The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1921-03-31

NsturaTly. . few little talks ilke
this. face 20 face with The men them.
seltss. sBoa began 70 put uew flfe into
the rama ard Ole. Mr. Norcros' Old
pet name ~ Holland repeat' had
followed him down from Oregon. ~
u VAS bound 20. but nov Il began 90
be used IN the sense that most ruii-
road men use The phrase The old
Man % speaking II y big boss that
they Ike
There vas 50 much crowded into
these first few weeks that I've for
gotten half Of IT, The work We aid.
pulling aud hauling things into shape.
was a fright. aud my end Of the sob
got ~ big that the boss had 20 give
me help Following ont bis own policy,
be lei me pick my man, and after 10
had a little talk with Mr., Van Britt,
] picked Fred May, q 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 we're
looking for
OUT Of this frantic hustle 10 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 10 something Ike
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 rs Ike
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 on
his eoat-figuratively 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 Il
first. and then talk about II after
ward-if anybody Insisted on knowing
the reason why,
There were long private conferences
with Mr.. Ripley, the bright young law
yer Mrs 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
| BHouehby, and mis- title on the pay
| roll was especial Agent /, who was
as close 10 the boss as anybody in our
Z outfit. never once suspected the true
I nature Of Blloughby's Job until the
/ day he came In TO make his final re-
port-and Mr. Norcross let him make
II without sending me ut On an erfand
"Ycll. think I'm ready to talb
johnson. now" was the way Billough
nv began. "Red Tower is the one
outfit wen have to Eill OF and put ont
Of business Under one name or an
other. il is engineering every graft II
/ this country; Il is even backing tho
fake mining boom at Saw Horse-t'
which. by the way. this railroad com
pany is now building a branch line
4. Mr.. Norcross turned to me:
Jimmie, make note 20 tell Mr.
Van Britt 10 have the work stopped
at once on the Saw Horse branch
and all the equipment brought in
And then to Billoughby: Go on"
THE main graft Of course, is II
the grain elevators, the fruit pack
cries. the coal and lumber yards anc
the stock yards and handling eorrals
In these public, or quasipublic, util
tiles the railroad has given them-ir
fee simple, II seems-all the yarC
room, switches, track facilities, anC
the like. Wherever local competition
has tried to break in. the railroad
company has given II the cold should
err and IL has been either forced on
or frozen out"
Exactly" said the boss Now tel
me how far you have gone In the
other field"
I'VE are pretty well shaped up and
are about ready to begin business
Juneman has done splendid work, anC
so has Ripley. We have succeeded
In a measure. though the opposition
has been keeping up a steady lombard
ment. Hatch and his people haven
been idle. They own or control
dozen or more prominent newspaper