The Monroe journal., 1921-05-20
"you Men Are Going to Get the
Squsrest Deal You Ever Had"

IL
"You Men Are Going to Get the
Squsrest Deal You Ever Had"
along. il you will only stay On the
job and keep your clothes on" was
the way the boss went ut the train
mems committee. "We are out TO
make the Z. :. l.. the best line for
service. and the best company TO work
for. this side Of the Missouri river.
| want your loyalty; the loyalty Of
every man In the service. I'll 90
further and say that the new manage
ment will stand II you aud the other
payroll men stand by It In good faith
or II will fall II you don't"
You'll meet the grievance commit
tees and talk things over with them
when there's a kick comng?" said old
Tom Mcclure, the passenger con
dnctor who was acting as spokesman.
Sure will-every time, More than
than, I'll take a leaf ont OF Colonel
Goethars book and keep open house
here in this Office every sunday morn
Ing. Amy man in the service who
thinks he has grievance may come
here and state IT, and II he has case.
he'll get Justice"
Naturally, few little talks like
this. face TO face with the men them.
selves, soon began TO put new life into
the rank and fe. Mr.. Norcross' old
pet name of "Hell-and-repcat" had
followed him down from Oregon, AZ
II was bound TO, but now II began TO
be used In the sense that most rail-
road men use the phrase. THE Old
Man, In speaking Of u big boss that
they like
There was so much crowded into
these first few weeks that I've for.
gotten half Of II. The work we did,
pulling and hauling things into shape.
WAS fright. and my end Of the Job
got so big that the boss had 10 give
me help. Following out his own policy,
he let me pick my man, and after Id
had little talk with Mr.. Van Britt
| picked Fred May, young fellow
who had been under Van Burgh. lie
was all right; llEe too tonguey.
perhaps, but worker from away
back. and that was what we were
looking for.
Out of this frantic hustle TO get
things started and moving right. any
body could have pulled couple of
conclusions that stuck up higher than
any Of the rest. The boss and Mr..
Van Britt were steadily winning the
rank and file over TO something like
loyalty on the one hand. and on the
other. wherever we went, we found
the people who were paying the freight
solid unit against us hating us like
blazes and entirely unwilling 10 be
lieve that any good thing could come
out Of the Nazareth OF the Pioneer
Short Line.
As soon as we returned from our
6rst inspection trip, the boss pulled OF
his cost-fguratively speaking-and
rolled up his sleeves. II wasn't his
way to talk much about what he was
going to do: he'd jump In and do It
first, and then talk about II after
ward II anybody insisted on knowing
the / ",on why.
IT, we're long private conferences
with Nj. Ripley. the bright young law
yer Mr.. Chadwick had sent us from
Chicago, and with young fellow
named Juneman, an ex-newsraper man
who WAS on the psy-rolls as "Adver-
tising Manager" but whose real busi-
ness seemed to be to keep the Short
Line public fully and accurately In
formed of everything that most rail-.
road companies try to keep to them
selves.
The next innovation that came along
was another young Chicago man named
Billoughby, and his title on the pay
roll was Special Agent" !, who was
as close 10 the boss as anybody In our
outfit, never once suspected the true
nature Of BIlIoughby's job until the
day he came In to make his final re-
portland Mr.. Norcross let him make
II without sending me out OIL an erraDd.
well, | think I'm ready TO talk
Johnson. now" was the way Blllongh-
by began. "Red Tower is the one
OUTFIT we'il have to XIII OF and put out
Of business. Under one name or an
ptLer, Il is engineering every graft 10