The romance of the Canadian Pacific Railway

by R. G. MacBeth

These things indicate how eagerly Mr. Van Horne was trying to get the country settled, and generally to build up within its borders, prosperous and successful communities. There is a theory in the minds of some kinds of people that a railway like this has been always bleeding the country to death. Hardly any theory could be more assinine and ridiculous. It could only spring from the alleged brains of the unthinking, even though it passes muster as a piece of stump or soap-box oratory. It may sound well as a vote-catcher, but thinking people will not be deceived by such a manifest contradiction in terms. The country and the railway, in such a case as this, must stand or fall together. Each is necessary to the prosperity of the other. Hence for one to attempt the destruction of the other is practically a round-about, but effective, way for that one to commit suicide. And a business concern has sense enough not to commit suicide. In this connection there is a fine paragraph in a sort of valedictory review of the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway, given in 1918 by Lord Shaughnessy, then President of the Company and Chairman of the Board. It is quoted here in advance of the chronological order of our story, because it is specially applicable to the point we are discussing, namely, the interdependence of the country, and the road. The paragraph is as follows: “The shareholders and Directors of the Company have always been impressed with the idea that the interests of the Company are intimately connected with those of the Dominion, and no effort or expense has been spared to help in promoting the development of the whole country.” This statement was intended to cover the whole record of the railway, and Lord Shaughnessy had such an outstanding reputation for stern rectitude and straight-flung veracity that we are fully warranted in taking it at its face value. Hence when we recorded above the efforts of Mr. Van Horne to extend and create the business of the road in the years immediately succeeding the completion of the main line, we were justified in saying that Mr. Van Horne’s endeavours in that regard were in the interests of both the railway and the country. The Canadian Pacific was from its inception an integral factor in creating and extending the social and productive activities of Western civilization.

Mr. George Stephen (first knighted and then raised to the peerage as Lord Mount Stephen, in recognition of his great services to the empire as a railway builder) held the Presidency of the Canadian Pacific from the beginning in 1880 till 1888, when Mr. Van Horne succeeded him. There was something very fine in the deep personal friendship that existed between these two men. And there is something almost pathetic in the correspondence carried on between them over Mr. Stephen’s desire to retire from the Presidency, and later on, when his health and age demanded rest, from the directorate of the road. The President and Mr. Van Horne had been specially close personal friends from the beginning, and their intense struggle to build the railway had cemented their friendship into a type of affection that was unmistakable, even though these two strong men were not of the kind to be demonstrative before the curious onlookers by the wayside of life. Stephen, on undertaking the Presidency in 1881, had indicated even then his purpose to retire when the task of building the road across the continent was completed. The greatness of this task was even then foreseen, although the enormous difficulties that developed, as we have noted in previous chapters, could not have been anticipated by finite vision. The burden of responsibility carried by the President was well-nigh crushing. And there is no doubt that Stephen, at times, felt keenly the fact that not only did some public men in Canada actually oppose what he was trying to do for the country, but that even some of those who had stood as sponsors for the railway undertaking were so slow to appreciate the terrific strain upon Stephen and his colleagues that they only came to their assistance after they were humbly besought for aid. Stephen’s nature was sensitive under these discouragements, but he kept his word and stayed till the main line was built. It was largely at Van Horne’s request that Stephen kept on for two years more and thus gave the General Manager a chance to consolidate and conserve what had been accomplished as well as proceed with extensions and branches. But in 1888 Stephen retired from the Presidency, and Mr. Van Horne was the logical choice to be his successor. In a fine letter which has vivid historical interest to all who know something of the stress and strain of his term of office, Sir George Stephen, under date of August 7th, 1888, wrote to the shareholders of the Company, his resignation. After referring to his determination, at the outset, to remain in office till the completion of the main line, Sir George relates how he remained two years more at the request of his colleagues. Then he goes on to say, “warned now by the state of my health, finding that the severe and constant strain which I have had to bear for the last eight years has unfitted me for the continuous and arduous work of an office in which vigour and activity are essential; feeling the increasing necessity for practical railway experience; and believing that the present satisfactory and assured position of the Company offers a favourable opportunity for taking the step I have so long had in contemplation, I have this day resigned the Presidency of the Company which I have had the honour to hold since its organization.” After referring to the fact that he would continue to have an abiding interest in the Company and remain meanwhile on the Board of Directors, Sir George, reticent and undemonstrative Scot though he was, goes on to say an evidently heartfelt word for the incoming President, as follows: “It is to me a matter of the greatest possible satisfaction to be able to say that in my successor, Mr. Van Horne, the Company has a man of proved fitness for the office; in the prime of life, possessed with great energy and rare ability, having a long and thoroughly practical railway experience and above all an entire devotion to the interest of the Company.” And so Mr. Van Horne succeeded in the Canadian Pacific Presidency, his friend, who was raised to the peerage, choosing the title from one of the lofty peaks in the Rockies. Thus did George Stephen, erstwhile “herd laddie” from the North of Scotland and draper’s apprentice from Aberdeen, become Lord Mount Stephen, and retire to spend his closing years at a beautiful country seat in the Old Country, where he had some rest from the heavy burden of responsibility.

