The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-25
PORTRAIT OF j. ]. HILL.

ged lines inscribed by the strenuous
hand of experience. His eyes are dark
brown. possibly black; sometimes they
glow like two Goals. His jaws and lips
are covered with a rough growth OF
whiskers. His hair. slightly gray and
Ihinned at the top, is almost long
enough to brush his coat collar. His
dress is unObtruSiVe. a rough business
suit. the coat of which is a short sack.
being his faVorite. His hat is soft and
has a broad rim. He smokes with en-
thusiasm when he talks. and he talks
well on any topic you are likely 10
breach, avoiding himself if possible.
but always ready to discourse about
his railroads and the northwest. He
believes in hard work. mixed with
thought. good company in business and
luck. These three things have helped
him. who began life d poor boy on u
sterile Canadian farm. to become one
Of the four or five greater developers
and railway monarchs of the age.
Sitting in his st. Paul office the
other day. Mr.. Hill discussed with the
writer the future of the country, pres
ent chances for young men, and other
topics of current interest. Incident
ally his talk threw much light upon his
own life and personality. Hill Is an
optimist. as you would expect a man
though he isn't blind to the fact that
many new and difficult problems have
beer brought into existence by modern
business and social developments. In
spite of these. however, he says there
are still innUmerable opportunities Tor
young men to win financial success in
The United States. The development
of the. country has only begun. so 10
speak and there'll be plenty of chances
as long as development is going on.
But the man who desires to get his
chance must work and perseVere in
his work.
Steady Workers In Demand.
The crying need of the northwest
fo6ay." said Mr.. Hill. us men who
have the gift of continuance. We have
sent $1,000 track laboreTs out in the
past twelve months. and Yet we have
not had more than 2,300 at work at any
ore time. The majority of the laborers
now at work in the DakOtas ana MIN
resbta are Italians and Poles. The
Italians are highly unsatisfactory. As
a rule their object in coming here IS
solely TO get enough money together 10
support them in idleness at home, and
they hoard their earnings to the last
Dossible degree. Eor this reason, and
because they come from a land where
food is not abundant. they rarely eat
enough or well enough. and 50 have
not sufficient physical strength to
stand the strain of long continued Ia
bor The Poles are much more salts
factory They are strong. hardy ana
willing: moreover. they are anxious TO
leave off working for wages as soon as
possible. Conditions of political and
personal freedom in Poland are not TO
their liking. and consequently they do
not desire to return TO the old world
as the Italians do, but are prone to
settle down on land in this country as
soon as they get money enough 10 40
50.
West Of the DakOtas we use more
Japs than men of any other natonall-
~ We did not begin the employment
of the little brown men from the Orient
from choice but because we were
Obliged TO: we couldn't depend on men
of any other nationality. II is only
right to say that having tried the Japs
we find them the most satisfactory Ia
borers we have. They are willing,
cheerful and strong. they work a. little
cheaper. and that is a point, of course.
but the great advantage of the labor
of the Japs over any other labor now
available in the northwest is their re-
liability It con IS mainly from their
temperance and their personal clean
Illness.
Most white laborers, and especially
Italians. simply win not keep them
selves and the places they live in clean.
The result is disease. We have great
trouble to keep typhoid fever out of the
camps, exactly as IL was hard 10 kea2
IL out of the volunteer army camps
last year. Disease and incompetence
lncapacitate a large proportion OF