Elite Men on Vacation

This article was published in the August 19 edition of the Indianapolis Star and focuses on men of social standing - including then Unites States President Theodore Roosevelt - on how they prefered to spend their vacations. This, the article posits, tells something about the individual although after reading it exactly what it tells is unclear. There is no particular insight to the character of these men and the best to be learned from it is a sense of their personal interests.
 
Three young men of the "fourth" generation of the Vanderbilt family - William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt - are mentioned for their interests in horse racing, yachting and automobiles although it is curious that "Reggie" is noted for his fascination with cars and not Willie K, the donor of the Vanderbilt Cup, the grand trophy for America's first international road race. Also noteworthy is the mention of Pennsylvannia Railroad President Alexander J. Cassatt, the brother of French Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Mr. Cassatt passed away on December 28, 1906, less than five months after this article was published and was allegedly fighting an illness six months prior to his demise.
 
I mention this article because of its relevance to the context of the times of the formative years of American motorsport. The cultured but sometimes frivilous adult children of 19th Century captains of industry and the hardscrabble "Westerners" of the middle portion of the country were frequently at odds as their life experiences differed significantly.