The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-28
A Pen Picture.

Fen Picture.
| Stand in front of the Standard oil
building at 26 Broadway any morning.
Just before haIf-past 10 o'clock you will
see a sturdy. broad-shouldered man with
white hair and white mustache walking
briskly up the steps. His dark eyes APP
| pear restless under their shaggy brows.
| His Jaw is square and strong, and his
| cheeks are fresh and ruddy. At 50 Henry
| H. Rogers Is the personification of health
and activity. Not one out of fifty people
whose shoulders he has touched know
that this man is the eagle-eyed and eter-
nally vigilant head of a great monopoly.
| Follow him into the building. An ele-
vator whirls him to the eleventh floor.
! The door is scarcely snapped back be-
fore he has bounded out into the hall.
To the right is an ante-room and on the
| door is the inscription:
NATIONAL TRANSIT COMPANY,
| II. Fl. Rogers, President.
Behind this door, screened from the
world by barricade of offices, Mr.. Rog-
ers works. The National Transit com
pany is the pipe line department of the
Standard Oil company, whose thousands
! of miles of pipe zigzag under a dozen
| states and transport millions of barrels
of oil every year.
Past the group of messenger boys Mr..
| Rogers makes his way to his private
| office less pretentious than the rooms
| about 1t. In one corner is desk; In
another stands a large safe. In the wall
| in a wooden frame hangs report. faded
| and yellow, received in the Fairhaven
| school fifty years ago. AS he sits at
| his desk Mr.. Rogers can hear the dull roar
| of Broadway and sometimes the click OF
the stock tickers in the offices below.
| He can look across Bowling Green and
see the waters of the bay cleaning in
| the sunlight.
/ oord m m
| have an appointment. you will at once
! be shown into one of the half-dozen
| offices that flank the private office. inc
| one in which most of Mr.. Rogers visitors
! find themselves. so far as appearances
GO might be the lounging room OF a New
| York club Autograph letters of George
Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses
s. Grant and Thomas B. Reed hang on
the walls On one wall is a row OF push
buttons In this room you cannot hear
the roar of the street or the sound OF the
| tickers
A Still Place.
| 1t is very still. At the very minute or
your appointment you can hear a door
creak across the hall and a second later
the door before you opens and Mr.. Rog
ers stands before you. If your visit Is
personal he will greet you with genial
warmth and with kindly light In the
dark eyes. As you discuss the weather
or yachting, some current happening,
you can almost believe that you are talk
ing with a mild-mannered man OF aHalrs.
But cross Mr. Rogers in business, meet
him on the checkerboard of trade, and his
eyes flash. the square jaw becomes tight,
and the mild-mannered man is the incar-
nation of power and fight.
Mr.. Rogers sees many people every day.
but he never allows himself to be inter-
viewed. Some one once asked him, How
6aXv''
81 have been at 1t a long time he
ssaid. Besides" he added, II only see
people with whom I have business. And
you may rest assured he continued,
most of the people come here to get
something, not to give.
Just then messenger brought in some
registered letters and asked Mr. Rogers
to sign the receipt
Take them away he said. II won't
sign them
Then he turned to the visitor. That's
one way I dispose of business III the
man who sent them can't trust Uncle
Sam with the message, ] don't want it,
The link however between Mr.. Rogers
and the world is remarkable private
secretary. She is one of the most efficient
and best paid secretaries in the world.
Her salary is not edualled by bank presi-
dents in cities. She knows absolutely
every detail of Mr.. Rogers business af-
fairs and in his absence often acts Tor
him.
When Mr.. Rogers makes a gift to some
charity (and he makes many he says,
My secretary will give you check Tor
IT. She has access to a bank account
placed in her name by Mr.. Rogers Tor
Just this purpose. His name never APP
pears in the matter.
Does Not Believe in Competitor.
Mr.. Rogers and competition are not
friends. Some one once asked him If the
consumer is benefited when there IL not
competition. Quick as a flash he said:
IF you and I We're In the tailoring bus
mess. don't you think I'd try to squeeze