The tales of heroic conduct in times of war will always arouse the
enthusiasm and call forth the praise of those who hear them, but heroism
is by no means confined to the men who wear their nation’s uniform and
march to the sound of the bugle. It has been manifest where there
were none to witness and none to record the story and with nothing but
an individual sense of duty for its inspiration. The world thrilled
with the story of the heroism of the men, who, in the silence of the night,
gave women and children over to the care of the few who manned the lifeboats
and quietly awaited death on the decks of the steamship Titanic
when it sank on its maiden trip across the Atlantic, April 15, 1912.
Included in the great toll of human lives exacted by this catastrophe,
was that of Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railways and one of the foremost railroad magnates
of his generation. His was the master mind in the development of
the Grand Trunk Pacific and his work for the Grand
Trunk Railway has become a part of the history of the Dominion.
One of the elements of his success was that he was always essentially and
strictly a railroad man, never dissipating his energies over too broad
a field but concentrating his efforts along that single line of activity.
A native of Rock Island, Illinois, Mr. Hays was born in 1856,
and was but a child when his parents removed to St. Louis, Missouri, in
which city he was reared and received his educational training. He
was but a boy of seventeen when he started out in life on his own account
as a clerk in the passenger department of the Atlantic
& Pacific Railway. From that time on his advancement was
continuous and rapid, solely the result of his thoroughness, efficiency
and genuine merit. After a year he was transferred to the auditor’s
department, and later was called to a position in the office of the general
superintendent where his aptitude, enterprise and initiative were soon
recognized. From 1878 until 1884 he was secretary to the general
manager of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and
in the latter year was offered and accepted the position of secretary to
the general manager of the Wabash & St. Louis
Pacific Railway Company.
In 1886 he was appointed general manager of the road the following year
became general manager of the Wabash Western, comprising all of the Wabash
lines west of the Mississippi and also between Chicago and Detroit.
In 1889 he was appointed general manager of the reorganized and consolidated
Wabash system and controlled the important and manifold interests of the
railway for six years or until he resigned to become general manager of
the Grand Trunk, succeeding L.J. Seargeant.
Five year later he left the Grand Trunk to take the position of president
of the Southern Pacific Railway Company but
remained in that connection for only a year, as the railway passed under
the control of the Harriman interests, whose policy differed from that
of Mr. Hays. About that time he received a communication from
Sir
Charles Rivers Wilson, again offering him the position of general
manager of the Grand Trunk and he returned to the latter road late in 1901
as second vice president and general manager. His connection therewith
was continuous from that time until his demise, and on the retirement of
Sir Charles Rivers Wilson in October, 1909, he was appointed president.
In the meantime his connection with railway interests constantly broadened,
making him one of the notable figures in railway circles on the American
continent. He became president of the Central Vermont Railway, the
Grand Trunk Western Railway, the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railway,
the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railway, the Michigan Air Line Railway,
the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railway, the Detroit
& Toledo Shore Line, the Southern New England Railway Company, the
Canadian Express Company, the Grand Trunk Railway Insurance & Provident
Society and of various corporations featuring largely as factors in commercial
and industrial development. He was chosen to the presidency of the
St. Clair Tunnel Company, the International Bridge Company, the Montreal
Warehousing Company, the Portland Elevator Company and the New England
Elevator Company. He also represented the Grand Trunk Western Railway
as a director of the Chicago & Western Indiana Railway and Belt Railway
of Chicago.
In 1905 he was made a member of the permanent commission of the International
Railway Congress and also a director of the United States Mortgage &
Trust Company. He was a delegate to the Imperial Trades Congress
in 1903. He became a director of the Royal
Trust Company and the Merchants Bank of Canada
and a director of the Canadian Board of the London
& Lancashire Life Assurance Company. He was also a director
of the Montreal Horticultural and Fruit Growing Association
– a fact which indicated much of the breadth of his interests. His
executive ability was sought as an element in the successful management
of various benevolent, charitable and philanthropic enterprises.
He was a governor of the Montreal General Hospital,
a governor of the Royal Victoria Hospital
and a governor of the McGill University.
In 1907 he was decorated with the order of the Rising Sun (third class)
by the emperor of Japan.
He was a man of remarkable personality. Obstacles and difficulties
seemed but a stimulus for renewed effort on his part and he was never happier
than when he could grasp an opportunity and utilize it to the fullest extent
or untangle a knotty problem in railway management and control. Mr.
Hays was a well known figure in club circles, belonging to
the Mount Royal Club, St.
James Club, Canada Club,
Forest and Stream Club, Montreal
Jockey Club, Montreal Hunt Club, St.
Maurice Fish and Game Club and the Laurentian
Club of Montreal and the Rideau Club of Ottawa.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier had termed him “a valuable
acquisition to Canada,” and the Montreal Witness
said he was “A splendid example of what brains, pluck and industry can
overcome and accomplish,” while the Montreal Standard
styled him “a man of quiet dignity, whose sanity and strength are seen
and felt in all his undertakings.”
