Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1917 — HAVE HUMAN SIDE [ARTICLE]

HAVE HUMAN SIDE

BIG RAILROAD MEN NOT ALL WITHOUT HEARTS. .'. ' r As a Proof of It, a Transaction In Which the Late James 3. Hill Figured Is Recalled by One Who Knew Him. . “Perhaps you think the hard-headed Hons of the railroad guHie have no hearts?” The speaker was a proSninent executive of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad company. For 40 years he served several of the big transcontinental lines of America and his acquaintance with kings of the steel rails is large. “Any man Who is acquainted with the hurly-burly of your exacting business,” I replied, “would imagine that they need their hearts for the sole purpose of pumping energy.” “That is the 'common conception,” he pursued. “The public reads of the relentless warfare for business, of the Iron fist exploited in deals and in directorates. So people doubt the existence of the human side. Yet if you pause to think, this human side must exist or the whole fabric —which is built upon personal co-operation of appreciation and service—falls to the ground. —f “I knew the late James J. Hill very well. Two years ago I was in the headquarters in St. Paul. Mr. Hill then was supposed to have ‘retired.’ He had ‘retired’ like the boys in the European trenches did after the peace notes and terms were submitted to the neutrals. “Jim Hill was a very unusual man. He never bored anybody. Men alternately hated and loved him. Many spread broadcast- the misinformation that his heart simply served as a ticker. “There was a reason for this. He would find an employee reniging on the job. This employee soon would kiss his job good-by with an impetus that would jar his back teeth loose. Thereafter he would tell everybody that Mr. Hill’s heart was made of the stuff you put in the top of refrigerators. “Mr. Hill did things that proved the contrary, but he never megaphoned his good deeds. Here’s a story that fell under my notice. It shows the ‘soft’ side of Jim Hill. “Some years ago a- boy of twelseyears stealing a ride on one of the Great Northern trains near St. Paul fell under the wheels and lost a leg. In a few days an adjuster of the Great Northern Interviewed the boy. He asked the little fellow what he thought the Great Northern owed him. “ ‘That’s all right.’ replied the little chap. ‘You see I hadn’t any business to be on the car. I’d run away from home, an’ I’d stole the ride on the railroad, an’ I just got what was cornin’ to me, that’s all. No. the road donT owe meTiothtngr ~ “The adjuster, marveling, went away. He told the story at the office and in time it. reached Jim Hill. “ ‘Somebody who admits that a railroad doesn’t owe him anything?’ Mr. Hill asked. ‘ls he human?’' “ ‘Less one leg,’ he was told. ‘Of course, he’s only a boy. That might -account for it.* . 1

“ ‘I never met a young bov yet wh'o didn’t consider that the . world owed him everything, ? replied Hie trail blazer. ‘I think this youngster is worth investigating.’ “He investigated him. As a starter he bought him the best artificial leg that money could buy, i and he purchased. bigger legs as the boy grew. Tie put him through preparatory school and college. Mr. Hill figured ffie boy worth'a substantial start jtelife and reports, are that Hie young man is developing as the veteran expected. “Moreover, Mr. Hill looked up the boy’s father. He was a discouraged straggler. He started him in business and he is prospering. That particular family is numbered among the myriad Hill rooters today.” , r *