(Excerpt from Testimony Taken by the United States Pacific...)
Excerpt from Testimony Taken by the United States Pacific Railway Commission, Vol. 4: Appointed Under the Act of Congress Approved March 3, 1887, Entitled "an Act Authorizing an Investigation of the Books, Accounts, and Methods of Railroads Which Have Received Aid From the United States, and for Other Purposes" Question. Since you were examined at Leavenworth we have been over the Kansas Central, and desire to call your attention to an answer made by you, that the actual cost of constructing that road was from to per mile. Please tell the Commission whether, on reflection, that was not an overstatement of the actual costi - Answer. I do not think it is. As I said to you when I made the statement, I would have to refer to books to make an accurate statement. But I do not think the road could be built, at that time, for less than that money. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Robert Emory Pattison was born on December 8, 1850 in Quantico, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States. He was the son of the Rev. Robert H. Pattison and Catherine (Woolford) Pattison. Before 1860 the family moved to Philadelphia as the elder Pattison had been appointed to the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church.
Robert Emory Pattison received his education in the public schools, graduating from the Central High School as valedictorian of his class in 1870. He immediately registered as a law student in the office of Lewis C. Cassidy.
On September 28, 1872, Robert Emory Pattison was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. After two unsuccessful attempts to obtain office he was on the point of surrendering his political ambitions when Cassidy, who was the leader of a Democratic faction in Philadelphia, suggested that he become the Democratic candidate for city controller on a reform platform. He was elected to this office on November 7, 1877, and three years later was reëlected. On his record in this office he was made Democratic nominee for governor of Pennsylvania in 1882 and was elected by a plurality of 40, 202 over his Republican opponent, Gen. James A. Beaver. He was inaugurated on January 16, 1883. His administration was committed to economy and reform and to strong executive action in reducing the state debt and in holding corporations, particularly railroads and canal companies, to a strict obedience to the constitution and the law. Upon the expiration of his term as governor he was ineligible for reelection and returned to Philadelphia to resume his law practice. In July 1887 he was elected president of the Chestnut Street National Bank and devoted a considerable part of his time to the management of this institution. In March 1887 President Cleveland tendered Pattison the auditorship of the United States Treasury but he declined the office.
Shortly afterward, however, Robert Emory Pattison accepted an appointment as a member of the United States Pacific Railway Commission, authorized by Congress to investigate the "books, accounts and methods of railroads which have received aid from the United States. " He was made chairman of the commission and entered upon his active duties on April 15, 1887. He wrote the minority report of the commission which stands today as one of the most valuable contributions to the financial history of the land-grant railroads. In 1890, after an aggressive campaign, he was again elected governor of Pennsylvania by a majority of 16, 554 over his Republican opponent, George W. Delamater, for the term extending from January 20, 1891, to January 15, 1895.
In his second administration Robert Emory Pattison stressed the policies which had characterized his first tenure of the office and urged the reduction of taxation and reforms in municipal government. On retiring from office he resumed the practice of law in Philadelphia and shortly afterward was elected president of the Security Trust and Life Insurance Company, which position he held until his death. In 1902 he was again Democratic nominee for governor but was defeated. He took an active interest in church work, being a lay delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1884 and in 1888; fraternal delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1890, and delegate to the Second Methodist Ecumenical Council in 1891. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 1, 1904.
(Excerpt from Testimony Taken by the United States Pacific...)
Robert Emory Pattison was a member of the board of trustees of American University and of Dickinson College.
On December 28, 1872 Robert Emory Pattison married Anna Barney Smith. They had three children.