But Mount Stephen still remained on the Directorate of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and many questions were still referred to him and many communications by letter and cable passed between him and Mr. Van Horne. There was some serious effort on the part of Grand Trunk men in London to bring about a unification of the two railways to be operated under the capable direction of Mr. Van Horne and his colleagues. But some indiscreet action on the part of Grand Trunk Directors in regard to advancing rates in order “to get all they could out of the people of Canada,” caused Van Horne to call negotiations off and say he would have no more discussions with men at long range. He had no great love for men who had tried to block the Canadian Pacific in the money markets of London, and he had no faith in the idea that a railway in Canada could be run satisfactorily if men in London were interfering. So the negotiations were ended and the Grand Trunk went on its extraordinary way. But that way is not part of our story.

As we have been discussing the intimate relationship between Mount Stephen and Van Horne, it is interesting to note that, much to the latter’s regret, the former President of the road, on account of his health condition demanding release from business, began to express again his desire to resign from the Board of Directors. He had remained on the Directorate and had been actively interested, as we have seen. But now he must have complete rest from responsibility. He was pressed to stay on the Board with less active participation, but he declared that “he could not be a figurehead and give himself no concern,” a statement which all directors of all companies should take to heart these days. And there is something touching in the fact that Mount Stephen, himself feeling the results of the heavy strain, began to warn Van Horne to be careful of his health and to throw more responsibility on others. As a matter of fact Van Horne was doing this within a short time after he became President. For Shaughnessy was moved up to be a Director and Vice-President and was making his brilliant business qualities felt in the management of the great enterprise he had seen grow from a small beginning.

But Van Horne consented with great reluctance to Mount Stephen’s retirement. The caution of the quiet Scot had been a fine counterpart to the intense and almost headlong impetuosity of the practical railway builder, and a great friendship had grown through the years. So that we are not surprised when we find that Van Horne had written Mount Stephen saying, “Your withdrawal would not be the withdrawal of a Director, but of the soul of the enterprise.” The business world is sometimes as drab and dead and unemotional as a sand waste, but it has its oasis spots, and words like those just quoted mark one of them. During those years, however, it is a notable thing, that whenever a proposal was made even by Mount Stephen to Van Horne, that the business administration of the Canadian Pacific Railway should be conformed to English methods, the bluff railroader refused point-blank. He said that “the English methods work in England, but they will not do here.” He allowed that the English system of stabilizing the financial conditions of a railway was the best, but when it came to operating the road the extent and character of Canada made English methods wholly inapplicable. Mount Stephen knew that Van Horne was a past master at administrative operation, and wisely counselled English capitalists to trust in Van Horne and his Canadian associates to run the road. When I say “Canadian associates” the expression must be understood as meaning that men resident in Canada were to administer and operate the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many of these men were Canadian born; others in the early days were from outside; but throughout the years they have constituted a wonderfully able and efficient and splendidly loyal staff. We have gone forward of events somewhat, owing to our discussing Lord Mount Stephen’s retirement and the relationship subsisting between him and the new President. We may go back a little and see the work of the railway under Mr. Van Horne in that high office. No other name could have been suggested to succeed Mount Stephen, but there is something exhilarating and encouraging to all young men on this continent in contemplating the career of Mr. Van Horne, who though born in another country and of alien parentage, came into the British Dominion of Canada and not only overcame any resentment against his intrusion, but who “made by force his merits known,” till he came to be acknowledged as one of the foremost citizens of Canada.

