The two leading elements in Mr. Eaton’s remarkable success have been his store-system, regarded by leading retail merchants as a model, and his constant endeavor to save money for his customers. It is to this end that he conducts his business on a cash basis, and that he has established his factories. He is a very firm believer in bringing goods direct from the maker to the consumer. In a single department in his manufacturing section, for instance, there are over a thousand sewing machines which produce nearly seven thousand garments a day for sale exclusively in the store. The money which Mr. Eaton has been able to save by this policy of producing his own goods is directly applied to the reduction of prices. The fact that his patrons feel that they are obtaining maximum value at minimum cost is the chief reason of the store’s great and constantly growing trade.
Another very prominent factor in his success has been his strict rule of allowing absolutely no misrepresentation. He very strongly feels that truth is a most important element in any permanent success in storekeeping and in life in general. In addition to Mr. Eaton’s constant vigilance in the interest of his patrons, he has always in mind the well-being of his employees. He was one of the pioneers in the movement for shorter hours, believing that opportunities for legitimate rest and recreation give those who are in his service an added zeal and energy which materially increase the satisfaction of buyers and has a direct beneficial effect upon the profits and progress of the store.
While Mr. Eaton is proud of his success, he by no means takes all the credit to himself. It is his idea that the quality which has chiefly enabled him to build up this great commercial unit lies in his ability to pick out the right man for the right place. Each employee is held to a personal responsibility, and is given to understand that he or she is considered a possibility for the higher positions in the establishment. Every clerk understands that promotion is to be obtained not by favoritism, but on the strength alone of conscientious and intelligent effort.
A celebrated department store proprietor in New York City not long ago remarked to a Canadian merchant who informed him that he had come to the New York establishment to obtain hints on the best system of store management, “Why, it is not at all necessary for you to come down here for this information. You have a man in Canada, Timothy Eaton, who can tell you a good deal more about this than most of us can. In fact, we always keep our eyes on him with a view of obtaining fresh suggestions as to methods.”
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.