The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-11

was big man on the Santa Fe. He is
now a big man on the ST. Paul road.
There is Mr.. w. r. Biddle, who was
a trainmaster on the Santa F'e when 1
hrst knew him at Emporia, and who
| mas lately gone from the Santa Fe to
| become vice president Of the Frisco.
The biggest Rock Island man today,
is big Santa Fe man: H. U. Nudge,
who used to carry water to the grad
ers about the first time ever saw the
Santa F'e roadbed, when it was build
ing southwest from Topeka. 1t was
then a system of less than so miles,
| now with its 10000 miles of operated
track Mr.. Nudge. you know. is now
the president of the Rock Island sys-
tenn which we love here in Topeka
also, but 0 you Santa Fe!
There is Will Gardner, now vice
president of the great Chicago & North
western system. whom 1 knew as a
Santa Fe train dispatcher at En-
poria.
But there are some big Santa Fe
men who are still with the road. 1t
would take me all night to name
them. I can only speak of a few of
them at random.
Il had occasion some years ago to
go to Cottonwood Falls. When I got
off the train at Strong City I met the
general manager of the strong City
and Cottonwood Falls line. He drove
me over to the other terminus of his
road. He drove everybody SO we'll
| in that old hack of his that the Santa
F'e picked him up, took him to Car
! bondale, later to Topeka, and now he
| is General Manager Hurley, one of the
very big men of the Santa Fe.
Another one of the big men of the
Santa F'e is Mr.. George T. Nicholson,
vice president, in charge at Chicago of
| the enormous traffic of this system. Mr..
Nicholson and I were schoolmates, and
| he gave me one Of the first passes
ever held over the Santa Fe, a ticket
| from Emporia to Topeka and back. At
| that time he was chief clerk in the
passenger department under Mr., w. F.
| White. Today he is one of the very big
men Of the Santa Fee. Indeed, it seems
to me that the traffic men in some re-
| spects are the big men of the system,
| because all Of the other men work for
| them.
| 1.-The railroad can get along without
| a president; it can use the vice pres1-
dent. If there are no freight or pas
sengers to haul. what is the use of a
general manager?
1.-The traffic people, like Mr.. Nichol-
son and Mr.. Koontz and Mr.. Black
| and Mr.. Cornell, and their traffic as
| sistants, get the business. Mr.. Ripley
manages the finances so they can buy
| the greatest locomotives in the world
to haul this business. and Mr.. Hurley
and the operating department run
! the trains to handle this business.
THE Santa Fe has a way of using
| Topeka as a sort of kindergarten for
| creating its big men. They took Mr..
Peck away from us to Chicago; they
took Mr.. Nicholson away from us;
| they took Mr.. Black away from us;
| all these after we had graduated them
here in Topeka, and they are, it is re-
ported, trying to get Mr.. KoontZ
away from us, and are holding out to
| him the promotion from general
1 e. IL
/ man in Chicago. Now Mr.. Koontz is
a pretty big man, and we want to
hold him here. We thing that To-
| peka should have the big men. We
don't like to see too many of them get
| away from us. We would like to see
the Santa Fee use its biggest men to
| the greatest advantage of the system,
I and yet we hope they can keep these
| big men here without injustice to the
men themselves or to the railway
| they serve.
There is no end to the big men
| could say something about, but / be-
| lieve will have to stop and content
myself and you with referring to only
| two or three more big men among the
| innumerables big ones.
81 would like to mention as one of
| the big men still with us, and one we
hope to keep here. Mr.. o. E. Faulkner
of the tie and timber department. He
| is such a big man that they let him
ley to travel. They sent Mr.. Faux
ner to Australia and Japan and around
the world. They give him an I'M
limited expense account, but they tell
him they want him to find out about
| ties. They know he can find out; he
| is big enough man for it, and he
does find out In a trip to Japan he
ascertained that the Santa F'e could
| get its ties in that far off country, and
| put them in the roadbed in Kansas to
| better advantage and for less money
| than they could lay the native oak ties.
over near the door I see the big
gest little Santa Fe man I know. He
is John Purcell, and if he is not a big
Santa Fe man. he would not be boss
down at our shops of the 5000 other
| Santa F'e man there.
| But one of the biggest Santa Fe
men is Mr. Charles s. Gleed Of To-
peka. When I first knew him, ne was
| only newspaper reporter, and yet
will admit that a good reporter is the
most important man on a newspaper.
Mr.. Gleed is still in the newspaper
dent of that great daily. the Kansas
| City Journal but Mr. Gleed's real
business is the railroad business: a
| director of the Santa Fe; a co-worker
with Mr.; Ripley: a co-worker i'll the
past with such big Santa Fe men as
Mr.. Peck and with Mr.. Strong, and
many others too numerous to men
| ton, for Mr.. Gleed has been with the
Santa re through Its ups and downs,
| and over a long series of years.
1T is to Mr.. Gleed. I believe great
credit is due for the reorganization of
| that system when it needed reorganiz-
| ing. was told that he had written
1000 letters in connection with the re-
organization. Some of those letters he
wrote to the Dutch people of Holland
who were stockholders in the old road
and are stockholders today. He con-
WINGED them. In fact it beats the
Dutch how convincing Gleed is. He
advertised the road from River to the
Sea when the stock of the road was
worth but a few cents: he is still with
the road today when its common stock
| is quoted at 122.
After all, the real big men of the