Mr. Hays was survived by his widow, who was Miss
Clara J. Gregg, a daughter of William
H. Gregg of St. Louis, Missouri, and four daughters
Mrs.
George D. Hall, of Boston,
Mrs. Thornton
Davidson, Mrs. A. Harold Grier
and Mrs. Hope C. Scott, of Montreal.
One of the ships that hastened to the relief of the Titanic recovered
the body of Mr. Hays, which was brought back to Montreal for interment
and laid to rest following one of the most imposing funerals ever accorded
a civilian in this city. Mr. Hays worshipped at the American
Presbyterian church of Montreal and was one of its trustees, but retained
his membership in the First Presbyterian church of St. Louis, Missouri,
and in the memorial services held in the former on the 25th of April,
1912, a sermon by the Rev. Dr. McKittrick,
pastor of the First Presbyterian church of St. Louis,
following the death of Mr. Hays, was read. He said in part:
| “The colossal catastrophe
of the seas which has so recently startled and dismayed the civilized world
could not pass today entirely unnoted in the temples of the living God.
Among those who went down to their unexpected and, it seems to our vision,
their untimely death, there was no man who worthily had a higher position
in the social, industrial and financial world than Mr. Charles M. Hays,
president of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.
Since commonly the boy is father of the man we might almost refer to him
as ‘our Mr. Hays’ for he was once in our Sunday School,
and afterwards a member of our Board of Trustees.
His is an inspiring example to all our boys and to every boy in the land
of what may be accomplished by rightful purpose, industry, determination,
all these by the worthy motives which variously constitute character.
It took all the elements which are found in a manly man to make first so
notable a record as was his in this city, and then to create for himself
the distinguished name and for his undertaking the great prosperity which
concerning both the history of today reveals.” |
The following reference to Mr. Hays’ life and work was made at the close
of public worship in the American Presbyterian
church, Montreal, on Sabbath, April 28th. Dr.
Johnston said: “The subject that we have been considering this morning
has unavoidably suggested to you, as it has to me, many thoughts regarding
the life, the death and the work of Mr. Charles M. Hays whose loss our
land mourns today.
| “Much has already been said
of Mr. Hays as the railway magnate, the man of enterprise, the devoted
husband and father and the loyal friend. Upon these phases of his
character I will not therefore further dwell, but there remains something
to be said of that feature of his life which, though less conspicuous to
the general public, nevertheless lay deep and strong behind all these other
characteristics, and was indeed the inspiration of them. We all in
this congregation know the large place which Mr. Hays gave to the work
and worship of the church, and the readiness with which his time and influence
were always lent to its interests. He loved the House of God.
That love, in a measure, was doubtless the result of early training in
a home of whose deep religious character he ever loved to speak in terms
of affection and appreciation. It was also due in part to his deep
sense of what he owed in his place of great prominence to the community
at large, and to a younger generation in particular, in the way of example.
Most of all, however, it was due to his appreciation of the place that
worship should have in every life, and to his deep sense of the need of
every soul for those things that the House of God and its services can
give. This attitude instead of lessening, as in so many lives it
does, as responsibilities increased, and honors accumulated, deepened in
Mr. Hays with the passing years.
“The continent-wide enterprises
with which his name will always be associated were not simply enterprises
and interests to him. They constituted a work, a ministry, which
it was given him to administer for man, through man for God. The
tends of thousands for whom he had already thrown open the door of their
exodus from European stagnation and oppression were his Israel, whom he,
in God’s name, was leading out into liberty and larger life. These
broad prairies and boundless stretches of Northern Saskatchewan
and the Peace River district, those hitherto impassable Rockies, giving
gateway to the flowering farmlands that slope toward the silver sands
of the Pacific – these were his Canaan, which it was his to conquer, not
with sword and clash of battle, but with genius and enterprise and the
power of science, so that into the good ‘Land of Promise’ he might bring
the oppressed peoples of the world, to make a nation strong in liberty
and in righteousness.
“Did time permit I could
tell you much of how Mr. Hays carried on his great heart, the toiling multitudes
of earth and their needs, and of how it was to him a vision glorious that
he was permitted in some measure to contribute to their uplift and redemption.
