New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-03
PoLYrHELSn Up. TO DArE.

There was probably much shaking Of wise
heads throughout the land the other day when
the ignorance of Mr. Newman. president of the
New York Central was exposed In response
TO cross-eXamination by Mr.. Hedges. Mr. New
man frankly admitted that there were sundry
things about the New York Central with which
he was not wholly familiar He said that he
relied upon his subOrdinates to find their proper
work and do it. that the duties OF many en-
pioyes were vaguely defined. that only oral
reports were as rule received from the
various departments and their experts and
that no official records of the computations and
acts OF the constructing engineers were kept
Against such condition Of things a loud
cry will doubtless he raised. chiefly by those
who have never run anything more complex
than pushcart but also. in some measure. by
business men who ought To know better There
Is a widespread notion that the head of n cor
poration must he deity. omniscent omnl-
present OmnipOtent and therefore responsible
for everything happening within his jurisdic-
ton. Whenever anything goes wrong a hun
dred voices are raised against the man higher
up CartOOnlsts have worn many a pen blunt
in depicting railway directors dashed to the
cOwcatchers of their own locomotives as a
guarantee of public safety. And even lawyers
have suggested statutes making high officials
somewhat unfortunately responsible for the
blunders Of every man I'm their employ
All this indicates a perverted conception pof
the powers Of executive officials and managers
1t is no wild guess TO say that many persons
have been misled by the humorous exaggera-
tons, INDUCED in almost daily, wherein indus
trial and financial leaders are represented as
giants and ordinary citizens as pygmies The
fancy has made many persons polythelsts. wor-
shipping n score or more commercial deties in
their national Pantheon. Worse still. it has i'm
bued the pOlythestS, rank fataiSts with the
mad idea that the measureless power and re-
sponsibility OF their gods imply their own per-
sOnal responsibility in everyday life
TO combat such superstition # might be well
to throw light on the fniteness of our captains
of industry and organization by subjectng them
to n crOSS-eXaminatlOn on the details of their
respective enterprises. Let the misguided poly
theists see how little our best building contrac-
tors know about the details Of structural work,
how scant is the knowledge of our most sue
cessful hotel managers about the mysteries
of making beds and Omelets and how blum
deringly the most efficient manager of n trans
atlantic line boxes the compass and banks fires.
Question any one of these men whose limited
knowledge OF matters within his own turis-
dictiOn has been thus glarlngly revealed, and
lac will tell You that his speciality is not know
ing details, but knowing how to organize and
direct men who do know details
To experienced executives this~is so obvious
that they are puzzled and annoyed at the strict
ures of the polytheists. These structures are
directed against ignorance OF technical details.
whereas they ought 10 be turned solely against
bad management The hotelkeeper who en-
poys waiter gifted with the habit Of pour
ing hot soup down the guests necks must be
reprOved for his failure TO secure more tactful
servants, but he cannot be reprOached for his
inability To balance a trayful of dishes We
suspect that n good many men who fail as man
ayers do so because they spend too much time
learning the tricks of the many trades of sub
Ordinates and too little time systematlzing their
efforts
HaIf the knack OF industrial greatness con.