THE CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY 255 



or director. He brings education and science to his work, 

 combined with business capacity. He has all the finer 

 qualities of an ideal boss. 



Whatever other gifts and advantages an American may 

 have, he is not likely to reach the front rank unless he is also 

 a first class boss — a born ruler of men. It would be difficult 

 to mention a railroad builder, an ironmaster, or an engineer 

 at the head of his profession who does not include that among 

 his strong points ; often they owe to it their first step upward. 

 Somehow they will get men to do things for them which they 

 would not do for an ordinary boss. They command their 

 confidence, and never abuse it. Sometimes they consult 

 them and get very useful suggestions for their pains. Presi- 

 dent Hill of the Great Northern railway, when he was pushing 

 his road across to the Pacific, owed a good deal to magnetic 

 influence discreetly exercised on his men. He knew most 

 of them personally, and seized every chance of a few minutes' 

 chat with them. They were encouraged to express their 

 opinions about the road and its affairs, which were not always 

 flattering. The engine drivers were valuable scouts, and Mr. 

 Hill would often stroll into the engine stables and have a talk 

 with any of them who chanced to be around. It was his way 

 of " keeping close to the men all the time." Now his assistants 

 do that for him, and find it still worth doing. 



The boss is so interesting and important a figure in Ameri- 

 can industrial life that he would be seriously missed were he 

 to disappear from it. At the same time, such an event is not 

 at all impossible. Even now he may be in a state of transi- 

 tion, for the conditions which produced him are undergoing 

 rapid change. The uneducated, half civilized foreign laborer 

 over whom he lorded it so grandly is finding other rulers. He 

 is being drawn into the sphere of influence of another boss, 

 the trades union leader. Already a stubborn fight is being 

 waged over him by the employers on the one hand and the 

 trade unions on the other. There can be little doubt who will 

 secure him in the end, and what use will be made of him. 

 He is marked out as the spoil of the union leaders, and he 

 will be a prize for them not industrially only but politically 

 as well. 



