Show Joe Manderfield Promoted A Lesson from Life for News Manderfield has been promoted to district freight agent of the Salt Lake The survival and promotion of the fittest is as sure and positive as the cycles of It did not surprise me when I heard that Joe Manderfield had advanced in position as a railroad There is always a sign ahead of a railroad It up I have known Manderfield ever since he held a position a little above an office boy in the general passenger department of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad in begun is half and Manderfield began He had one of the best tutors in It was C. A. Cairnes general passenger agent of the Chicago and Cairns is a and determined The business routine of the general passenger department of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad ia It runs as smoothly and as steadily as a and the is Joe never got too big for any position he however small it might have But the place he occupied got too small for Cairns would see it and would push Joe up to where he Joe longed for the wild He desired to see a real live so he was promoted to be an assistant to the general agent of the Chicago and Northwestern in Salt Lake He did not occupy that position The Salt Lake route knew a good- thing when they saw and gathered Joe into their where he has been ever Joe has every qualification of a good railroad he has and Second he knows the freight classification list by and without fumbling the that a bureau and a burro are not under the same he is good natured he has a Washington smile that does not wear Fourth he has a rare one of nature gifts that few men have In making a contract or a deal of any Joe always has his own way getting the best of the bargain while at the same time he makes the party he is dealing with believe that he is so that both are satisfied and will deal Joe is not stuck on He never gets the big His hat always He will grasp the calloused hand of the laborer and farmer as tightly and with as much pleasure as he will the kid-gloved hand of the the merchant or the pretty Joe has a magnetism that cannot be He makes friends and business for his road without apparent when Joe has a message for he delivers it without tooting a horn beating a but why go any Joe is all right and is employed by a good He is like the Los Angeles Limited and When I wrote the following story three years ago I thought of Joe Manderfield SURVIVAL OF THE thou a man that is diligent in his He shall stand before kings The survival of the fittest is exemplified better in the railroad station agent than in persons of any other Ninety-five per cent of all the railroad traffic general passenger and freight commenced their careers in the freight or passenger depot and-worked their way Not one man in a thousand ever secured and maintained a high position in the operating department of any railroad because his father was president or his uncle was a or his mother a or that he had any other political or A per son to be a high class official of any railroad must commence at the and work up- My observation as an immigration agent leads me to believe that there is no other In 1898 business through one of the largest stations on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad station was a junction point unfriendly road and it to transfer the passengers b road to the 1 on the agent at this 3 I was not interested in he did not have time to an immigration t busy smoking ten-cent I entertaining the swell people j town who sauntered up to the I thought I would have to up that for without hearty co-operation of the stat'S an immigration agent but One evening I the depot and saw the night a good natured man of Manderfield I told him 4 I was and what I was trying to f He me into the office day man forgot looked cm my papers and was for he saw J would bring business to the j that employed He learned J j he could about Bear River got a time table and followed m train my people would take from It station to leara 1 where they would stop for j get hot tea or the passenger he knew is farmers would come to him fo freight rates on their He look up an old freight classification K found that the rate on a car of b migrant would be from his station to m for ten which would ten head of live stock to look after After U evening he did not have toM over a lot of papers tell mers what they wanted was kind and obliging and always ready to answer I notified my local and all the farmers who that if they wanted to about Bear River valley get to be sure and call on night man at the through this young man's we were able to sell over W tickets to Bear W valley that The next this night man was given a on a branch line and a little b larger station on the then a larger station on the and in less than four from the time he was he was promoted to dIstrict fa ger and freight wJ agent who smoked ten-cent s the people is out of rte business A Case m At a division and junction stations on the of the largest Union Pacific between Omaha and I considerable business year This station agent with a day and had a general anit ticket agent and a baggage man and an The general been promoted to had just this station from s smaller He was one of the best railroad men I ever He was at all hours of night ready to hustle for the day or business for the Union The day and night agents and the baggage man to have imbibed the same spirit With such help I knew I could take two excursions a