The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-02

JOHN FINDLE,
las assistant engineer on tho Mississippi
improvement at the Rock Island rapids.
4 This was a government work and In con-
/ sncctlon with 1t hc studied the government
| methods OF bookkeeping, as he8did after
4 ward those OF the railroad companies
1 with which he became connected. Indeed
1 lie was soon so we'll posted on such mat
1 tiers that he was often called In and paid
4 for acting az an expert accountant.
4 Attic game time he took up the law,
/ lie read Blackstone. Kent and entity,
and made cspecia. studies Of contracts
| and corporations This knowledge has
since proved OF great advantage TO him.
The Secrets Of Success.
/ AT tho same time young Wallace kept
lsup his engineering. going steadily on
| ward. climbing over difficulties toward
1 the top Indeed. he courted the difficult
!; secrets of success, he says. he soon saw
| that the men who rose were the men
who took the hard Jobs and mastered
ttilem. IN 5lS II t55 rs & s4
1T IS the man who moves along the
lline OF the least resistance who must ex-:
! pect to go with the masses and to take
1.-THE lower wages which belong to that
| class. The high-pric ed man is paid be-
! cause he can do or viii do what tho 9TH
3ers cannot or will not do
! This has been Mr.. Wallace policy:
| throughout llfc--to court big things and
| do them. This is what has attracted min
to Panama. This job Is tho biggest Of
hts kind III the world. and he wants to-
i5haye a hand in mastering it,
How One Engineer Rose.
| But am ahead of my story. After
tleaving the governnle nt service Mr. Wal
| lace was made chief engineer OF the Iowa
i Central Railroad, and constructed that
iline from Peoria TO the mississippi River.
When It was finished he operated It.
tthen beginning his first studies In rail-
/ road managing Later on$5he went into
4 bridge building. He aided In making the
4 big bridge OYER the mississippi at keltls <
isbnrG. and later became bridge engineer
for the. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.
HE was also connected with Mr.. Il. T..
4 5CorthelI. the well known Civil engineer,
lin terminal railway works q at Chicago.
/ In making the Merchants bridge at st.
/ Louis. in building belt railroads IA t. N cws
Orleans and Memphis and in other ems
cheering projects. All this work WAS
l3done by Mr.. Wallace before he reached
Il ana ILLS stlIIits5 H1ElAuI1
This studies OF the outside things con-
Dected witt, each work. He not only.
/ built railroads. but managed and oper-i
atcd them; and this. with his studies.
|has made him an all -around railroad
1 man and n corpora ton business man,
! with the grasp of details and the knowl-
| edge OF executive organization which
i3those terms imply i55a s
! Mr.. Wallace's work for the Illinois Cen
| trail began about thirteen years ago.
j when he constructed that railroads ter
4 minaI facilities for the worlds fair at
4 Chicago. About the same time he wa $
1 made chief engineer Of the syst TEN. and.
five or six years go. general manager
i with charge OF all the constructing and
operating departments,
4 Why Wallace Came to Panama.
/ That position paid one OF the best
OF railroad salaries and there Is no
4 doubt but that Mr.. Wallace could have
!! held 4 t forSyears to conc Connected with
HIT were opportunities to make far more
4 than lie could expect to make at Panama.
4 There was prospect of immediate pro-
4 motion, and there WAS the surety Of q
! chief engineer threw up that place to
/ take charge Of tho Panama canal work,
i and to como here to duties Infinitely
4 moro difficult and cHhausting than any
/ he could have had a Chicago. He comes
! to q bad climate and. j might say, to an
almost thankless- job,
4 Why does he do it? II is4as have
! said, because lie likes to fight and con-
1 quer the biggest thing that can como to
i ahim. He did not come unknowing. He
was here seven years ago. when the canal
| was In the hands of the French, and he
4 wanted to be the American In charge of
/ the great success whcrd tho French had
failed Indeed, 1t was that Visit that
/ spurrcd him on to accept the proposition
4 of the commission at Washington. Oth-
/ ers who look below tho surface of things
say TINT Wallace is the ono man best
/ fitted to have charge of the canal and
| handle 1t. They believe that Providence.
i working In His mysterious way. has put
1 linn, here because in this place he, of
4 all others, can do the most for mankind.
] He Is certainly rs able ms any Of our
United States engineers, and. In this ase
i When the United States leads In all such
i undertakings. this means that Wallaca
4 leads among the civil engineers Of the
world,
Wallace the Man,
but what kind OF a man is Mr. Wa lace :?
4 How does lie look, work and talk? Ply
sically Speaking lie Is of medium height
and build, straight. well formed ana
j
i now. but hG looks much younger and his
/ step is as springy as that OF a boy. Ho
A has rosy cheeks and all the aspects of n
4 quiet conscience ana good digestion. One
Of the striking things about the man is
4 his personal magnetism. He has heabll-
4 ity of making every one he meets his
4 friends and also that which enables him
i to refuse a man's request and still keep
1 him in n good hunlor. "a
Nh. Wallace Is EinlDle IN his manner, IL c
4 knows his men, goes about among them
and talks to them. He has n wonderful
4 Influence over them, and his chief sub
|ordinutcs are asNentlluslastic In pushing
4 their work as though tho canal were 4
private enterprise, and each had flnan-
4 cial interest Iii 1t.
4 Wallace and the Unions