Harriman

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

EDWARD HENRY, an American financier and railroad official, born at Hempstead, N. Y., in 1848. He was educated in the public schools and at Trinity School, New York City. Entering commercial life at the age of fourteen, he advanced rapidly, and was a member of the Stock Exchange when past his majority. He was the barely past barely founder of the banking and brokerage house of Harriman & Co. In 1883 he became identified with the Illinois Central railroad as a director, proceeding, in 1887, to the vice-presidency. From this position, he began his organizing and consolidating operations, which extended to the acquisition of the Central and Southern Pacific roads in 1897-1898 and of the connecting lines to the Pacific Coast. His next step was thwarted by J. J. Hill and resulted in the Stock Exchange panic in 1901, after Harriman had failed to gain control of the Great Northern. Harriman was, if not the originator, at least one of the most noteworthy exponents of the use of "watered stock," as the subsequent investigations of the Interstate Commerce Commission revealed, notably in the Chicago and Alton railroad deal in 1901. He was actively interested in politics, and although a heavy contributor to the Roosevelt campaign fund of 1904, his financial methods led Roosevelt to break with him later. Many times prosecuted by the Federal government under the Sherman Act, Harriman was able to maintain his operations and actually increase his grip system of the country. upon the railroad system road He died in 1909, leaving an estate of over $200,000,000 to his wife.