Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1921-07-15


has already been mailed out"
Mr., Hornack was the last of the
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
mats what q traffic man lives for.
Naturally, the big turnover brought
all sorts of disturbances at the send
or, 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
thlng too mean for 1t to say about
the boss and his new appointees. Then
the employees got busy and the grlev-
ance committees began to pour In.
MI Norcross never denied himself to
anybody. The office-door stood wide
open and the kickers we're welcomed,
as you might say with open arms.
You men are going to get the
Squarest deal you have ever had, and
a still squarer one a little farther
along if you Will only stay on the
JOB and keep your clothes on was
the way the boss went at the train.
meTi's committee. 1--WE are out to
make the 2. 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 20
further and say that the new manage
ment Will stand if you and the other
payroll men stand by 1t 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 a kick comlng?" said old
Tom Mcclure, the passenger con-
ductor who was acting as spokesman.
"Sure will-every time. More than
than, I'll take 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 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 Acknowledgment" had
followed him down from Oregon. as
1t was bound to, but now it began to
be used in the sense that most rail
road men use the phrase, 1.-THE Old
Man." in speaking of 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 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 little talk with Mr.. Van Britt.
| picked Fred May, young fellow
who had been under Van Burgh He
was all right; little 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 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-
lieye 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-fguratiyely 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 II
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 a young fellow
named Juneman, an ex-neWspaper 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
and his title on the pay
oil was special Agent" l, who was
Is close to the boss as anybody in our
,uttit, never once suspected the true
nature of Billoughbys job until the
lay he came in to make his final re-
Mr.. Norcross let him make
t without sending me out on an errand
well think I'm ready to talk
Johnson, now" was the way Billough-
" began. "Red Tower is the one
'utfit We'll have to kill off and put out
# business, Under one name or an
ther, it Is engineering every graft in
his country; 1t is even backing the
AXE mining boom at Saw Horse---to
which, by the way, this railroad COM
ANY is now building a branch line"