The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-06-09
CHAS. MARKHAM
WORKED HARD /.
To SUCCEED,
President of Illinois Central
Was a Day Laborer for
Many Years.

BY CHARLES III. MARKHAM,
(IabOrer, section hand, station agent,
passenger agent, president Illinois
Central rallFOad.)
CCopyright. 1928, by Cosmopolitan
News Service.)
CHICAGO, June 81 have work
Cd with my hands as hard as any
man, but / have always appreciated
the fact that head work counts, too.
Head work is what makes a man
efficient at whatever job he hap.
pens to be doing. No work 10 80
humble that it isn't worth being
done well. BY giving the best We
have in US to the task before US,
we build that solid foundation
which 10 necessary before we
can hope to assume greater respOn.
more be kept down than you can
keep cork submerged by plunging
Il under water. The man who 10
capable, ambitious, who takes pride
II. doing his work well, rises as
surely az the cork thrusts itself
upward.
My own advancement was slow. !
became q worker when was four.
teen years old I worked at od0
Jobs, common labor. worked In
. packing house at Kansas City
when was nineteen. Al twenty,
I. was a section hand on the Santa
re railroad at Dodge City, Kan.
At twenty-one. was ehoveling coal
into locomotive tenders at Dem'nE,
N. Mex. / was janitor and baggage
handler at the railway station In
Deming O year later. Four Yeas
after that was a fuil-fledged sta.
ton agent az Lordsburg, Ari1., 4
town with 500 inhabitants. re-,
Fnained a station agent at different
places until was thirty-six years
old.
This was the turning point In nav
business life and chances for al
vaYcement began to come little
faster after that. / do not recall
that ever dreamed Of being in an
executive position in my young days.
Whatever / did / felt that 1t was
right TO do 1t az well as could,
with the possibility that / might
ret q chance at the next Job Just
ahead. suspect that many men
think so much about the final Eoal
OF their ambitions, the big reward
Of a high position, that they neglect
20 do the things In between that
make them deserving OF the hign
goal.
messenger agent Of Oregon lines
For the Southern Pacific in 1927,
September /, 1901, was made as
sIstant freight traffic manager for
the same road, with headquarters
~ San Francisco. Three months
later 1 was elected vice president
Of the Houston and Tevns Cer!-ai
railway and went to Houston, Tex.
April i, 1904. sI became general
manager Of the Southern Pacific. ut
San Francisco, and was elected vice
president June / oE the Bane year.
That autumn / left the railroad TO
become general manager of the
Guffey Petroleum Company at
Beaumont. Tex. remaining there
nearly six years. December ~
1910, I was elected president Of the
Illinois Central system. with head
quarters at Chicago, and assumed
the duties Of the office on January
~. 1911.
/ served az regional director of
railroads In the Southern region,
with headquarters at Atlanta from
january 1, 1918. to June 1, 1913,
and from the latter date until DC.
tober /, 1919, az regional director
Of the Allegheny region. with Of.
flee at Philadelphia. have since
served as president Of the Illinois
Central system, chairman Of the
board Of the Central OF Georgin
railway and the Ocean steamship
Company, with headquarters in Chi
cago.