The Washington times., 1903-08-30
FROM A WATCHMAN
TO RAILROAD KING

class in three months. In a year he had
made himself a bill clerk and cashier.
In 1872 he gave up chief clerkship with
the old road to become chief clerk In
the freight offices of the st. Louis.
Kansas City and Northern at Kansas
City. Next he held the position of gen
eral freight agent, and then he Joined
the Goulds for the first time. In 1873
he became general freight agent OF the
st. Louis and Pacific Railroad. and mas
tering detail after detail. as in his less
important positions. He next received the
appointment to the position of super
intendent OF traffic. Then he resigned,
took a place with the st. Paul system.
rose. TO the third vice presidency, and
returned to the Goulds. his appointment
as director still being a part OF the news
OF the day.
Polished Man of World.
Mr.. Bird. now a suave, polished man
of the world, a master of transporta-
ton and traffic on railroads, an authori-
developed. as he progressed, the char
acteristics which led to his success in
early life.
In appearance he is the typical we'll
bred and finely groomed man one ex-
poets to come out of generations pos
sessing the requisite wealth to become
all that the standards of the day require
in the aristocrat. There is nothing in his
speech. manners or appearance which
t-nl n SCTv
haze of years to the meager little farm
at Pittsfield.
That he needs his great grasp of rail-
road affairs and his fine intellect is seen
when the vast ramifications of the new
Gould system are described. The ter
minals of these lines are at Ogden,
Utah, from where they are being rapidly
pushed to the Pacific Coast; at Chicago.
from where they are breaking their way
through the opposition OF the Pennsyl-
vania and other lines into Pittsburg
West Virginia, Washington, Baltimore
and to Hampton Roads; at New Orleans,
where only few days ago arrangements
were made with the Illinois Central to
enter Birmingham, and as told in The
Times when the deal was contaminated.
tap the Alabama coal fields; at Port
Arthur, Tex, within a few miles from
the great oil fields of the Lone Star
State and Ell Paso, Tex.
The lines naturally pass through many
of the cities inside these boundary lines.
II the tracks were placed end to end
they would lack only 1000 miles OF grid
ling the world
Center of Character Stories.
No man could live the life of the direc-
tor of the Gould railroads without be-
coming the principal of q myriad OF
character stories Mr. Bird is the center
OF thousands of these. but lack of space
destroys their utility here. He has no
time 10 hear them retold, and he does
not like to hear them. anyway. He has
manifold schemes for the extension of
business in the East. but he declined TO
say anything about them. In reply to
questions. he said that the knowledge he
possessed concerning matters upon which
he had been asked TO talk were not his
property, and he did not think 1t right
for him to talk about them.
The Wabash traffic, however, cannot
come this way for some time. Many con-
neetions are yet TO be made between
Pittsburg and Baltimore. and though
there are rumors in the air OF another
deal in the South, IL is hardly likely
that the Goulds are going to get be-
yond Birmingham until the Rockefeller5
are able to break the power of J. Pier
pont Morgan in the Atlantic Coast Line
and the Southern.