The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-08-06
Thinks Outlook Roseate.

President w. A. Garrett. of the
Seaboard Air Line, in New
York Interview Predicts
That 1910 Will be Greatest
Year in Industrial and Com
mercial Life of the Country
Young Men of the United
States Facing Great Oppor-
tunities.
". A. Garrett, president of the
Seaboard Air Line Railway. in an in
terview published in the New York
Herald declares that there are great
opportunities for young men, and
that 1910 will be the greatest year
in the industrial and commercial life
of the country. The growth of bust
ness in that year, he says, will open
the eyes of the world.
The interview the Herald publishes
with Mr. Garrett is as follows:
''Undoubedtly there are more
chances now than ever before, said Mr.
Garrett, for young men to reach high
priced positions in the railway world.
Such positions are held open day
after day because the railway execu-
tiyes cannot find enough dependable
men to fill them. There are more
presidents, vice-presidents, general
managers, general superintendent
needed than ever before in the rail-
way service, and with the increasing
business which the country is bound
to enjoy by 1910 this state of affairs
will become even more apparent.
''The lack of supervisory the
greatest criticism which may be
lodged against the railways of the
country today.
eff the officers in charge of the
great transportation interests find
certain men in the service who dem
onstrate their fitness for advance
ment promotion is bound to follow.
BASIC SENSE OF FAIRNESS.
ri believe that there is q basic sense
of fairness in the people of this coun-
try. They do not intend to be unfair
to the railroad which serves them.
They are sometimes misguided, as
the railway manager is sometimes
unreasonable, but / cannot be per-
suaded that the people as a whole
countenance corporate oppression.
A better understanding OF each
others interests will place the people
and the railroads in a closer relation
ship.
'For my part, and speaking as an
individual, l should prefer, if l were
passenger on railway train, to pay
three or three and a half cents a mile
to ride knowing the road / was on
was we'll signalled, safely ballasted
and double tracked than to pay two
cents a mile and be subjected to the
hazards OF a cheaply operated sys-
tenn.
81 would rather pay a fair freight
rate, if | were a shipper and know
that my goods would be received and
delivered promptly than to pay a
smaller rate for the movement and
be told that cars were short and
that / would have to take my
chances on getting them. Is that an
unreasonable view of the transporta-
ton situation?
1910 THE GREATEST YEAR.
"Mark my word, 1910 will be the
greatest year in the industrial and
commercial life of the country.
The remainder of the year will
show improvement in the condi-
tiOns, next year will see business
grow in volume and 1910 will
open the eyes of the world. This
is bound to come. Confidence will
have been restored, the money which
is now being boarded, through a
general distrust of what the morrow
may bring, will be poured into in
vesting channels and we will see
a growth in business which will
satisfy the fairest hopes.
"You ask me if labor would not
gain by a closer cooperation with
capital instead of listening to the
vaporings of demagogues. This is a
question l never discuss. have my
own views and they may or may not
be sound. [ believe in the individual
and in his possibilities for advance
| ment without the aid of Organization.
but L do not say that organization
is not good for labor.
''There are splendid fellows in
labor Organizations and there are
splendid fellows outside of them, just
as there are good people in the
church [ belong to and good people
who belong to no church. When l
am sick | want a doctor, but another
man may want Christian Scientist,
and l grant him the right to his
choice. The laboring man may seek
his advancement through the organi-
cation, and whether or not | agree
with him as to method, l grant him
the right to his choice"
By successive stages Mr.. Garrett
has worked his way from messenger
to his present high rank among the
transportation heads of the country.
He says that he is Southern born
and cherishes the memory of his
Mississippi home, but that he is not
a Southerner, but an American.
Neither the North nor the South,
the East nor the West has a
monopoly Oh the wealth, the brains,
the manhood or the faults of the