He, too, like Israel’s leader had looked upon the burdens of the
people. To us it seems that, like Moses, he has been permitted only
to view his promised land from afar. On the threshold of completion
he has been bidden to lay down his work. A broken column? A
work incomplete? Yes, if this world is all, and this life the only
life, but if death is indeed for the life that lives in Christ, not extinction
but expansion, not frustration but promotion, then surely in some other
of the many mansions in our Father’s one great house, they still serve
who have ceased from labor here, and work with gladness for the bringing
in of that day when throughout all the universe of God there shall be nothing
to hurt nor to destroy, but ‘God shall be all and in all.’” |
The press throughout the American continent united in tribute to Charles
Melville Hays and under the caption of Montreal’s Loss the Gazette
of April 19, 1912, said editorially:
| “Among the many places which
will have home reasons for bearing the loss (April 15, 1912) of the steamship
Titanic in sorrowful memory there will be
few to rank before Montreal. Of residents who had won or were wining
honorable places of usefulness in the city’s commercial life, no less than
four ended their earthly career in the dark hours of Monday when the Atlantic
waters closed over the wreck of what had been one of the world’s noblest
vessels. First of these, of course, ranks Mr. Charles M. Hays, president
of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railways and director
and adviser in many allied and other enterprises. Mr. Hays came to
Montreal as a stranger, when the condition and fortunes of the Grand Trunk
Railway were low indeed. The life had apparently gone out of the
direction and a great property, with great potentialities, was in danger
of passing into bankruptcy. He and his associates found their task
harder also because they were strangers. It was only a little while,
however, before the city and the country, as well as the proprietors of
the railway, recognized that in the new general manager, which was the
title Mr. Hays then had, they had a man who for capacity ranked with the
highest in his profession. With a slight interruption Mr. Hays has
had chief executive control since 1897 of the Grand Trunk Railway.
In that time it has been lifted physically to the standard of a high class,
well equipped road, with few superiors in America. Financially it
has been so improved as to meet the interest charges on the new capital
raised for betterments and has been able to pay dividends on some of the
older issues that once seemed to have lost all value as investments.
In late years he was a chief moving spirit in the projection and construction
of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which is now approaching completion.
His work in these connections speaks of his executive ability louder than
can words written or spoken. It is only to be added that in all relations
of life, business, or social, he was a plain, courteous and kindly gentleman,
to whom all were ready to pay in full measure the respect that he deserved.” |
The memorial service read in the American
Presbyterian church to which previous allusion has been made, was one
of the most impressive ever held within the boarders of Canada and the
tributes to Mr. Hays on that occasion attested how high was the position
which he held in the regard of business colleagues, of eminent educators,
ministers and others. Principal Peterson
of McGill University said in part:
| “We have done well to come
together in this solemn manner, not to meet in a useless parade of grief
and sorrow, but to pay a sincere tribute to the worth of one who has gone
to his last reward and to express our sympathy to those who suffer the
loss of one so dear, and who have scarcely yet survived the shock of their
sudden bereavement. Our men died like heroes – in that last dread
extremity they bore themselves nobly and well.
And I doubt not that foremost
in fortitude was that great-hearted man who today is mourned throughout
the world, Charles M. Hays, who was then eagerly returning to take his
controlling part in those great enterprises with which his name will always
be associated, and no doubt looking forward with joy to returning to his
accustomed work and surroundings here. The vast transportation system over
which he so well presided, and to which he gave fresh life, has just paid
him well earned tribute in those moments of organized, concerted silence
stretching across this continent – the awed hush of reverent respect and
tender sympathy from every section of the railway service and from every
rank and class in the community at large. It was a moving incident,
but only a slight indication of the esteem in which he was held everywhere,
and of the loss which the railways and the people have sustained.
Mr. Hays came to Montreal
in 1896, shortly after I came here, and since then it has been my privilege
to know him well, and to meet him frequently in university and other affairs.
Only a short time before Mr. Hays left Europe I had a walk with him, when
he talked to me of his plans for the future, and discussed university and
other educational matters, with the grave and serious hope for future advancement
which marked his thought. Little then did either of us think it possible
that so terrible a disaster should cut short his vigorous and useful career.
He was a real leader of men, a true captain of industry, carrying
a huge burden of work and responsibility on his shoulders, and always carrying
it as a strong Christian man should. We shall go forth from this
solemn service to our customary duties, graver and sadder men. It
may be that we shall not have the melancholy duty of following to the grave
the remains of this man whose work interlinked a vast continent.
He has found his grave in the ocean, and it may be literally said of
him that the whole world is his tomb. Certainly his memory will not
soon die; for long will the memory live of his impressive memorial, of
his sad fate and the sorrow of his stricken family. And when the
far-reaching plans for which he stood sponsor are realized we shall often
go back in thought to what this city, this dominion and the empire at large
owes to the ability, the integrity and dauntless energy of Charles
Melville Hays.” |
One of the glowing and well deserved tributes paid to the memory of
Charles Melville Hays was spoken by Rev. T.S. McWilliams,
D.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, who said:
“The man whose loss we mourn
today, and whose memory we would honor was not merely a national, he was
an international figure. The great enterprise of which he was at
the head, and, to an unusual degree the guiding and animating spirit, was
not merely a national, but an international railway. It seems fitting
therefore that one from the United States should have a small part in this
memorial service. The humble tribute which I bring is not merely
that of a former pastor – as such I was privileged to say a few words on
Sunday last. Nor is my tribute that of a personal friend – as such
my place would not be here in the pulpit, but in position with the mourners,
amongst those who most deeply and genuinely feel a sense of personal loss.
