The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-02-28
HARD WORK HELPED
BROWN TO ADV ANCE
Head Of New York Central
Once a Wood PiIer
GRADUAL RISE IN POSITION
Steady Application to Duty Wins Pro-
motion and His Ability to Master
Difficulties Often Saved
Others.

From the New York Post.
One cold winter day. just 10 years go,
Jim" Hamilton, the station agent of the
Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul railroad,
at Sioux City, stood on the platform,
muffled In his warm fur coat, watching
a gang of section hands piling cordwood
alongside the track In the train yard.
Wood was cheap and plentiful in the
west In those days and coke had not yet
supplanted 1t as fuel. But 1t kept small
army busy most of the time replenishing
the wood piles along the line.
Among the workers, Hamilton noticed
one red-faced youth who put more energy
and intelligence into his work than any
of his companions. He was agile; he lost
no time in passing from one pile to an
other; he piled the wood just as though
he were doing the most important work
on the whole railroad. Hamilton strolled
over and watched him at close range.
Finally, he spoke to him.
Say, boy" he said, "how would you
like an inside job? 1 need an active fellow
ike you to work around the station. The
job would be easier than what you re
doing now
Thank you" replied the boy, "but
amt looking for a soft snap"
Whats your manner"
Brown"
WELL good luck, Brown" said Hamil-
ton as he turned of his heel
Brown, the section hand of 1869, is Will
liam C. Brown who has succeeded Pres
ident Newman as head of the Vanderbilt
system of railroads. Although he began
work on a road out west, where most of
his success as a railroad operator has
been achieved, he is a native of New
York state, having been born up in Herki-
mer county in 1853 He was 16 when he
went west and got a job cording wood
on the st. Paul road. 1t would be hard
to imagine beginning any lower down on
the ladder than that. But he kept his
eyes open and learned about good many
other things than wooding a locomotive
before he had been at 1t many months.
Learning to Telegraph.
When he refused Hamiltons offer of a
SNAP Job, he hadn't any idea of re-
naming a section hand all his life, al
though most of the men he was working
with never got any higher. Within a
year, while working on the section at
little town in Illinois, the opportunity pre-
scented itself for Brown to learn telegra-
ply in the evenings. He accepted 1t then
gladly, and thus opened the way for his
future advancement He has often said
however, that he believes his refusal of
Hamilton's offer was real crisis in his
career. 1t got him in the habit of avoid
Ing 'sharps,' and lie it comparatively
easy for him to { lis greatest enjoy
ment In hard work ose who know him
say that his positi MUS for conquer
ing difficult profile ,as -been one of
the prime causes foi success.
By close application picked up teleg-
raphy rapidly, and, b, many months,
became a regular open Not satisfied
with merely doing his " well, he stud
led thoroughly the whok uestion of the
application of the telegraA to the move
ment of trains. After he \ I'd worked at
the key at various points on the ST.
Paul road for upward of a year, learning
all the time more and more about the way
trains were handled, he entered the en-
ploy of the Illinois Central in the same
capacity 1t didn't take his superiors long
to find out that he was too valuable a
man to remain as an ordinary operator,
and they soon promoted him to the rank
of an assistant train dispatcher. That
was in 1872, and with that road he re-
NAMED as an assistant and as dispatcher
until 1875.
For another year he was train dis
patcher for the Rock Island. thence going
to the Burlington in similar capacity.
His service with the Burlington lasted
until 1890, and in this 14-year period he
became successfully chief train Dispatch
eT train master, assistant superintendent,
and general superintendent of the road.
In every position he occupied he went at
his work with the same determination to
master 1t that he showed as a boy sec
ton hand In every position he showed
the same loyalty to the management of
the road that he expected in his. subor-
dinates Those who worked under him
were quick to understand that in him they
had a superior who sympathized with
them because he himself had risen from
the bottom ranks.
Breaking a Blockade.
He was never afraid of working over
time. There are railroad men in the west
today who recall one of these occasions.
It was while he was a train dispatcher.
with the Burlington road. A blizzard had
stalled several hundred car loads of cat
tie in the East Burlington yards. and
there was great danger of their freezing
to death If they were not taken out. The
superintendent was at his wits end when