It is a good thing for the world at large that human talents are
of a diversified nature. It is an equally excellent thing that the
possession of special gift on the part of an individual is recognized
by those with whom he comes in contact. A case in point is furnished
by Charles M. Hays, who, until lately, was president of the Southern
Pacific railroad. Mr. Hays’ work in life seems to have been that
of turning unprofitable railroad systems into permanently paying
propositions. He was born May 16, 1856, at Rock Island, Illinois,
his parents being in fairly comfortable circumstances. After a
common school training he entered the railroad service in 1873, his
first position being in the passenger department of the St. Louis,
Atlantic & Pacific railroad. The rungs of the ladder of his subsequent
upward climb are something in this order: Prompted to a clerkship
in the auditor’s office, he was at length placed in the general
superintendent’s office on the same line; next he is heard of as
secretary of the general manager of the Missouri Pacific railroad, and
in 1886 he was made assistant general manager of the Wabash, St. Louis
& Pacific railroad; three years later he was appointed general manager
of the Wabash & Western railroad, and was afterward made manager of the
Wabash system, which was the outcome of the consolidation of the Wabash
Western and Wabash railroads. He has also been general manager of the
Grand Trunk system, and, as already intimated, was, until recently,
the president of the Southern railroad. When Mr. Hays took hold of
the Wabash lines they were in about as bad a condition as railroad
lines can be. The same remark applies to the Grand Trunk system. When
Mr. Hays severed his connection with these corporations they were
in a flourishing condition—popular with the public and paying as to
dividends. He created their prosperity by the industrious exercise of
his special talents. The lesson may be taken to heart.