Mr. Van Horne, both before and after he became President of the Canadian Pacific, set himself not only to create local traffic, travel and immigration as already recorded, but he also very particularly began to secure branch lines and connections as feeders to the long main line from ocean to ocean. In this sort of work he was in his element, planning new lines and building them, buying out old roads and putting new life into them, getting access to the big centres of the East and linking up with the railway systems south of the line. This immense task of opening new lines and establishing new industries has been continued by all Van Horne’s successors till the Dominion and a good deal of the States knows the Canadian Pacific as it knows its city streets and country roads. In fact the Canadian Pacific is so ubiquitous that men take with the utmost gravity the old joke that the clocks of the country are set to the railway time as if the road was in control of the calendar. All these sayings, grave and gay, indicate such a widening of the sphere of this road since the last spike was driven that the mystic monogram “C. P. R.” is understood by every passer-by and the house-flag of the Company’s fleet is known upon the seven seas of the world. About this tremendous expansion and a few of the men back of it we may study more in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XIV
The Guiding Hands

Nothing runs itself unless it is running down hill. This saying may be contradicted by advocates of “blind chance” theories, but, generally speaking, it will be accepted as a practically accurate statement of all movements. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company has never allowed things to run themselves. Strong minds and resolute hands were always at work, and nothing was permitted to run unguided and uncontrolled. If this vast transportation system has become one of the wonders of the modern world, it has not just happened, but it is the result of a deliberate and a well-ordered plan in which an intelligent sense of personal responsibility for one’s own share of work is recognized as imperative in order that the whole system may be a success. A human being is not, as is sometimes said, a cog in the wheel, but a living link in the chain of business causation. Every one’s work in every occupation is monotonous in one sense, and in many cases it seems to the worker that his or her task is of very little importance. But one can never estimate the value of work by superficial standards, for the man or woman who gives a telephone number or raps out a message on the key may be the means of transmitting messages that will change the face of the world.

The Canadian Pacific has endeavoured, with a large measure of success, to magnify the significance of every worker’s task and create a feeling of esprit de corps in its great army of over one hundred thousand workers. Hence, for instance, I was not surprised to hear that in a certain city when a merchant had made a foul public attack on the Company, a host of the Company’s employees stayed away from that merchant’s store. They were of the company that had been unfairly attacked, and they were not going to stand for it. It was in that spirit, I suppose, that Mr. Van Horne’s faithful porter, already mentioned, used to put himself along with his “boss,” and speak of both in the expression “we railway men.” All this means that, from the beginning, the Company knew that it would owe its success not to any one man, however great, but to the many who, though guided generally by one dominating force, would be in particular directed by the heads of the various departments.

In the world’s oldest Book, advice of a sage character was given to Moses, the greatest human leader our world has known, by Jethro, his father-in-law. The wise old chief saw that Moses was going to break down because he was trying to do everything himself. And he told Moses that, in order that he might have time and strength for the heavy task of leadership, he (Moses) should share the responsibility with others by “choosing out of all the people able men, and by making them captains over hundreds and fifties and tens.” The Book which contained that wise advice was a text-book in the schools of Scotland when George Stephen, the first President of the Canadian Pacific, was brought up, and one does not need much imagination to see that such a maxim of wisdom became almost unconsciously part of his being. In any case, when he came to be burdened with the Presidency of the great railway, he practised the advice and passed it on also to others. Hence it was that he brought Mr. Van Horne to take over part of the burden. Stephen knew his own limitations. He could raise money, but he could not build railways. Hence also we find this same Stephen, as we have seen, advising Van Horne to put some of his load on others; and so Shaughnessy, the General Purchasing Agent, moved up to be Mr. Van Horne’s first great assistant and understudy, in line to be “the King of Railway Presidents” in his time.