The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-27

EDITORS NoTE-This rowing reporter
for The Times goes where he pleases
when he pleases, in search of odd
stories about this and that.
N ALIAS, May 27-What the
~ Dallas Centennial Exposition
had to have was a man who could
say no" and not say it next week,
or at 4 o'clock this afternoon, but
right now. It has that man.
He is William A. Webb. He is
manager of the Exposition. He is
a good-looking. well-preserved man
in his late f1fties. They say he can
be plenty tough. But he can also
be plenty pleasant, as happen to
know.
walked into his office late one
afternoon and started off something
like this: Il know you're showed
under with work, Mr.. Webb, but
II
I'm not showed under at ALL" he
said. Lets get in my car and
take ride" The truth is he was
showed under, but it didn't worry
him.
Webb never ran an Exposition
before in his life. But he's an old
railroad man. He has always been
builder. He has built bigger
buildings than anything at the Cen
tennial. He has handled more
money than the S25 1000, 900 the Gem
tennial is spending He has direct
ed more men than the Centenniars
10000.
LIE quit railroading five years
l. Il ago, and retired. He almost
went crazy, Says he didn't do any,
thing but play golf and drink. Hes
working now from a. m. till mid
night, and says he's happier than
he's been in years.
Here is brief history of Webb's
career:
Born in Kentucky. Moved to
Colorado early. Started work for
the Santa Fe in Colorado Springs
as messenger boy. Was a COM
petent telegraph operator at II.
Saw the early. gold towns OF
Cripple Creek. Leadviile and Aspen.
Never got mixed up in gold mining,
though, except as an unfortunate
investor, he says.
Learned stenography At "a was
assistant to the president of the
Colorado Southern in Denver. At
20 was operating vice president of
the Katy system in Dallas. That
was 1905. He rebuilt the whole
Katy system, a $6O,0OO,OO0 job.
TN 1917 he was in Washington as
l. member of the wartime Rail-
way Board. After the war. Aus
tralia wanted somebody to rebuild
its government-owned railways.
Two railroad presidents and Sec
rotary of State Hughes, who was his
personal friend, recommended
Webb. He was in Australia 10
years.
Not one day during the first three
years was he without a strike. They
tried to run him out of the country.
He was a Yankee" and they didn't
want him around, He was a cam
paign issue. A government fell over
him.
But he hung on. After the third
year, he never had another strike.
He built or rebuilt 5000 miles of
track. Built new locomotives, new
cars, organized whole railroadng
| system, converted it from the SMALL
scale British to the big-scale Amer
lean. Spent IS millions. Trained
thousands of men.
When he left in 1880, $500 people
were at the boat to see him off.
Back in Dallas to retire, he found
loaf1ng hard. He got mixed up in
city politics, just to kill time When
the Centennial started, he drifted
into it as clerk of some sort, just
to keep from loafng.
THE Centennial was run by
L commission. They couldn't get
anything done. Too many ideas.
and not enough action. Nobody
would say Eyes" or no" There was
new commission about every week.
The Centennial was drifting.
Somebody thought of Webb. They
made him dictator of the show.
That was last October. Since then
things have hummed and howled.
Webb isn't one of these dynamic
movie-type executives. He appears
to take things easy. He stops in the
middle Of something to tell Joke.
He thinks Dallas is the greatest
place in the world. Lived here II
years before the war, and six years
since ne came back from Australia.
Webb says this is the hardest job
he has ever done. He says it's
harder than running $4,000 miles of
railroad.
1 asked him what he was going to
do when this thing is all over next
November. He laughed. Il don't
know. Go back to playing 10 holes