month to Bear River When my first party returned from Bear River valley these agents gathered around them and soon learned that Utah was all for two of the returned had purchased farms and after this every man who into the depot inquiring for land was informed about Bear River and how cheap and easy it was to get If there were any doubts his not his name and address were taken so that I could call upon him on my As a result of our united effort for this summer's over twenty-five families from that section of the country settled in Bear River six cars of household goods were and over one hundred and settlers' tickets were The day agent was promoted to the main and now he is a traveling freight and passenger agent for an affiliated The night man was elected county and is now serving Ms second term the baggage man was promoted to ticket These promoted men never got too big for the they but the company goon found that the positions held were too small for Neglect of At a smaller station near the one just I learned that there Were some farmers who were getting interested in Bear River went to this station and called on e but he was not interested at in the immigration fact he would not talk about the farmers and persuaded of to visit Bear River alley- We arrived at the depot after the ticket office was I asked a small boy where I could find the ticket He told me over in a certain pool as the agent was the best pool player in I called at the pool room and told the agent I had four people who wished to buy tickets to Salt Lake City and The agent told me he did not care a d if I had a hundred men he was not hired to chase up farmers or to do business outside business I telephoned my friends at the next station to have four tickets ready for Salt Lake and return when we During-the five minutes while they were changing the four tickets were purchased and we went on our way This young important pool-player agent will never get and when a change of positions which or he will be offered a job tamping gravel under a railroad tie or wiping engines in the round The man who is afraid that he will do more than he was hired to never has his salary and the man who does not earn his will never get a or a raise in If an agent merits the good will and of the road he is working he must please the people who patronize If an agent desires to please the general he must be well kind and and always ready and willing to answer To be well is very I know many ticket agents who can tell you at once the fare from their station to every other station on their road they also know the time of arrival and departure of all trains at important stations and the connections they make with other One of these men is worth five paper A paper fumbler is one when asked what the fare is from his station in Nebraska to Salt Lake and if 3 makes good connections at will have to finger over two or three timetables rate and after keeping a crowd Waiting for ten says he will let them know after the train Another Joe hast been faithful over a few I will make ruler over many I made trips to Pennsylvania and New York in January and June of that and I had begun to think that the only good tickets and passenger agents were in and west of I needed a good t in to help I asked my W. H. editor of the Dallas if he knew of such a Capwell I it is Fred the Lackawanna city ticket He-is always looking for is always ready and and knows his I called on and stated my This pleased for he saw a chance to help the road he was working He learned all he could about Bear River valley and the route west of He did not have to look up his own road or its western He knew when every Lackawanna train left New York City and when it arrived at and He also knew the connections they made with the Michigan Central for Niagara Falls and Frace not a paper It was a very hot day when I called on a day that would have made almost any one Frace had sent his assistant out to look after a lady and her daughter who were going to Chicago over the While he sat at his a poor old lady came into the Her hair was white with the snows of many her back was bent from the many burdens it had her hands were deformed by she was very poorly dressed and she carried a She hobbled up to the laid her bundle on the and with a cracked and childish voice asked what the fare was to White haven and how soon the train would Frace quietly arose from his desk and went up to this poor old lady and told her that Whitehaven was on the Lehigh Valley road and the fare was about seventy She asked him where the depot Frace went outside of the picked up her bundle and her to the in the direction of the Valley and told her she had better go through the court-house park to avoid the street cars and and that she had thirty minutes to catch her Frace came back to his desk and went to work as though nothing had It is coming in contact with such men as Frace that makes railroading a pleasure and life worth I wager River valley farm that if that poor lady had gone in- the Podunk Suckerville depots on the jerkwater railroad and asked the swelled-headed kid who manipulated the tickets there-the same question she asked he would not have arisen from his but would have yelled back in an am it and you are know on our road go over to the Then he would have leaned back in his put his feet on the rolled a and when the road would make a general passenger V. 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