The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-26
ALEADER OF men
Charles S. GIeed Belonged to His
Employees, Not They to Him-He
Never Set Himself Apart.

At the request Of The State journal,
W. r. kercher. for many years assO-
ciated with the late Charles S. Gleed
on the Kansas City Journal and with
written this beautiful character sketch
of the beloved Kansas citizen and state
builder who died in Topeka Sunday.
BY W. r. KERCHER.
Charles S. Gleed is dead.
Each word is a tug at our heart
strings; each word is lump in our
throats.
He was a natural leader of men.
No matter how disputed the barri-
cade. he always took the heaviest
blows, and gave all the praise to those
who fought at his side.
To the men who labored in the great
industries in which he held high rank,
he was never master.
He never set himself apart.
He always gave them to understand
and think and feel and know that he
was one of them-marching with them
in a common cause. He distinguished
the value of a man not from rank or
clothes or power, but from the man
himself. He welcomed every oppor-
tunity to be with his men. His spoken
and written word to them, always
given willingly from the heart, was
He belonged to his men-not they
to him
His was an exquisite spirit of very
great unselfishness. 1t shone from out
his eyes, carried upon a smile born
of sheer love and goodness. He gave
the greatest thing any man can give
himself The success and welfare
and happiness of his men was as vital
to him as the success of the industry
of which he was captain. Their prob
lens were his problems; their tasks
were his tasks; their trials were his
trials. And as his men learned to
know this, there was beaten path
TO his door, and no matter how ex-
acting or arduous his duties. he
stopped. and welcomed them with an
open heart, and gave them an answer
and a solution and help.
His invariable summarizing answer,
as the problems Of others. whether
business or personal, were brought to
him, was: rs there something We can
do for him -
His magnificent vision, which laced
together great vast stretches with vel
vet ribbons of steel: which threaded
and linked great distances with intel
Iizence transmitting wires; which
buiIded banks and achieved great
comm ercial successes; which created
great newspaper founded upon me me
ideaIs-these were master mental
deeds. But the heart that was in him
would alone hGve won him greatness.
His incisive mind, tempered with
gentle human understanding ana
buoyed up with ennobling generosity
sent many. many men upon their way
rejoicing, with sunshine in their vision
where before there had only been low
ering clouds.
He had a courage Of fiint-was a
human dynamo of energy-had
mental grasp of steel-but withal ne
was as ten&er as the gentlest woman.
He was q truly great man because
his great successes only made MN
more sweet and gentle, and stretched
ont his heart and hand still more and
more to these who sought to make
headway upon the highway OF life.
He loved children and flowers ano
music and books.
He had sentiment. The World WIN
ont sentiment is nothing
He had a friendly philosophy
philosophy of faith and hope and gooo
cheer and high ideals and clean fight-
ing. 1a;,
him. We must seek to be not less
great than the splendid heritage OF
heart and spirit which he gave US ano
lived for US.
AS we cry out goodbye to him or
the wings of night, we thank Goa ht
was ours to know and have and love