The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1908-11-28
SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 28. 1908.
THE OLD AND THE NEW

THE OLD AND THE NEW.
In parting with Col. Jeff n. Miller,
who will sever his connection with
the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico
Railroad the first of the year, it is
but natural that the people of
Brownsville and of the Valley of the
Lower Rio Grande should feel more
or less regret. Col. Miller came
among us with the building of the
railroad and he is loked upon as an
old friend. As yice-president and
general manager of the road, be
has been untiring in his efforts to de-
velop and build up the country ira
versed by his line. and the country
owes much to those efforts. He will
ever be held in grateful remembrance
by our people and he will take with
him their best wishes. no matter
where ne may go. But the regret
our people may feel at parting with
him viii in no manner serve to pref
udice them against his successor.
They viii regard his going and his
successors coming as among those
things that are inevitable in the
Whirligig of time, and to Charles D.
Rodgers, who is to take his place,
they will extend the righthand of
good fellowship. Whether or not Mr..
Rodgers will pursue the same liberal
policy toward the development of the
Lower Rio Grande Valley that has
ever been pursued by Col Miller, re-
mains to be seen; but it stands to rea-
son that, as general manager of the
road, he will wish to see its traffic in
creased. and this can be done only
by developing the country. And this
being the case we are prepared to be-
Iieve the new general manager will
come among us willing to do his part
and ready to encourage the develop
ment of a section where development
viii mean SO much, and where it is
virtually in its infancy. There is
more or less speculation as to what
changes viii be made in the official
force of the road when Mr.. Rodgers
becomes its general manager. That
some changes will be made. there is
but little doubt, for it is only natur-
al that the general manager of a rail
nOad should, 10 naming those upon
whose faithfuless he must depend to
execute his orders, give preference.
in some degree at least, to friends
over strangers, and those now serving
the road, with a very few exceptions,
are, in personal way, strangers
TO Mr.. Rodgers. One of these excep-
lions is Mr.. William Doherty. traffic
manager of the road, and it is per-
haps this, together with his very ex-
cellent fitness for the place, that has
given rise to the belief that his serv-
ices will be retained. As traffic man
ager of the road, the duty of making
known to the outside world the great
ness of the Valley of the Lower Rio
Grande and bringing in homeseekers
to settle and develop the country, has
deyolved upon him, and how well he
has performed that duty, the hun
s1reds of pretty farms and more ma
5estic plantations throughout the Val
ley, tell in words more eloquent than
we could possible write. The older
residents, those who were here before
the coming of the railroad, love him
for the great work he has done in set
fling up the country; the new ones
love him for inducing them to come
TO so glorious a country, and to
which they were attracted by descrip-
tions he placed before them in way
50 pleasing they could not resist.
Those who have come among US as a
result of his efforts are a superior
class to those usually brought in to
settle and develop newly opened coun-
tries, and for this the Valley of the
Lower Rio Grande has much to be
thankful No official announcement
has been made of Mr. Doherty's re-