Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-01-29
HOW OPPORTUNITY found
HAYES; He DID not KEEP
his EYES On The CLOCK
Special to The Tribune.

CHICAGO, Jan. 29.-Not watching
the clock when be was clerk in the
general passenger department of the
Gould lines put Charles M. Hays,
n W head Of the Grand Trunk Pacific
railway on the first rung Of the long
ladder which he has climbed since he
left his home in Rock Island, ILL.,, to
get a job in St. Louis, according to
an anecdotal sketch by Martin H. Ed
wards in opportunity" for January.
Hays didn't even know where to look
for the clock.
In the beginning of big business in
railway history" Mr.. Edwards re-
lates, "a big man named Talmage was
made vice president and general man.
ager of the Gould lines with headauar-
tiers in the offices of the Wabash road
at st Louis. Mr. .Talmage wanted q
young man for the post of coufiden-
tial secretary. He had his own way
of choosing assistants. Down in the
passenger department all the clerks
were young. He went there to 'ook
them over and found all but one either
chatting or watching the clock. To this
one he crossed and asked the time.
Therew as no answer. Leaning his
hand on the desk, Mr.. Talmage re-
peated the questio" The clerk came
out of his pre-occupation and looked
up with his pen in the air.
81 beg your pardon. Did you speak
to me?'
"I merely asked tae time. That
was ALL said Mr.. Talmage.
1.-THE lad finally looked around three
sides Of the room and finally found the
clock on the fourth.
"'Eleven-fifty,' said he, and went on
with his work.
"'Thank you,' said Mr.. Talmage,
and went away. Next morning the
clerk who had to search for the clock
was in the new place, at the big mans
elbow. He grew up in association
with this tig railway man and others
and became a big man himself. Just
now he is one of the very biggest.
His name is Charles Melville Hays.
He is at the head of the Grand Trunk
and Grand Trunk Pacific railways, a
continuous line crossing CanaCa from
ocea o ocean, through the greatest
of ali fowlands in the east and open
ing in the west a new grain field more
than thousand miles wide, capable
of feeding white bread to all the peo-
pie Of the earth.
"The Grand Trunk Pacific was his
concept and is his creation. The spirit
that possessed him that faraway
morning when Mr.. Talmage asked the
time has moved him ever since. He 10
a dreamer of high dreams, with power
to make his dreams come true. He
has the genius of hard work.
In his room in the Grand Trunk
building at Montreal there is no
clock. Being human, he does not
question the ultimate supremacy Of
time, but he gets all there is out OF
every hour as it goes, and has no tol-
Grafton for a clock watcher
"'These people, he says, know only
two tsations on the 1ine-Sundown
and Payday The onlv admonition he
ever bestows is do thing and do 1t
quick The way to transport things Is
the whole purpose Ct railway, and
transportation cannot wait. Things
have to be done quick Mr.. Hays has
been doing them that way all his life.
Otherwise he never could have done
so much. But nothing he does is un-
considered. He has the gift Of prompt
perception and the instinct to act
swiftly upon what he perceives. How
much this coordination has had to do
with his long career as creative and
constructive force in railways is a
minor question, since 1t would involve
no more than the training of qualities
that were themselves Unborn and not
acquired. But the power is there and
never fails. It 10 nowise in conflict.
with his own statement Of what he be-
lieves to be the most valusble asset
. railway man can have: The genius
Of railroading lies in patience; In the
ability to see and hear and hear all
sides of . subject or Z controversy,