The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-18

"VERYBODY about the establish
 ment was interested keenly in A what the general manager was doing. There had been a change of con trol in the corporation. A new president had come in. What his plans were no body seemed to know, but there were fears of a shake-up. Little was known oi the man beyond what everybody knew of his successful career in the west The few heads of department who had been tntroduced to him said he had remarka- b1v fine deep eyes, 8 strong chin' ana that he asked questions, but proffered little in> f,cnation. Of his mental attitude they knew nothing. Then when it became known that he had directed the general manager to draw up report as to the length of service the characterlstlcs' lhe salary and the general quallncatiohs oi -ha various departmental chiefs ana SUD chiefs interest suddenly centered in the manager.
 Dodge. the general manager hVea' hreathed and dreamed business. 1hd oonnanv and it's affairs were everything +o him He had been with the concern IA years and had visions of the day when 7,a ,vo,,ld be taken into the directory. lie .bought. too. of the possibility or the presidency.
 There never was more faithtui man ager than Percival Dodge. The interests of the business were his first consloe'a- ton. A good balance sheet was tile no- b1est product of a years worK' f'e .,,dged men by what they were worth 10 tbe company. No one could accuse mn ,c ,,nfairness or partiality in this respect over the factory force and over the oi- eoa force he kept sharp superVlsloh' IJa 1,naw the detail work of the factory srnerintendent as well as he dld thae of the general sales manager anu n9 knew the ins and the outs or the auuil- inc denartment as we'll as he dlo that ol the simply bureau. He never kne" what A was to shirk work or to be luie' hes- ularity. precision and orderhness were relieion to him. In all his years "i'" .be comnanv he never had been iate- Dozens of times he had discharged hish ..loriad men-men of considerable tax 1,olre to the company-because they could not conform to the rules he oe- neved in molding his whole force ihlo one smooth working machine He was
 r,achina himself and the slightest de- ,,art,,res from the set movement or the t,a machine he directed was so much sr,ction to him, and friction was waste
 rba advent of a new president was ,riction. too, but that was beyond the general managers control. Having been directed to draw up a report as 10 the capabilities of the various chiels ana sub-chiefs, he went about it with all the care and fidelity characteristic Of him. Each man he weighed with his most del- icate scale and put the result on paper for the presidents information. Nothlng ,,,os omitted He was exact to the finest degree.
 When the report was finished he took fl to the president and watched him as he read it over. Then, without knowing any more about what the presidents nlans were than did those about whom he had delivered judgment, he went out, for the president told him 1t probably would be several days before he would be ready to consult him further about the subject.
 The days that intervened between the delivery of the report and the summon ing of the general manager to the office of the executive were spent by the pres ident in inspecting first one department and then another. He displayed really amazing amount of knowledge of the de- tail of every branch of the business. To the autitor he suggested various changes in accounting that sirnplified matters in that department decidedly. To the gen. eral sales manager he outlines some sell ing campaigns his sales department in the west had tried out and found un- usually successful. The general sales manager was honest enough to acknowl- edge that they were far better than any he had undertaken The supply man was shown how by the introduction of a by no means complicated system he could know every day the exact number of each of the thousand and one parts of things the company manufactured there were on hand, under contract, and in the various stages of making.
 While the president studied each de- partment with care he studied each head