Gloucester County Democrat., 1898-04-07
RAILRoADIN6 AS A BUSINESS.
Hustle Once, Last and All the Time, Says
Chauncey Depew.

Hustle Once, Last and All the Time, Says
Chauncey Depew.
The railway profession presents more
attractions for young man than any
other line of business, says Chauncey M.
Depew in Railroad Men, It has
greater opportunities for advancement,
and its employment is more permanent
To succeed in it in any department re-
quires health, brains, honesty and equip
ment. The young man must make up
his mind that if he would rise in the
profession he must never question the
kind of work that is put upon him, the
hours which are required of him or the
places, agreeable or disagreeable, to
which he is assigned.
Railway organization is essentially
military, because upon the ability, vi
tality and integrity of the vast number
Of men in the various positions working
harmoniously together depend most of
the internal commerce of the country,
the prosperity Of business, the activities
of communities, great and small, the
funds of investors and the safety of
hundreds of millions of passengers.
The young man who proposes to enter
railway service should first decide
whether he will take his chances for a
career in outdoor or indoor work. If
outdoor work, which is in the operating
department, he will be immensely as
sisted if he has had the opportunities
which are offered in the technical
schools. In these days of thorough train
ing it is almost impossible for young
man of ordinary education to get on in
competition with the graduates of the
Sheffield Scientific school at Yale, the
scientific schools Of Columbia, the spe-
cial education of Cornell, the big ad-
vantages of the Troy Polytechnic and
the Stevens institute, and the instruc-
tion given in many other of the schools
and colleges of the United States.
If he selects indoor work, he must
make up his mind that much. more will
be required of him at first than in COM
mercial lines. If he is in the treasurer s
department and shows special efficiency
and intelligence, when vacancy occurs
in the freight department, in any dis
cussion that should happen between the
heads of these departments. he is almost
certain to be drafted for better posi-
tion by the traffic manager, and vice
versa.
Railroading differs from no other
business or profession in its beginnings.
The salary is small. The work is hard.
1t is only the few who by cheerful
readiness at all times to perform their
own tasks and to stay several hours
and if necessary all night-to meet the
requirements of the Office or to do the
work Of the lame, lazy and incompetent
attract the attention of their superiors
and are marked for promotion.
In the service every ones eye is on
every one else. There is a generous ap-
probation of comradeship, at the same
time there is severe criticism of the con-
duct and character of fellow employees
and officers. The moment an officer be-
comes careless of his duties, inattentive
and out of reach when wanted, his
chances for promotion are over, and the
accident of discharge or displacement
it imminent.
There is but one rule of success in
railway service, and that is, no matter
how high you get, once hustler always
hustler and hustler until you die or
resign.