New-York tribune., 1917-07-18
New Admiral Head
Received Engineering
Training on B. & O..
Geddes Rose from Obscurity
When Kitchener Called on
Him at Start of War

Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, new First
Lord of the Admiralty. is one OF the
handful of great Britishers who
emerged out of comparative obscurity
with the advent of war. Until hostili-
ties were or his was a name scarcely
known outside railroad circles, and
American railroad men knew him best,
for it was in the United States that he
got his training. To-day there is no
Englishman who doeSnot know Geddes
and the story of his remarkable rise to
power.
Eric Geddcs he was knighted only
last year. was born in India of Scot
tish parents and destined for the army.
At seventeen, developing bent for en-.
gincering, he left school in England TO
seek practical experience in America
The Homestead Steel Works, of Pitts
burgh, gave him a year of it and the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad three more.
Until he was twenty-one- he is
only forty-one now-Sir Eric stayed in
America. Then he returned to India.
BY that time Geddes had resolved on
railroading as his life work. His East
Indian job of chopping rights Of way
through the jungies was accomplished
Sc well that he was charged with the
operation of the roads he had built
Six years Of hard and good work in
India carried his reputation into quar-
ters that counted. and he was called to
England in 1908. The North Eastern
Railroad Company wanted him.
Goddess big chance came when, at
the outbreak of the war, Lord Kitchener
called on the railroad managers OF
England TO aid in the swift and secret
transportation Of troops TO the front
He had learned how to hustle in Amer
ica and had never forgotten. His work
attracted the fatterng attention of
tx. of K.." then busy with a search for
means and men, and the way to great
ness was open.
Kitchener retained Geddes in the SER
vice of the War Department TO super
intend the transportation of munitions
from factory to front. After the bat
tie of the Somme, Sir Eric was sent to
France TO. help the French government
reorganize the frightfully congested
railroads. Again American hustle was
effective, in time when hustllng
meant much. Sir Douglas Haig insisted
on keeping him on the staff in France
as Director General of Transportation.
When a special government depart
ment for the control of munitions was
organized in 1915 and Lloyd George
quit the Exchequer 70 tahe his place at
its head Sir Eric was drafted into the
bigger league. At Lloyd Georges in
vitaton he became Deputy Director
General of Munitions. American hustle
made good once more-so good that in
the course of a year il was decided that
his qualities would be Of great assist
ance 70 the Admiralty.
There had been general disss,isfac-
ton with the manner in which the SUBJ
marine situation was being handled,
and the shake-up which Sir Edward
Carson announced TO the House o.
Commons on May IL last saw a place
made for the hustler.
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, First Sec
Lord Of the Admiralty, was given the
duties of Chief of the Naval General
staff practically those in relation -
the sea forces which Sir William Rob-
ertson. held in connection with the
army. Thus, it was explained. he was
freed from administrative worries and
left free to concentrate his attention
on the conduct Of the war.
Sir Eric was the man chosen to as
sume the worries He became a mem
Der of the Board of Admiralty. with
the temporary rank of vice admiral
and the title of Controller of Shipping.
Sir Eric was no sailor and had had
no experience even with the aiminis-
trative end of naval affairs. He
learned and hustled and hustled and
learned, coordinatng. developing ard
utilizing the shipping and shipbuldiny
facilities of Great Britain in man
ner which so far fulfilled the require
ments OF the Admiralty. the War Of
flee and the Ministry Of Shipping that
he is what he has become to-day
First Lord OF the Admiralty.