Sir Thomas G. Shaughnessy.
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.