Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-11-03
ROMANCES OF Rail
Men Who Rose to Head Great
American Railroads.
Some Went UP From Ranks and Some
by Way of Learning-More Won
derful Than Some Arabian
Nights Tales.

Not yet are the days Of romancing
passed. They are making more won
derful romances under your very eyes
than they used to make In the days of
Bagdad and the Arabian Nights.
What son of Mustafa by rubbing
lamp could be elevated more wonder
fully than a grimy locomotive fireman,
who opens book, and presently finds
himself head of great railroad?
Take Daniel Willard, for instance.
He is president of the Baltimore &
Ohio railroad now. Mr.. Willard Is
great executive. He is an art con-
noisseur, musician and scholar be-
sides. His collection of portraits of
Napoleon is one of the best in the
world. His interest in men Of affairs
Is worldwide. Some time ago. when
he was in the midst of negotiating
$110,000,O00 expenditure for improve
ments Of the Baltimore & Ohio, he be-
gan to study French.
1t is only a few years ago that Will
lard was fireman on an old Vermont
road that is now part of the Boston &
Maine. Willard was locomotive fire.
man, that's all. But one day he found
book that interested him, in spite of
it's forbidding title. 1t is "Welling-
toms Economics of Railroad Locations"
Willard bought it. He tucked it be-
meath the cushion of his seat in the
engine cab, and when he wasn't keep
ing up steam in the boiler head he
was reading about railroad economics.
1t gave him a wholly new view of rail-
reading. The rest you can read.
Erred" Underwood, now president of
the Erie, the most jovial railroad presi-
dent of all, was the conductor of Will
lard's train. Underwood was coming
along fast then-so fast that pretty
soon he was Wizards boss-"Mr. I'm
derwood" to Willard. But they be-
came close friends, and each recog-
nized the others worth. Some years
later Mr.. Underwood was in line for
the presidency of the Erie. Then the
chance came, and almost the first man
he called to the road was Willard as
vice president. The two men are
closer chums than ever now.
With the exception of few every
one has climbed the ladder from the
lower rung. One could almost count
the College-bred men on the fingers of
his two hands. And Louis w. Hill,
head of the Great Northern, is practi-
cally the only one who inherited a big
railroading job to start with. That
was as vice president under his father,
the late James ]. Hill.
G. P. Markham, president of the Illi-
nois Central, prominent socially as
well as financially in Chicago, began
his career as a section hand-a COM
mon laborer-on the Santa Fe, in Kan
sas City, then one of the toughest rail-
road yards in the country. He is re-
marked today as one of the most dap
per-looking of these powerful railroad
men. No one looking at him or study
ing him closely would say he was other
than the son of a rich man who had all
the frills of a course at a leading uni
versity.
There's e. P. Ripley, president of
the AtchisOn, Topeka & Santa Fe.
Years ago young man named Rip
| ley went to work as a clerk in the
| traffic office of the Boston & Maine.
But his stay there was not long.
Pretty soon someone higher up spotted
him as a coming railroad chief and
gave him job as general manager Of
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
And when the Santa Fe was reorgan-
lied e. P. Ripley assumed the presi-
dency. His friends celebrated his sew
entieth birthday last year in Chicago,
and the gathering was one Of the most
distinguished ever brought together.
A man is a man to Mr.. Ripley, whether
he is a section hand or a general man
ager.
Then there is Fairfax Harrison,
bearer of the proud name of Fairfax of
Virginia, president of the Southern
railway, one of the few college men in
the executives group. He is an emf
nent lawyer and a Greek scholar, be-
sides a leading railway executive.
Some time ago he translated Cato's
Farm Management" considered by
many scholars as a literary gem.
But then, he isn't altogether to
blame for that. 1t has been tradition
al among the first families of Vir-
ginia that their sons must 60 to col
lege. 1t only goes to show that it is
the caliber of the man which counts,
in railroading as in everything else.