencer. Wealth and inHuence and power came to him as the years went by, but with these things there came no essential change in the character of the man whose whole life had been a struggle. The mere greed of gain could not tarnish his integrity. Amidst a certain madness of desire for wealth which fell upon our land, he did not lose his head, remaining always true and simple in a heady time. He did not forget the land where he was born, though his spirit continually enlarged tol-greet the spirit of the whole nation. The South held constant place in his thought and in his heart. He found time to speak to college boys of their opportunities. He con- tributed 01f his wealth to this University and to other institutions in his native state. I have the impulse to say that he was a source of strength to me in my duties, as President Of this University, in quiet and helpful ways, and as President Of our Alumni Associatioin he attested his idealism and his love of Alma Mater. Ever enlarging in scope of thinking and gifted with rare power of statement, he became, as I have said, the exponent of the statesmanship 0f railroading, striving to find the golden mean between individualism and initiative in great undertakings and that control which government should assume in the interests of society. Mr. Spencer had the inspiration for citizenship and for human service strong in his mind and heart. In proof of this, I may assert that he was a member, in many cases an active member, of t1'2irty-t'hree organizations of Civic, artistic, scientific, and patriotic nature, ranging from museums of art to Audubon societies. Gentle and purposeful, calm. and masterful, gracious and sympathetic, Samuel Spencer grew into a sort of type of the best that modern Southern life could pro- duce, retaining the lovableness and charm of the 01d blended with the Vigor and Every man has his price-so has Alderman.

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44A ... ...- L: a 494:;W'1a43 . wk .. A. . A -;A fymg; V I .wmun 4t i W 12 CORKS'AND CURLS VOL.XX land where he lived, the field and opportunity for the greatest industrial develop- ment of modern times. Immediately after his graduation from this University, he found employment with the Savannah and Memphis Railroad, serving that railroad successively as rodman, leveler, transitman, resident engineer, and assist- ant engineer. Fourteen years from the time when he began the 'duties of rodman on the Savannah St Memphis Railroad, he was President of the Baltimore 81 Ohio Railroad. At his death, he had been President of the Southern Railway for twelve years ; had been President of seven or eight subsidiary systems and director in a score and a half of our great railway and steamship lines. I wish I had space to enumerate barely the detailed story of these fourteen years of striving and achievement, which carried this young rodman to a place of acknowledged leader- ship on this continent in finance and transportation. It is a story of patience, of labor, of mastery, of eager devotion to duty in every phase of railroad building, from the track and the field to the great problems of industrial statesmanship and finance. Indeed, it is the truth to say that Samuel Spencer became in a sense the authorized spokesman of the railway world, in all matters touching their common relation to society and to the state. The man had the mind of a. states- man, and he saw the majestic, imperial side of the great problem of transportation. The victories of Samuel Spencer were not due to luck or favoritism, but tobrain and honesty of word and deed, to energy and fidelity to trust. He is a living and Vivid example to all young men who despair because they fancy there is no chance for them in a busy world, that is eagerly and intently looking for a man to do its work. New and undreame'd of forces require a man to shape them into endur- ing form. One needed but to look into the gray eyes and the strong, beautiful face of this young Southerner, who had grown old in, the light of battle, to see that here was a man who knew what he was about. Great seekers of men were in the alert then, as now, for men of reality and power to carry forward great designs, for an unexploited continent lay before them, as in the early 'days of the century a disorganized and chaotic Europe lay before the immoderate imagination of N apoleon. It is the fashion to abuse railways nowadays. It is unquestioned that they need a more careful scrutiny by the public which they serve. They are, unques- tionably, servants and not masters of the people. It is undeniably true that con- fusion had arisen as to their rights and duties, and it was inevitable that some re-adjustment of the relations between them and the public should come about. 'We should make a capital error, however, if we failed to perceive the railways as the greatest constructive force of the modern world. The men who have built

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i .i 11 q .4...1....,,i.'...' .L-..-... i;u;L...Tlh ' v ...-K: .,-.Y' a-ar ubr t. 4;. AL 3;; I - vggr. ca, .. ,M .. t +5-; A utJ. Md. M ... ..I! -e -...-.. V, .i -l. .1. 'Vi ibmj. h I4 CORKS AND CURLS VOL.XX freedom of the new. Wrorldly and Clear-eyed and modern, he yet contrived to hold fast through the conservatism in his blood to just concepts of public probity and scorn 0f dishonor. I sometimes think that 110 section and 110 institution and 110 nation that has not known the discipline and war and defeat and suffering could produce just this hne blend of strength and simplicity of power and honor. I pray that we shall one day see here at the University of Virginia a great Spencer Memorial School Of Finance and Commerce, reminding the years to come of this high career, and leading our youths in just ways into paths of real construc- tive usefulness in the upbuilding of their homes and their country. We need great business men in the South. I do not mean that there are no great business men in the South, but I mean that the world of business is of such importance that men should be trained for the higher and nobler reaches of indus- trialism and commerce. The man of affairs needs training. If such a School should ever come to us, all ofiits ideals should be carried forward in the spirit of the last message of this rare man to the land which he served faithfully from his boyhood to his death: ttMany and great. problems confront us as a people at the dawn of this new century. Not the least of them is the relationship which should exist between the railroads and the people. It should be approached in a spirit if j ustice, forbearance and moderation, and with the purpose of establishing a complete understanding and more cordial sympathy between the people and the managers of these public service utilities. Upon moderation and wisdom in its exercise depend the safety of life, liberty and property, and the stability of our national institutions. The effort of the patriot should be to see that its use is tempered by an awakened national conscience, and that in every national action the- Virtues of tolerance, moderation and justice are exhibited? EDWI N A. ALDER M A N .