Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 278, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1917 — Former Railroad Fireman Now Master of All Shipyards in the United States [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Former Railroad Fireman Now Master of All Shipyards in the United States

Edward N. Hurley was like most other men In that he had dreamed that if the wolf could be turned from the door permanently he would withdrawfrom the money contest and do some-

thing constructive for his country. He was unlike most others in that he lived up to his ideal. Possessed now of a moderate income, he works 14 hours a day for the government. As chairman of the reorganized shipping board, and president of the emergency fleet organization,, he is the pivotal part of the government’s shipbuilding and ship opera-

tlon enterprise. He is virtual master of alp the shipping of the United States. He is In supreme charge of the expenditure of $750,000,000 for ships—-three-quarters of a billion dollars, writes Thomas F. Logan In Leslie’s Weekly. Hurley Is jnow directing all the shipyards of the United States. All of them have been commandeered by the government and are now under his control. He will be In command of the international shipping pool, directing the voyage's and cargoes'of all American ships,, most British ships, and many of the ships of neutral nations. The property which he is to administer is worth many billions of dollars — more, than the total capital of a score of the biggest corporations in the United States. The government pays him a salary of $7,500 a year. He would be just as well pleased to have no salary at all. As a fireman and engineer he toiled for many years over the hot furnace and boiler of a C. B. & Q. railroad engine. Small wages were paid in those days. ■ There was no eight-hour day and the standard of wages and living was not as high as at present. The foreman invariably toolc visitors to inspect Hurley’s engine. It was the model of the road, the cleanest, the best oiled, and the most faithful to the railroad schedule. Back in eighty-eight—when he was twenty-four years old, Hurley became traveling salesman for a metallic packing company. It was while he was with this company that he conceived the idea of pneumatic tools. He knew there would be a demand for such ar-j tides. He worked at flight over the idea. He didn’t hit upon the solution In a happy or Inspired moment. He gave all his spare time to the development of the idea. That is how he came to be the originator and chief developer of the pneumatic tool industry in the United States.

Edward N. Hurley.