Evening star., 1940-01-28
by Homer CroY
Druwing BY Robert Fowesff

~1HAr's what think of it as being - The
Fine Art of Doing Little More Than
d You Are Paid to Do - and what really
fine art it is! And how few practice it!
And how much better off most of us would
be if we did practice it. know of no surer
rule for business success, and no truer COM
pass for the seas of friendship. Do little
more than is expected! It's key that will
make almost any door spring open. Try it on
the boss. Try it on friend. tell you there's
magic in it.
I'll give you an instance of its magic in
little town where you would expect to find no
magic at ALL 1t was in North Platte, Nebraska,
on street named Locust Street, in family
of nine children, and in the person of a boy
fourteen years old. You probably know his
name now, but no one outside of the town
knew it then: William M. Jeffers.
The father was earning SIS a month"; which
meant that each member of the family was
living on five dollars a month Money had
to be earned, 50 the boy marched forth. He
went to the shops of the Union Pacific Rail
road, where the boss looked him over and
entrusted him with the job of sweeping out
He went to work at seven in the evening and
was through promptly at seven the next
morning, and the salary was SIS month,
rain or shine, dust or no dust.
What do you suppose he did with the time
between seven in the morning and the time
to go back to his broom? He slept, of course
but during his free time he went back and
helped the telegraph agent. For this the agent
taught him telegraphy The agent said he
was right promising" boy; no other boy
was willing to do more than he was paid to do.
lwo years passed, then came the day when
new clerk was needed in the maintenance
of-way department and the boy put his broom
away for the last time He followed exactly
the same principle here, little more than he
was paid to do. He took on some of the work
for the timekeeper. Time passed and so did
the keeper, and young William M. Jeffers
became timekeeper.
In his new job he had the same spirit, the
same willingness to do little more than the
pay envelope called for, and he was moved up
to train dispatcher; then, two years later, to
chief dispatcher. Now his salary was $l2O a
month - an improvement over the broom
days.
He continued to practice the art he had
hit upon They needed trainmaster at
Green River, Wyoming. They looked around
for someone to fill it -.
So he was in Green River, Wyoming.
1t was not long before they needed
trainmaster in Denver. and Green River lost
the young man who did a little more than he
was paid to do. He got out and walked every
mile of the main line, and many of the
branches. This was considered odd. for his
predecessors had studied the roadbed from the
rear platform of their private cars. If he
wanted to walk, let him walk, they said; it
was his own shoe leather.
Up and up he went, and for some strange
reason his salary did too.
And now - at this very moment - he is
the president of the famous Union Pacific. "
And the street in North Platte that used to be
Locust is now Jeffers Street.
The scene moves to Columbus Ohio, and
to family of seven children, and to police
man ringing doorbell. When the woman
came to the door, he took off his hat respect
fully, lowered his voice and spoke slowly and