One of the most successful railroad men of this continent is Sir Thomas
G. Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. By means of
a particularly virile personality and a remarkable capacity for hard
work, Sir Thomas has raised himself to his present high position from
the bottom of the ladder. He owes absolutely nothing to the extraneous
circumstances of birth or fortune. His education has been chiefly
obtained in the school of experience; yet Sir Thomas adds to his
conspicuous knowledge of man and affairs a culture that would do credit
to a university graduate.
Though Sir Thomas is always associated in the public mind with Canada
for the reason that his most important work has been done in the
Dominion, he was born in 1853 in Milwaukee. His school days ended at
the age of sixteen, when he obtained a place in the office of the
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway as a clerk in the purchasing department.
During a period of ten years the young man slowly rose in this
department until, on the strength of his ability and alertness, he was
promoted to the place of a general storekeeper for the railroad. Mr.
Shaughnessy took hold with an acceleration of the powers which had
brought him his steady promotion. Work in the office began to move
more swiftly than ever before. Each man was held to a very strict
accountability in the performance of all his duties, and yet with a
new spirit of contentment and zeal for the reason that Mr. Shaughnessy
was very considerate to those under his direction. He was quick to
criticise, but was equally quick to praise. No man who had ever held
a position of authority in the company was more popular with his
subordinates.
But Mr. Shaughnessy’s abilities were too great for his position.
William C. Van Horne, who had recently become general manager of the
young Canadian Pacific Railway, had known Mr. Shaughnessy in Milwaukee,
and asked him to take a place of purchasing agent in the new company.
This was in 1882. He became assistant to the general manager in
1884, and the next year was promoted to the office of assistant to
the president. He became a full-fledged vice-president in 1891. Mr.
Shaughnessy was the right-hand man of the president of the road, Sir
William C. Van Horne, and when the latter resigned the presidency in
1899 it was obvious that the man in all respects best equipped to
succeed him in the very important position of executive head of the
longest railroad in the world was Mr. Shaughnessy. The latter was
knighted by the Prince of Wales, then Duke of York, in Ottawa, Canada,
1901.
The work of Sir Thomas as president has been notable. He has had a
careful regard not only for the interest of the line, but also of
Canada. During his incumbency of the presidency the Canadian Pacific
system has been greatly extended. It now employs over thirty-five
thousand persons and buys products of the labor of fifty thousand
more. Within the last two years it has paid Canadians over one hundred
millions. The progressive management of the line under the direction
of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy has greatly stimulated the prosperity of the
Dominion, and on this account the Canadians feel that Sir Thomas has
been one of the Dominion’s most valuable citizens.