The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-07

a freight monger and an executive
nlacid, sagacious, terse, forceful and
profoundly informed about his own
business-spoke for the railroads that
gridiron the great map of the West,
from Chicago to the shores of the Pa
cific.
like an Armored Knight.
Moreover, Ripley is physically i'm
nressiye. AS 1 talk to him now in his
office. many stories up, with Lake
Michigan moving and glowing in the
sunlight under the windows, I see a
large man, structuraIly and inteIlectu-
ally-a massive man in head and fea-
lures: tall broad, angular, fiat at the
abdomen as an athlete; huge of chin,
nose and mouth, and gray of eyes;
symmetrical and leonine-such
man. in short, as one would picture
on tremendous black horse, armor.
clad. and carrying heavy sword and
a long lance, a terror to his foes and
a sure bulwark to his friends. I notice
that his clothing is not new, that he
occasionally lifts his shoulders and
spreads his hands, like Frenchman,
and that he is short of vision, but that
he does not use sDectacles.
1.-THE old man. he is called in af-
lection up and down the 10000 miles
of main track that constitutes the
santa Fe system A mighty getter Of
freight, tireless and taciturn, but vio-
lating and contradicting the stern as
pect of his appearance, kindly,
thoughtful and Just. He has training
schools, reading rooms and a beauti-
full free magazine for his men. Those
who know him say he would have
made a great Judge. Formerly he was
an officer on the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy. The traffic manager of that
road had an obstinate dispute, not
long ago with the trafhc manager OF
the Santa Fe.
'I'l arbitrate the case" said the
Santa Fe, rather eagerly.
"AlI right" replied the Chicago,
Burlington & quincy.
''I am willing to leave it to Mr. Rip
lev your own president"
go to thunder" Santa Fe hasten
ed to say, as he turned and walked
away. 1 sought no verification of the
story from Mr.. Ripley, but know that
it is true.
Gloomy Regarding Future.
While he talked with the measure
of habitual self-control, it was plain
that this man who employs $4,000
wage earners and governs the business
of a railroad that covers the country
from Chicago to San Francisco, and
from Denver to Galveston, was gloomy
the future and almost rec
onciled to what he terms the ingrati-
tude of the public. 1 had asked him
a bout the problems of transportation,
not as seen by agitators and politt-
clans, but by the men who are on the
inside of the railroads themselves.
There are several very serious
problems" Mr.. Ripley said, rather
slowly. First, are we to be permitted
to live? My experience goes back to
the days of rough and crude condi-
TONS Everybody wanted railroads
then. Everybody who hasn't them
wants railroads now. Men come here
from sparsely settled and isolated re-
gions, begging for branch lines and
pledging to help, and, in
some instances promising to pay one
fourth of the cost. They are willing
to mortgage all they have that their
lands may be doubled or quadrupled
in value and their crops sent to mar
ket and sold at good prices for ready
money. They feel as all the people
felt when railroad building was started
in this country.
Beginning of Great Line.
work on what is now known as
the Santa Fe system began at the
then frontier village of Topeka in
1868. Counties through which the
road was to be laid voted bonds for it's
When the track was COM
oleted to Wakarusa, thirteen miles
from Topeka, the achievement was
duly celebrated by an excursion to
that settlement in a borrowed passen-
ger car drawn by a borrowed engine.
The first citizens of Kansas empha-
sized the occasion by their presence.