The Washington times., 1921-05-18


was one OF the most constructive
forces in the development OF Amer"
ica's resources. He became recognized
among railroad men as the ablest OF
them all.
To James J. Hill. ~ much ~ to
any other ono person. docs the United
States owe her unmatched railroad
facilities.
A CULTIVATED MEMORY.
Mr.. Hill attributed much Of his
ability to develop and run huge en-
terprises to his wonderfully cultivated
memory.
One day Mr.. Hnl gave me an exhi-
bition which made my head swim.
| When asked him how on Garth he
could carry such bewtldering mae
head. he replied: 1T 10 easy to re-
member things you are interested In"
| Mr.. Hill was. of course, tremen-
dously interested In railroads. They
occupied the choicest quarters In his
mental palace.
But Mr.. Hill was Interested In many
other thinEs.
They tell this story: Tho members
Of club Mr.. Hill belonged to became
trifle exasperated at finding that
] no matter what subject under the
! sun cropped up in conversation. Mr..
Hill knew more about II than all the
rest OF them put together. They de-
cided to cook up = little scheme TO
| floor" Mr.. Hill.
| A number of the members read up
on q most obscure subject having to
do with las l recalD geology They
bided their time and finally contrived
| to bring up the subject They ex-
patiated quito learpediy. But Mr.. Hill
4 atn hot
quite correct. with an air of triumph
one of the members thought he would
silence Mr.. Hill by telling him that
the Encyclopedias Britannia was his
authority.
81 know, / know" remarked Mr..
| Hill; Il wrote that article. but since
| then later research has she'd new
and different knowledge on the sub
ject"
WILLARD MAKES DISCOVERY.
Daniel willard, one of Mr.. HilI's
most brilliant boys" also discovered
that Mr.. Hill could make him feel
| like an ignoramus no matter what
subject arose.
| Mr.. willard made up his mind that
he would be able to do all the talk
ing on his pet theme II convenient
opportunity arose for bringing IL up.
|
passing a music store which had vio-
| Inns in the window. Mr.. willard,
| tickled, drew Mr.. Hills attention to
| the violins, and then began learn
| ed dissertation on the history. char
acteristics and so forth Of violins.
in Ave minutes" Mr.. willard re-
lates. "T discovered that Mr.. Hill
could lick me on my own chosen
ground. l never tried to outshine Mr..
Hill after that"
The president of the largest en-
terprise in America, James A. Far
rell, has the most astounding mem
| ory of any business man l know.
He once dumfounded every hearer
| during an investigation of the Steel
Corporation by his ability to answer,
without reference to single note,
| thousands OF questions covering an
! INFINITE variety of matters. many Of
them involving exact decimal frac-
| tions.
Not only is the location OF every
port In the world. every navigabie
river and every commercial city as
| clearly defined in Mr.. Farrelfs mind
as Main street is to the town dweller.
but he carries in his head detailed
| figures concerning the depths of the
barbors and rivers. the distances from
seaboard to inland cities. customs
| tolls. etc.
When asked Mr.. Farrell how h.
| did II, he replied: Il charge my
mind only with things pertaining 10
my business. ] don't ask II to retain
a lot of facts and figures Of no con-
ceivable use to me. i couldn't, for
example, give you the batting aver
age of any baseball player or the
record of a single race horse. By
not cluttering up my memory cells
with such stun. there is room to carry
| information more useful TO me-"
EDISON HAS FINE MEMORY.
Thomas A. Edison. whose famocs
questionnaire is exciting such wide
spread comment. possesses an ex-
traordinary memory.
When Mr.. Edison was a butcher"
| on a local train, he devoted the watt
ing time at the terminus to reading |
every volume in the local public lib
rary. missing not one. He recently |
told me that ne reads every trade and |
business periodical having any relS- |
ton to his own activities. a reprt-
sentative list OF newspapers and |
every book calculated to supply him |
with useful scientific. chemical or bo- |
chanical information.
He was going through his plant one |
day and found young inventor pain |
fully striving to accomplish a certain |
purpose. Mr.. Edison Immediately |
told him to go to the library, pull |
down n oAptain hook from A particu-