Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1921-05-05

and your chair is empty and waiting
for you. Your appointment circular
has already been mailed out"
Mr.. H0rnack was the last Of the
new Office star 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 traffic man lives for.
Naturally. the big turnover brought
all sorts Of disturbances at the send
on. 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 papef, 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-
anee committees began to pour in.
Mr.. Norcross never denied himself to
anybody. The office-door stood wide
open and the kickers were welcomed,
as You might say, with open arms.
You, men are going to get the
ssquarest 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.
I want your loyalty; the loyalty Of
every man in the service. I'll go
further and say that the new manage:
ment will stand II you and the other
payroll men stand by 1t In. good faith;
or it will fall IL you don't"
you'll meet the grievance commit.
tees and talk things over with them
when there's askick coming?" 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
Goethal's 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 It. andlf he has q 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 file. Mr.. .Norcross' old
pet name of .Hell-and-repeat' had
followed him down from Oregon, as
1t was hound to. but now it began TO
be used in the sense that most rail
road men, use the phrase. .'The Old
Man." in speaking Of a big boss that
they like. = &
There was 30 much crowded Into
these first few weeks .tbat I've for
gotten half of It. The work we did.
pulling and hduling things into shape,
was a fright, and my end of the job
got 80 big that the, boss had to give
me help: Following ont his own policy,
he let me picksmy man. and after Id
had little talk with Mr.. Van Britt,
picked Fred May. a young fellow
who had been under Van Bufgh. He
was al right a little too tonguey,
perhaps, but d worker from away
back. and that was what we were
looking for. y al'5 ,l't,
Out Of this. frantic hustle to get
things started and moving right, any
bsdy 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 thefreight
q solid unit against us. hating us like
blazes and entirely unwilling to be-
lieve 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-fguratively speaking-and
rolled up his sleeves. 1t wasn't his
way Ia talk much about what he was
going e do. he'd Jump In and do it
first. and then talk about II after
ward g anybody insisted on knowing
Fsthe reason why. 81,
y There were long private conferences
with Mr.. Ripley. the bright young law.
yer Mr.. Chadwick had sent us from
Chicago. and with lsa, young. fellow
named Jnneman, 60 ex-newsraper man
who was on the pay-r6lls a. ..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 e keep TO them
selves. = tt ssi s.ss
y The next innovation that came along
was another young Chicago man named
Billoughby, and his title On the pay
roll was Special Agent. J" i. who was
az close to the boss assanybody in our
OUTFIT never once suspected the, true
nature Of Bllloushbs's Job until the
day he came In to make his finaE re-
port and Mr.. :Norcross let him make
II without sending me 6ut. on IN esrand.
L 49, .sNt