The Washington herald., 1910-06-19
By JAMES B. MORROW.

organizer Of the great Rock Island and
Frisco System. was driving a pair Of
ray mules and operating a scTaper on the
right of way Of new railroad In Lime
stone County. Texas. another youth
named Robert Scott Lovett, now the ex-
ecutive head OF the Hartman lines. was
digging stumps and cutting brush from
the right OF way Of a little railroad IN
San Jacinto County. about 100 miles
distant. Afterward, when the grading be-
gan, Lovett was a teamster like Yoakum
In many respects the two boys were
much alike In experience and tempera-
ments. They were born on farms. The
father of Lovett. recovering somewhat
from the losses he sustained during the
civil war, was willing to send his son to
college and educate him to be a doctor
The boy declined the offer. He had no
taste for medicine. and wanted 20 be a
lawyer.
The elder Lovett was a positive man.
Besides, he had done business with law
yers and had become prejudiced against
their profession. holding then and there
after that the law as an occupation was
usually licensed refuge for rascals. So
the boy, equally as positive as the father,
left home and went TO work for q neigh
boring farmer. When the contractors
came along with their tools, mules, and
tents, he hired out as a common laborer.
And that was Judge Lovett's beginning
as a railroad man. He was fifteen years
old.
silent as to BOyhoOd.
The father Of Yoskum quit agriculture
to be the president of a college belonging
TO the Cumberland Presbyterian aenom-
nation. When talked with Yoakum
several years ago failed to reconcile
his early employment as a mule driver
with his fathers educational and social
standing in Texas. There was no con-
fession of disagreement. Yoakum walk
ed the floor Of mis- Office and slurred over
the Incidents Of his boyhood, putting
them beyond familiar discussion with a
nervous gesticulation of his hand and
saying with show of affection that his
father liked 10 work in the ground among
his trees aud flowers.
But your family" I ventTed 20 say,
'fhoped that you would be q clergyman %
''Yes-in the newspapers" Yoakum re-
piled with energy and keen glance at
his questioner. Never heard OF Il at
home. however"
Nevertheless. the answer was not con-
elusive. Something remained. it seemed.
unsaid Anyway. YOakum quit his home
about the time that Lovett rebeiled
against medicine and fed TO the woods.
where he slept on bundle OF straw, ate
from a tin plate, and swung a piek-ax
from sunrise to shutdown.
Did Much for Texas.
IN a material sense, L,oyett and Yoakum
have done more for Texas and the South
west, perhaps. than have any other two
men in all that vast, opulent and still un-
developed region. Yet as rural preach
er Yoakum would have consolidated, re-
organized. and rehabilitated the wicked
and put them into new and comfortable
church buildings. Doubtless, he would
have been called TO Houston Dallas. and
Galveston. inasmuch as he is a man OF
force. skill. and imagination.
Almost a six-footer with a genial, az
ricultural smile and a homely but
friendly face Lovett could have won
success either as a country doctor or q
politician. The tang Of the South Is IN
his soft but masculine voice His nose
IS large, but is neither beaked, nor bony.
nor fat. and his slightly fiaring nostrils.
inlets TO the lungs, indicate endurance
and strength. He Is courteous, naturally.
being entirely without the appearance OF
a cOrdiality he does not feel or under
stand. His eyes are brown OF gray, In
harmony with his temper and the shad-
ows and lights that fall upon his face,
while his mouth is of the big and talk
alive kind, only he does not talk, or
make speeches or write for the press.
Yet he Is an orator, a fine orator, no
n Enfa AL \
artistic cost Of the people, by the re-
straints OF his ethics and business OBJ
legations.
Plain in Manners.
In his rough skin are the slashing lines
cut by the fierce battles he has fought.
the particulars OF which he pleasantly
refuses TO mention. Dominant above ell
his other rugged features, however, is a
massive and symmetrical forehead, a
Websterian brow that gives visible signs
OF the mind which gained him the con-
fidence and patronage Of Jay Gould, Col
lis p Huntington, and Edward H. Harri-
man. Usually, Judge Lovett wears a
short coat of dark cloth, an opal scarf
pin, and a 50-cent necktie And he sits
at very plain oak desk in a very plain
oak Office, while on the floor there Is q
In other rooms adjoining are gray
bearded men clerks, auditors, and book
keepers. Hartman. a master In choosing
his assistants, sought skill. experience,
and knowledge, rather than youth and
unframed fervor. He had steam and
initiative enough himself for all OF his
tremendous undertakings. LoYett, who
was his own lawyer, Is fifty years old.
John C. Stubs. who was hts director of
tTaffic-and who, while In California.
could estimate the fruit crop almost 10
the bushel-getting freight for 1900
miles Of track, is sixty-three, and
Julius Kruttschnitt, who was his director
OF maintenance and operation, is fifty
six. After Harriman's death, Judge
Lovett was elected president OF the
Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Rail
roads and chairman Of the executive COM
mittee that operates and controls the
great transportation system known as the
Hartman Lines. Stubs and Krutt-
sehnitt retain their old positions.
Father a Good Citizen.
The extraordinary personal. legal, and
business history Of Judge Lovett begins
on one of his fathers little farms in
Texas. There were several farms, small
in acreage. and cotton was the main crop
of the family. Judge Lovett describes
himself as a Democrat IN politics. but
adds the word "Mugwump'' and in
closes Il in brackets William Lovett, his
father. was a Whig. After the civil war
and until his death ne was a Republican,
but was not conspicuous In party mat
tiers. He owned twenty slaves. but was
violently opposed TO the secession move
nnent. II is probable that he followed
the leadership Of Sam Houston In public
questions.
Houston. with 80 men, whipped 100
Mexicans under Santa Ana on the banks
OF the San Jacinto River. not far from
Judge LoYett's boyhood home. Houston.
SaDIOrfne the rtsnfr1ra ~ The TTuloo s.ts