The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-30
Heads Meet to Talk Conservation
of Line Revenues.
HIBBARD PRESIDENT.
General Superintendent of Coast
Lines a Character.
Other Items of General Interest
in Traffic World.

I I.
| President Taft, and the champion
marathon presidential candidate, Will
liam ]. Bryan, have had a monopoly
on publicity during the past few days,
they were not the only big men in
Kansas City. A very quiet but none
The less important conservation meet
ing has been in progress in the Coates
House. The delegates are men who
| are responsible for the transportation
OF freight over the A. T. & s. F. sys-
tenn, and almost as many states as
were represented in the national con-
servation congress had representation
in the secret sessions of the Santa F'es
congress. The object of the meeting
was to work out a way to conserve
revenues for the road and freight for
the shippers. One of the officials at
tending is one of the unique charac-
ters of contemporary railroad history.
l. L. H1bbard, general superintend-
cluding all the lines under Santa Fe
control, west of Albuquerque, is the
man, and as an expert on railroad
transportation he holds a place as con-
spicuous as that held by either Mr..
TAFT or Mr.. Bryan in their respective
fields. Further, Mr. Hibbard is just as
big man, physically, as either of the
noted politicians.
Hibbard Is Popular.
''The biggest man on the Pacific
COdSL Is the way santa he men III
the transportation department refer to
Mr.. Hibbard, it being explained that
he Qualities for this phrase in heart,
mind and body. Certainly the big man
from Los Angeles has given the lie to
the general belief that there is no
bond of sympathy or personal interest
between the head of a big railroad
system and the employees down to the
section foreman. Hibbard is one of the
few men who have started in the yards
ended
Today he can do any thing any man
working on his railroad can do, from
snatching seals to running an engine,
and it is said that he knows every
employee Of the Santa Fe road from
Albuquerque to San Francisco by his
first name. He had served the Santa
Fe railroad in almost every capacity
from switch engineer to general
superintendent, his most enduring rec
ord having been made as superintend-
ent of the Albuquerque division, where
the road is confronted with the pro-
blems peculiar to a desert country.
How kelley Won Out.
A group of Santa F'e men were
swapping stories this morning in the
hotel lobby and Hibbard, since he was
not one of the party, was made the
goat for several good ones.
What makes the Old Man popular"
remarked one of the coast lines men,
''is that he will always come in and
admit it when he is wrong. I remem-
ber one day he had an engineer by the
name OF Kelley on the carpet for
wrecking a boxcar. Kelley insisted
that the train had broke in tWo,' the
draw bar having fallen in the center
of the track, deratling the car. The
Old Man told Kelley very frankly that
he didn't think it was possible for
an accident to happen just that way.
'4About a month later Kelley had the
Old Mans private car on the rear of
a freight train coming west over the |
Frisco mountain. A draw bar pulled |
out of the caboose, fell in the center
of the track and sent the Old Mans |
private car into the ditch. After Hib- |
bard crawled from the Wreckage, |
walked up an embankment and saw /
the big draw bar in the center of the |
track, they say he walked over to the /
engine and called Kelley out of the |
cab and remarked: I just wanted to /
tell you it could be done and Kelley |
caught the point
The conference of freight men ends /
this evening A general discussion has /
been had on ways of increasing the ef- |
Of handling freight without /
damage and loss. It is estimated that |
at least 2 per cent of the total freight
revenues are lost to the railroads
shippers claims, and with /
hostile legislation in every state as
well as nationally, the Santa Fe is
it's operating system to the !
end that the freight department may /
be run more economically, with no
sacrifice of efficiency.