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* Cbe Conservative *
NEBRASKA'S 11AIIATAY KOLL , OF
HONOR.
The recent review of "Nebraska's
Railway Roll of Honor" which appears
to have attracted much attention was
intended to include , and , as written ,
did in fact include , a complete list of
the strong men who have risen to the
place of general manager in this and
other states. By an accident in print
ing , the name and record of one of the
best and strongest , William B. Dod-
dridge , general manager of the Missouri
Pacific railroad for the last past nine
years , were omitted. To complete the
record it gives THE CONSERVATIVE pleas
ure to repair this kind of injustice by
telling the story of the successful life ot
one of the very foremost of Nebraska's
railroad men.
Mr. Doddridgo , a native of Ohio ,
began life as an orphan at the age of
eight j'ears , poor and dependent. He
was of Virginian and Revolutionary an
cestry , and , for this latter reason , he is
now a member of the Society of the
Sous of the Revolution. Young Dod-
dridge declared independence of rela
tives at the tender age of nine years ,
and began his workir.g life as a messen
ger iu a Western Union Telegraph of
fice in Columbus , Ohio. He used spare
moments in acquiring the art of teleg
raphy in the stirring days of the out
break of the civil war , when Columbus
was the rendezvous for the organization
of the armies. Daily contact with Gov
ernors Todd , Brough and Salmon P.
Chase , led him to promotion to impor
tant service m his calling at Zanesville ,
where he was to find his first
railroad engagement on the Pittsburg ,
Columbus & Cincinnati railroad in I860.
Ho came out to the West and to Omaha
in 1807 , and secured the position of local
agent at Columbus , during the trying
days of the construction of the Union
Pacific , and it was at that place that he
married Miss Frances L. Barnum. S.S.
H. Clark , quick to see merit in men ,
advanced him to the responsible post of
division superintendent of the western
section of the Union Pacific railroad.
, Iu 1881 he was made general superinten
dent of the Idaho division of the same
property , with headquarters at Ogdeu ,
Utah , and had a large part in the con
struction of the Oregon Short Line and
Utah & Northern railroads.
Oujaccount of changes in Union Pa
cific management in 1884 , he resigned
his position with that company and
engaged with the Anaconda Copper
Smelting company of Montana as busi
ness manager , to which territory he re
moved. In 1880 he again returned to
railroading , becoming superintendent of
the Central Branch Union Pacific rail
road at Atchisou , Kansas , a property
controlled by the Missouri Pacific com
pany. Almost immediately his jurisdic
tion was increased by the addition of
the western , division of the Missouri Pa
cific railroad. In 1889 he was made gen
eral manager of the St. Louis , Arkansas
& Texas railroad , at that time an in
solvent and broken-down property.
For years Mr.Doddridge has been well-
known in railroad circles iu the West ,
and had the credit of very great effi
ciency iu whatever position ho engaged
to fill. When George J. Gould became
president of the Missouri Pacific in 1898
Mr. Doddridgo was appointed general
manager of the entire system , which
position he still occupies. Mr. Dod-
dridge's career has been remarkable ,
showing what can be accomplished by
indefatigable will and perseverance.
From the lowest positions he has worked
himself up to almost the highest place
in the railroad world. Ho has great
force of character , which is shown by
all the lines of his face , while his pres
ence is agreeable and his manner quiet.
While yet a young man he is considered
one of the most successful railroad man
agers of the country.
In a later issue of THE CONSERVATIVE
we hope to be able to deal with subord
inate managers of our great railway
systems who have won their way to dis
tinction in both freight and passenger
departments.
A NEW ADVANCE FOR NEBRASKA.
Bounteous crops and a new place for
Nebraska in the confidence of the homemaking -
making people of the United States
guarantee on immediate advance in pop
ulation , prosperity and wealth for every
part of it. The ripples of the wave of a
coming immigration of laudseekers and
farmers are already felt before the dis
appearance of the frosts of a long and
severe winter. This influx is evidently
to be one of the largest in volume which ,
since the homestead era , this state has
ever known. Managers of our great
railways , whose direct , immediate , and
ultimate interests in the new invasion
are prodigious , unite in saying that
there can be no mistake about it.
All of which means a new advance of
the state in growing strength , in popu
lation , wealth and power , in the face of
predictions of political demagogues and
chronic pessimists of the Arkansas
Jones brand , who insist that a prosper
ity which is giving the country volumes
of business never before known in its
history , is nut prosperity ; that raw pro
ducts in unexampled abundance with
ready markets at fair prices , with ex
ports of manufactured products exceed
ing any previous record , and increasing
at a rapid rate upon legitimate demand ,
mean nothing buc poverty and distress ;
and that everything that is good ib
actually bad iu this great country of
ours.
AN UNDERCURRENT OF REVOLT.
Noisy declamation and fiery denun
ciation on the floors of congress of men
of the best rank who resist the policy
which means conquest , colonial absorp
tion , and possible annexation of distant
territories and people to the United
States who can never have anything in
common with our own , do not appear
to have had the least influence in check
ing the undercurrent of revolt which
animates the great mass of the people of
this country against such a policy. As
the daily bulletins make record of the
constant killing and wounding of our
soldiers at Manila and of the slaughter
of a weak and defenceless race of men
and the destruction of their homes and
villages , the sentiment grows that the
whole Philippine business is an abomin
ation in the sight of God and men. Nor
is this deep and growing feeling dis
posed to accept the plea that the na
tional honor required , at any moment , erin
in any exigency of the war with Spain ,
or in the steps that were necessary to
secure a treaty of peace , that this coun
try should have bought out the birth
right of the people of the Philippines to
their freedom. Even Senator Gray ,
who evidently stood in strenuous oppos
ition during the negotiations of the
treaty of Paris , fails to justify the policy
of bringing an insurrection and a new
war of injustice and wrong , if the
president had stood upon his original
proposition as a firm and fearless execu
tive , which was to hold Manila as an
American coaling station , and let
Aguinaldo and the Filipinos fight out
their own battles with Spain , the con
ditions that now exist would have been
impossible. .But tins iciua or streugtn is
not in the personal construction of the
president. If he had been a Grant era
a Cleveland , war with Spain in the in
terest of these professional revolutionists
and organized banditti of Cuba , which
was declared against the will of the people
ple of the United States , had never
occurred.
No man living can foretell what the
consequences are to be of the war now
being waged upon the half-civilized
people of the Philippines. It was hoped
a week or two ago that Aguiualdo might
be brave enough and wise enough to
stop the unequal conflict and slaughter
by submission to the forces of the
United States. Reports from the fight
ing lines , and the request of Admiral
Dewey for the Oregon , which is hasten
ing to Manila , do not furnish much
ground for confidence that Aguinaldo
has been correctly reported. On the
contrary , indications show that he is
resolute and determined in carrying on
the war of self-defense in a way that is
giving General Otis and Admiral
Dewey everything but repose. Mean
while the people of the United States
are sick and weary of the situation , and
would hail with satisfaction any step
consistent with the national dignity and
honor that may be taken to put a stop
to it. . .