River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-01-14


get while | was working on a simple
proposition that grew out of a railway
strike"
Capt Dickson former official of
the United States secret service, now
retired, was in a musing frame OF
mind, when / called on him the other
evening and he gave expression to the
foregoing words. Something that hap
pened during the day, had brought to
his mind one of the vivid experiences
OF his days of active service, and had
no trouble In getting him to relate the
circumstances. l put them down in
his own words.
The p. e o. was a little railroad
that ran between two small towns in
certain western state, and l happened
to become mixed up with this labor
difficulty because of the fact that the
road carried the mails. My depart
ment was brought into play to prevent
any interference with the government
mail service by the strikers.
The country at large was not much
affected by the tying up of this insig-
nificant part of the great network of
railroads Yet the government, with
the thorOughness it displays in every
thing connected with it, took the liveli-
est interest in the case. I was as
signed to it with instructions to see
that the mail train made its regular
daily trip without being molested
was much surprised to find an old
college-mate of mine officiating as gen.
eral manager. of the road. | remem-
bered him as a studious, gawky, red
headed youngster, who was taking a
course in civil engineering. 1 had
some work with him in the surveying
class, which was a part of the course
of mining engineering to which l was
devoting my attention. He was too
self-centered and too studious to be
popular with the boys of his class, and
because l appreciated his loneliness
and showed him some slight courtesies,
he formed a deep attachment for me.
We promised to write when we left
college, but as those promises gen.
orally go, neither of us thought of it
or, II we did, ever acted upon it. We
quite lost track of each other until
walked into his office one afternoon
to confer with him about the strike.
He was not quite as red-headed and
gawky as in his college days, but he
had changed so little that l readily
recognized him. He knew me instant
ly and greeted me with a warmth and
a genuine pleasure that was most
agreeable. He was showed under with
work, but he brushed aside the mass
of papers that Uttered his desk and
made me sit down and tell him some
thing of my experiences since l had
left college before he would take up
business matters with me- He told
me of the struggle he had had in
climbing from obscurity to his present
responsible position, which was not in
any sense an unimportant one. His
road was a feeder or tap-line for one
OF the big trans-continental systems,
and his post put him in direct line for
promotion into the service of the lat
ter
He was as frank and engaging and
devoted to his work as when he had
been an awkward, bashful college boy,
lOOhGQ uOMH upOu, SuuuuSu anu uS-
spised by his classmates because of
his poor circumstances and his lack of
time to be what they considered
good fellow. He had fought his way
upward against the greatest difficult
ties, and l marveled at his ability to
cope with the adverse conditions that
/ knew had confronted him in his bat
fIa Since then | have come to know
that it is only by fighting that a man
can develop the best that is in him
and that the more obstacles he encoun-
tiers and overcomes the better mae he
makes in the end.
After talking over old times for
while we got down to business, and
soon gathered a thorough knowledge
of the situation. The trainmen had
conceived that they were being I'M
justly treated and had made certain
complaints, coupled with certain de-