St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-05-02
DANIEL WILLARD LEADER
Sketch of Former VcrlnOntcr Who
Heads Advisory Commission OF
Council For National Defence

Many a railroad man along the Pas
sumpasic Division of the Boston and
Maine railroad remembers Daniel Will
lard as an engineer on this road years
ago and will be interested in the fol-
lowing sketch written by Frederick
Haskin in the Manchester Union.
Daniel Willard, who is chairman of
the Advisory Commission of the
Council for National Defense. belongs
to that we'll known school of Ameri-
cans, founded by Abraham Lincoln,
| who start with the lowliest jobs they
| can find, and toilfully ascend to the
| highest in their respective lines. This
| fact may not seem pertinent to Mr..
| Wizards present job of coOrdinating
| the transportation and communication
! systems of the country for war: but
it is significant because few men of
this thoroughgoing and competent
variety are now found in American
public service. The creation of the
Advisory Commission marks the en-
| trance of a new kind of man into our
| public life.
| What sort of mon are these civilian
| commissioners who have left large af-
| fairs to devote all of their time with
out compensation to the work of or
ganizing for war? In what spirit do
they enter upon the undertaking?
This letter and the next one will be
partial answers to these questions.
Daniel Willard is man reputed to
shun publicity, who has recently come
| in for a goodly share of it. His re-.
| organization of q great railroad sys-
| tenn. his leadership of the railroads in
their fight for a freight rate increase,
his endorsement of the administra-
! tons eight-hOur law, and finally his
selection to head the Advisory Com
mission, have made him easily the
most famous railroad man in America.
These achievements also suggest that
he is q railroad executive of an unus-
ual sort, and this is borne out both by
the looks Of the man, and by his rec
ord.
He is a lean-faced New Highlander
with more brow and less jaw than the
typical America money-maker-a man
more idealistic than acquisitive. He
began his railroad career at the age
of Is as track walker on the Gen.
trail Vermont railway. Then came
that long period of toll and obscurity
which usually forms q large part of
the lives of the great though not of
their biographies. Willard was al
most everything that a railroad man
may be, including engineer, con-
ductor, round-house- foreman, and fl
na1ly at the age of 38, q division SUI
perintendent. This was not q dizzying
ascent, but it gave him a thorough
knowledge of the railroad business.
And now that he was prepared. OPP
portunity came along in the shape of
IN ~
sistant manager of the Baltimore and
Ohio. From that time on the way to
a railroad presidency was oman to him
and his story becomes monotonously
successful. He did not try to form
great combines or build new lines; he 1
merely ran his railroads in compe-
tent, quite sort of way. 1t was plain
that he was not another Hartman O
Hill. But when the railroads wanted
a spokesman to tell the country about
their need for higher freight rates,
Willard was selected for the job. Here
was railroad executive who did not
astonish the public with his deeds of
high finance, but whom, perhaps, the
public would trust. Willard has been
described as n sort unofficial mediator
between the public and the railroads
That lead naturally to his present po-
sition as chief of the representatives
of big business who are helping to or
ganize the country for war.
Ready For Cooperative Service
Mr.. Wizards share of the work of
industrial organization is to have. all
of the railroad. telephone and tele-
graph lines of the country ready for
cooperative government service. He
has already held q meeting with fifty
railroad executives representing $780,
600 miles of railroad, and these have
pledged themselves to organize con-
tinental system which will be entirely
at the disposal of the government dur
ing the war. The telephone and tele-
graph companies have also expressed
themselves as ready to put all of their
facilities at the service of the govern
ment. The motor resources of the
country have been carefully listed,
and they will be no small part Of our
emergency transportation equipment;
| for America has three million automo-
| biles and can produce a million and q
| quarter a year. The troops that saved
| Paris from the first German onslaught
went to the front III private autos and
| taXis.
| Good Work at Fairbanks.
| 40 To ,-l,a r,ly In IF