WHITNEY, WILLIAM COLLINS (184 1-1904 ) , Ameri can political leader and financier, born at Conway, Mass., July 5, 1841. He graduated at Yale in 1863, studied law at Harvard, and began to practise in New York city. He actively allied himself with the anti-Tammany organization which successfully opposed the "Tweed Ring," and aided in the election of Samuel J. Tilden as governor in 1874. As corporation counsel of New York city (1872-82) he contested some 3,80o suits against the city, inher ited from the Tweed regime, and he saved the municipality about $12,000,000. He did much in the way of organization to secure the election of Cleveland in 1884, and under him became Secre tary of the Navy (1885-89). He played an important role in cre ating a more modern navy, especially in the building of armour plated ships. After his term of office he reorganized the Manhattan
street railways and established the Metropolitan Street Railway company. His work in 1892 overcame the efforts of T. C. Platt and Tammany Hall, through a "snap convention" to prevent the nomination of Cleveland for a second time. In 1896, disapproving of the "free-silver" agitation, he refused to support his party's candidate, William J. Bryan (q.v.). One of his last pieces of work was the organization of the New York Electric Light, Heat and Power company with a capital of $50,000,000. He died in New York city Feb. 2, 1904.