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The Executive Mind: The Role Of Railroad Leaders, 1845-1890
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Extract
The Chinese have a proverb to the effect that language is used to conceal intentions. Notwithstanding their traditional frankness, Americans have written letters designed to mislead the reader. Certainly no series of letters, whether from clergymen, politicians, or businessmen can be taken uniformly at face value. But how may statements be discounted or interpreted in such a way that one may draw the correct meaning from them?
Usually the letters of one man are used in connection with the preparation of a biography of their author or the detailed analysis of a series of his actions. In either case cumulative knowledge of the writer's idiosyncrasies, continuing motivation, and, most of all, his actions themselves provide clues to acceptable interpretations. But when one reads the letters of a large group of men engaged over the course of many years in a common occupation, all of these conventional indicators are lacking.
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- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1951
References
1 The “we” refers to Rosamond B. Cochran and myself, who jointly did the research for this study.
2 By professional we mean a manager with no large investment in the securities of the road.
3 See particularly, Jenks, Leland H., “The Role Structure of Entrepreneurial Personality,” in Change and the Entrepreneur (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949), pp. 108–152.Google Scholar
4 By general entrepreneur we mean a man who exercised an important influence in many companies by virtue of his command of capital, and who ordinarily held no office beyond that of director, or chairman of the board.
5 The process of defining a role might be a more difficult one with, let us say, politicians, where the reference groups would presumably be broader and less homogeneous.
6 James F. Joy to Erastus Corning, January 21, 1851, Erastus Corning Collection, Albany Institute of History and Art.
7 Channing, William E., “The Union,” The Works of William E. Channing (Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1892), p. 641.Google Scholar
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9 J. W. Brooks to G. Harris, March 9, 1871, Archives of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
10 Journal of Economic History, vol. iv, no. 1 (May, 1944), p. 10.
11 J. M. Forbes to J. B. Sanborn, June 10, 1878, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
12 C. E. Perkins to T. J. Potter, August 13, 1885, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
13 R. Harris to J. M. Forbes, July 30, 1877, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
14 R. Harris to C. E. Perkins, August 6, 1877, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
15 R. Harris to J. N. A. Griswold, November 21, 1877, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
16 R. Harris to J. N. A. Griswold, October 1, 1877, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, IUinois.
17 R. Harris to J. N. A. Griswold, August 1, 1877, Archives of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.
18 Grodinsky, Julius, The Iowa Pool (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950).Google Scholar