The mantle of Lord Shaughnessy fell upon Edward Wentworth Beatty who, on Lord Shaughnessy’s passing, became President and also Chairman of the Board. A young man not far over the forties in years was Mr. Beatty when he took up the mantle and assumed the high office of the Canadian Pacific Presidency. First of the Canadian-born to occupy this responsible position, he bids fair to measure up fully to all its imperious demands. There are unthinking people in the world who have a sort of compassionate way of wondering whether a man can fill the place of a great predecessor. But in reality each man fills his own place, and by the full play of his own individuality makes his own contribution to history. Each may do work his predecessor could not have done, and, while keeping up a continuity, each brings a new force into the march of human progress. It may be interesting in this connection to recall and summarize the work of these men who, up to this date, have headed the Canadian Pacific. Hence an extract from an article by the present writer on the subject, in the press recently, may be introduced in line with the statement just made: “These four presidents were of different types in many ways, and of quite distinctive talents, but they seemed to be specially suited for the work which each was called upon to do in the given period in which he exercised the duties of his high office. “Stephen was a master of finance, whose authority in that realm was recognized by every one, and whose integrity was beyond question. In executive boldness he was not the equal of some others on the road, but the questions he had to face were largely financial. “It was the period when the great railway, owing to the terrific cost of construction and practical impossibility of selling land was, financially speaking, gasping for breath. Stephen’s mastery of financial problems and his high repute in the world of business made him the man for the hour. “So consummate a master of finance was he that before he relinquished the office of President, every dollar loaned by the Dominion Government to tide the Canadian Pacific Railway over the sandbars of construction time was repaid. “Mr. Van Horne, who succeeded Stephen in the Presidency, was particularly gifted in the powers required for the period when, although the main line was completed from coast to coast, an enormous amount of work was required in creating traffic, constructing branch-line feeders, as well as a large amount of inspection of all lines, the replacement of temporary by more permanent track and bridge equipment and such like. In such work Mr. Van Horne had no equal.