Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-06-29
HOW 3 BOYS SUCCEEDED
FOLLOWING SAME RULES
BY CONDO

- e cen tank driver, construction
man, salesman, equipment man, d.
vision manager. OF course that's a
goo7 training for man if he can
get it,"
Mr.. Thompson's education consists
Of u grammar school and a business
college course in Grand Rapids and
four years of correspondence SCHOOL
work.
ThOmpsOn's Start
''Those four years of correspond
ence work." he said, were four of
the hardest years I've ever spent"
Before Mr.. Thompson started with
the oil company he tried punching
COWS in the Texas cattle country.
Mention Of that short period in his
life brings a smile to his face now.
when I finished the business col
lege course" he declared in telling
about it, II decided to see the world.
landed in Dallas, Tex. There We're
bunch of cowboys going through
a lot of tricks With their horses
I've always loved horses, so I de.
cided to stay right there and work
with them. I hired out to herd cat.
tie in the Panhandle. After twenty
months 1 sold my saddle for SIS and
my horse for SIS and went back to
Grand Rapids
II never had the same job over
three years in my life" he said.
"One reason for that is principle
that an old Scotchman drilled into
me when I was just beginning with
the company.
If you're determined to do, do
well and better than your predeces-
sor.' he used to tell me. It's a good
principle, too. I knew that most of
the men ahead of me were good and
If l was to get recognition I had to
be better than they"
Six years after Mr.. Thompson en-
tered the oil company small boy
in knee breeches and a high, falter.
ing voice applied for a job in the
Milwaukee offices. He had finished
grammar school and one year in
high school, walking IL miles each,
way from his home to the school to
get that one year. He was given a
job as office boy. He is now Mr..
Bullock, director of purchases.
MIR. Bullock's first duties were to
run errands, carry papers from one
office to another, open the Office each
morning at z o'clock and stay there
until it closed, which frequently was
10 and IL o'clock at night, for which
he received So week. A short time
later he was made a clerk. To be
sure of being ON time at the office
young Bullock walked from his
home to the office each morning.
Mr.. McElroy, the only one of the
trio who can claim Chicago as his
birthplace, was born in a church
at Dayton and Center streets. He
was graduated from the Alcott school
at WrightWood avenue and Orchard
street, after which he attended night
school.
They used to call me flying mer-
curry at the old school," he said
laughing heartily. I've heard many
times since l grew up that I was the
worst boy they had at the Iirne."
Mr.. McElroy began working on
his thirteenth birthday, land I've
been at it every day since that time"
he said. His first work was as a
messenger boy for the Chicago, Mil,
Waukee and st. Paul railroad in the
chicago offices, where he worked
from $50 a. m. to $50 p. m. and a half
day Sundays, for which he was paid
SIS a month. He was quickly ad.
Vanced to office boy in the traffic de.
partment, graduating into a clerk,
rate clerk, tariff clerk to chief clerk
OF the department.
Rise in World
He was then called, in 1906, by
the Standard Oil company, and be-
came assistant traffic manager. Two
years later the railroad offered him
Twice the salary he was receiving
from the Oil company to go back
to their traffic department. He
turned it down and is today director
OF traffic of the company, whose an
nual freight bill exceed $30,O0O,OOO.
While the offices of the three are
in different parts of the Standard
OIL building, No. 90 South Michigan
avenue, each office is a practical
replica Of the other. Each man is
sanoWlched between long glass
top desk and a roll-top one, On
none OF the desks are any papers
TO be found. A clerk or an official
enters sometimes carrying an arm
ful OF papers needing attention. A
few minutes brisk conversation, de.
clslons are made and the man leaves
the room.
Not only in Chicago, but the en-.
tire Middle West is still recruiting
to get the big men for the big
positions from those at the bottom
of the ladder, according to the men.
Chances for advancement have
never been so great as they are a.
present, they assert. Not an. office
boy is taken into the Standard Oil
company but what he is sized up as
to his possibilities to some day carry
on the work Of the company. The
| same is true Of all big organizations.