Evening star., 1938-12-26
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
| CHICAGO, Dec. 26-Two pro-
NOTED railroad executives, who have
come all the way from scratch with
only their will and skill to advance
them, have arrived by somewhat
| different routes at pretty much the
same conclusions about careers and
economics.
Said Lawrence A. Downs. new
chairman of the board of the Illinois
Central system: I've never had
much faith in this business of hitch
ing your wagon to star, the theory
OF aiming at great big job, and
either landing there or somewhere
else along the starward line.
Il never had any such ambition.
and I don't think any young man
should have it now. When a man
gets a job he should master that
job, and then try to perfect himself
for the job Immediately ahead. 1t
is more important to impress your
immediate superior than the presi-
dent of the company. I've always
had that idea, and I've never fall
tered
Bevens More Philosophical.
j. L. Beven, who succeeded Mr..
Downs as president of the system,
summed it up with an oblique philo-
sophical turn, accenting some of his
views on commerce and industry:
''If we could 60 up the hills slowly,
the valleys would not be so deep"
The working lives of these two
men have been punctiliously in tune
with those convictions.
Mr.. Downs, under whose leader
ship the Illinois Central weathered
the depression and other forces un-
favorably affecting the railroads,
reached his high place from the
starting point of an obscure assign
ment as a transit man-an incon-
spicuouS member of the engineering
Corps
Mr.. Beven, considered one of the
foremost railroad minds in the
United States, had his beginning in
his chosen field as messenger boy.
Both literally have had the smart
of smoke in their nostrils and the
warmth of steam in their lungs.
Mr.. Downs said the most men,
orable day of his working life was
the day he gave himself up actively
and irrevocably to railroading.
Tall, spare and ruddy, the chief
of the directorate stabbed a finger
toward a wide window facing north
from the terminal building, and
said:
See that wall out there, running
from Twelfth street to Randolph?
I set stakes for that wall, back in
1896. I was just as happy on that
job-which paid $50 a montn-as I
have been at any other job. But I
wasn't happy long-until I had mas
tered the next job ahead. holding the
rod for the stakes, then operating
the Instruments. I never looked for
a job beyond the job my immediate
superior had"
Mr.. Beven was equally determined
when he declared 80 years ago that
he was going to become a railroad
man just as his father had done.
His modest start was in the Illinois
Central freight Office at New Or
leans.
His Office Always Open.
"Jack" Beven got along and the
veterans and rockies who knew him
and his father-and scarcely any
did not-cheered his progress. Strid-
ing to new dignities, he gave fresh
emphasis to one of his most note
worthy characteristics, a hearty
friendliness. 1t was said of him that
any troubled employe could get to
him and be sure of fair, cheerful
and unhurried hearing.
In glowing prime at 81, Mr.. Beven
is an unconditional railroad en-
thusiast. He said:
"Railroading is too great an in
dustry ever to have it said that
brains aren't needed to run it.
have a son coming along, and it's
| dollars to doughnuts that he will go
into railroading. If he does I will
| applaud it, because I think he will
have just as good a chance there as
anywhere else"
The same deep-rooted loyalty was
voiced by Mr.. Downs
II haven't changed my opinion
from what it has been since started
railroading. Railroading is a good
career for any young man. After all
a young man entering any business
will find that it is due to his own
competition whether he can forge
to the front-and there always will
be front to forge to in the railroad
business"
Concerning the new years pros