Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1921-05-06


new Office staff to fall In, though he
didn't have nearly as far to come as
some Of the others. He was red
headed and wore glasses They used
to say Of him on the Overland Central
that he could make business grow
where none ever grew before, and
that's what a traffic man lives for.
Naturally, the big turnover brought
all sorts Of disturbances at the send
of. Some of the relieved cousins and
nephews stayed In town and jumped
In to stir up trouble for the new man
agement. The Herald, which was the
other morning paper, took up for the
down-and-outs, and there wasn't any
thing too mean for 1t to say about
the boss and his new appOIntees. Then
the employees got busy and the griev-
ance committees began to pour In.
Mr.. Norcross never denied himself to
anybody The Oflce-doOr stood wide
open and the kickers were welcomed,
as you might say, with open arms.
you men are going to get the
squarest deal you have ever had. and
still sQuarer one a little farther
along, II you will only stay on the
job and keep your clothes on" was
the way the boss went at the train
mems committee. 1--WE are out to
make the P. s. 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 go
further and say that the new manage
ment will stand if you and the other
payroll men stand by it in good faith,
or 1t will fall If you don't"
you'll meet the grievance commit
tees and talk things over with them
when there's kick coming?" said old
Tom Mcclure, the passenger con-
ductor who was acting as spokesman.
Sure will--every time. More than
than, I'll take a leaf out of Colonel
Cocktails book and keep open house
here in this Office every Sunday morn
ing. Any man in the service who
thinks he has a grievance may come
here and state 1t, and If he has a case,
he'll get justice"
Naturally, a few little talks like
this, face to face with the men them
selves, soon began to put new life into
the rank and file. Mr.. Norcross' old
pet name of "Hell-and-repeat" had
followed him down from Oregon, as
1t was bound to, but now 1t began to
be used in the sense that most rail-
road men use the phrase, 1.-THE Old
Man." in speaking of a big boss that
they like.
There was so much crowded into
these first few weeks that I'VE for
gotten half of 1t. The work we did,
pulling and hauling things into shape,
was a fright, and my end Of the Job
got so big that the boss had to give
me help. Following out his own policy,
he let me pick my man, and after I'd
had a little talk with Mr.. Van Britt,
| picked Fred May, a young fellow
who had been under Van Burgh. He
was all right; a little too tonguey,
perhaps, but a 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 a 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
a solid unit against US, hating us like
blazes and entirely unwilling to be-
lleve that any good thing could come
out Of the Nazareth Of the Pioneer
Short Line.
AS soon as we returned from our
first inspection trip, the boss pulled off
his coat-figuratively speaking-and
rolled up his sleeves. 1t wasn't his
way to talk much about what he was
going to do: he'd jump in and do 1t
first, and then talk about 1t after
ward-if anybody insisted on knowing
the reason why.
There were long private conferences
with Mr.. 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 pay-rolls as "Adver-
Using Manager" but whose real bust
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 to the boss as anybody in our
outfit, never once suspected the true
nature of Billoughby's job until the
day he came in to make his final re-
portland Mr.. NOrcross let him make
1t without sending me out on an errand.
"Well, / think I'm ready to talk
Johnson. now" was the way Billough-
by began. "Red Tower is the one
outfit we'll have to kiln off and put out
Of business. Under one name or an
other, it is engineering every graft in