Invited to New York to exercise his wisdom in directing the destinies of the L.S. & M.S., and the retirement of Senator Chauncey Depew a few months later signalled the elevation of Mr. Callaway to the Presidency of the N.Y.C. & H.R.R., and affiliated properties, March 30th, 1898, the acknowledged master of one of the greatest business enterprises of the century. A New York newspaper, commenting on that appointment, said, “It has long been ‘President Callaway’, as he was born Christmas Eve, 1850, and since youth has been a Santa Claus offering to the railways.” It is related that when William K. Vanderbilt urged Mr. Callaway to accept the Presidency of the American Locomotive Company, because his corporation could not meet the princely salary mentioned in the new contract, the interesting rumor spread so rapidly that it appeared in the press before the new executive had opportunity to acquaint his family how he had become a business man with prospects that would keep the wolf so far from the door that he dare not venture this side of the next concession. The newspaper references came to the notice of his son, a boyish wag at college, who immediately wrote home saying, “Dear Father--I see by yesterday’s paper that you were forced to get another job owing to the extravagance of your family. I want to congratulate you on your great success, for, judging from what the notices say, you have struck an ‘oily’ position.” Samuel Callaway had spent thirty years of active life time in the railway’s service and was considered a perfect type of the administrative American railroading man through inclination and training from boyhood, conquering difficulties and contending with stern realities without seeking publicity. He did not like to talk, but he knew well how to meet the world and writing of him after his decease, biographers said his business manners were flawless. When he first went to New York as President of the New York Central Lines there were some who thought a chill had come over the President’s office, so long kept beaming--as one writer put it--by the geniality of Senator Depew. The cool reserve of the new President was at first misunderstood, but those who had business with him soon realized that on business matters he was one of the most approachable of men. During office hours he was never diverted from close attention to the company’s affairs. As a thinker who saw clearly for the financial colleagues of a dozen corporations; as a man of the world discussing big projects in exclusive clubs of the metropolis, his extraordinary judgment was emphasized, but the simplicity of his quieter side, his love of little ones and thought for kith and kin in his native land, were likewise noticeable. He counted much on the success of his children and was devoted to his family, but was not vouchsafed the anticipated pleasure of their society in later years when his duties would have been less arduous.