Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 158, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1915 — ROSE FROM LOW POSITIONS [ARTICLE]

ROSE FROM LOW POSITIONS

Heads of Great Railroads Who Have Made Their Way From Comparative Obscurity. Only three of the twenty men who are at the head of the great railroad systems of America today held those positions ten years ago. There was a time when ■ the list of railroad chiefs was a catalogue of "Goulds, Huntingtons, Harrimans, Vanderbilts and millionaires generally. Now, with the exception of Stotesbury of the Reading, who is a banker, and L. W. Hill of the Great Northern, who is a son of J. J. Hill, nearly every man has worked his way up from a lowly position. Ripley, the giant who pilots the Atchison, began obscurely as a clerk. Underwood, who is evolving the Erie from a joke to a railroad, was a brakeman. Willard of the Baltimore & Ohio, chosen representative of the eastern group of railroads when difficult missions have to be undertaken, a firemans Elliott, savior of the New Haven, was a rodman. Majkham of the Illinois Central began as a section laborer. Bush, who is slaving night and day to put Missouri Pacific on its feet, did not have to work quite so hard/When he received his railroad baptism as a rodman. . Rea oPthe Pennsylvania is a product of the engineering department. Earling, president of the St. Paul, was a telegraph operator. Smith of the New. York Central, Hannaford of the Northern Pacific, Mohler of the Union Pacific, Sproule of the Southern Pacific, Gardner of the Northwestern, Thomas of the Lehigh Valley, Mudge of the Rock Island, etc., have forged their way up from the low* est rungs to the ladder.