Mine is the privilege today of bringing a neighboring nation’s tribute,
if you will; of assuring you that many of the American people share with
you the sorrow and sense of loss which feel so keenly. In the United
States the late Charles M. Hays was born, and there he spent the larger
part of his life. Of our country he remained a citizen to the last.
Yet there were few men more genuinely devoted to the interests of Canada
or more intelligently attached to British institutions than he. Few,
if any, in Canada saw with clearer vision the great possibilities of the
future of your country and believed more intensely in the great destinies
of Canada.
To speak of Mr. Hays’ preeminent
ability as a railway man is scarcely necessary. We have only to look
around to see the monuments to his genius. There are two immense
office buildings that ornament your city; there is that wonderful steel
bridge over Niagara’s gorge and the great station at Ottawa. There
is the rejuvenated and vastly extended Grand Trunk
Railway. And, perhaps greatest of all, there is the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway, destined at no distant date to span this
continent, making accessible natural resources of incalculable value, and
bringing into practical part of the national progress vast regions at present
inaccessible to the agriculturist. These are great enterprises which
have attracted the admiring attention of the world and stimulated rival
systems to greater activity, while bringing millions in money to your land,
and, what means much more to you, an unprecedented tide of immigration.
It is but just to say that such enterprises as these have been no small
factor in the building up of that great progress and prosperity which characterizes
Canada at the present time.
The credit of such achievements
is, of course, to be shared with Mr. Hays’ earnest colaborers – and he
would have been the first to give them such credit – but to Mr. Hays is
certainly due the credit of the initiative. For a man at the early
age of thirty-eight years to rise from the bottom of the ladder to the
presidency of such a railway system as the Wabash, and later to be selected
as president of the Grand Trunk, charged with its rehabilitation, and to
so conduct its affairs that after only five years its securities had enhanced
in value by eighty-six millions of dollars; to be called to the presidency
of the Southern Pacific, and then called back again to the Grand Trunk
to consummate yet vaster plans – these are proofs positive and sufficient
of his preeminent railway genius. The tribute of silence in which
we a few minutes ago reverently joined – a silence in which we were joined
by that great army of employees from ocean to ocean – was not the silence
of obedience to an enforced order. It was the genuine heart-felt
tribute of men of all ranks to a leader whom they had loved and lost.
“The contagion of his example
spread through every part of that great system. Himself a hard and
rapid worker his own example was sufficient incentive to do away with indolence
and incompetence. His presence anywhere on the system encouraged
and thrilled to better work not by fear of the tyrant’s command to go,
but they thrilled at the leader’s call to come.
“Mr. Hays was first, last
and all the time a great railway man. But it would be unjust to speak
merely of that. He possessed other qualities that impressed me even
more than that. He was throughout his life a man of lofty and unbending
principle. I personally know that his early ending of his connection
with a great railway system, sacrificing a position to which was attached
great honor and an immense salary, and his going out of that office, not
knowing whither he went, was a wonderful example of the triumph of principle
over what appeared to be personal interests. It stands as a proof
of Mr. Hays’ unwillingness to be the tool of a designing genius no matter
what that might seem to offer him in the way of personal remuneration.
And in the great positions he held it was his constant endeavor to be just
to all. It was his endeavor by day and his prayer by night to always
carry an even balance between the employees of his company and those who
had invested their living in it with even justice to both. Knowledge
of this permeated the whole system and brought a realization amongst the
men that the main endeavor of the leader was not to get out of the employees
as much as possible and give them in return as little as possible, but
that they were really working with, not for, their president, in the interests
of all.
“And he was public-spirited
man in many other spheres. That he was a generous friend of education
is proven in that he was a governor of McGill University; that he was a
benefactor to suffering humanity is shown the hospitals of which he was
a governor. But far more than these public positions were innumerable
cases in which he proved himself a generous but unostentatious friend to
the needy. And may I for a moment draw aside the sacred veil, and
speak of his home life. As a father, husband, brother, comrade, to
all in his household he was ever the genial, pure, high-minded Christian
gentleman – the idol of his home, as he deserved to be. His religious
influence was unmistakable and caused him inevitably to work for the right.
I am confident that his deep religious sense of duty was at the bottom
of much that we admire in his career – he was utterly honest, not because
he believed it to be the best business policy, but because he had faith
in the right; he was filled with genial optimism, not from blindness to
the facts, but because he knew them.
“That such lives should be
allowed to be interrupted by such disasters as that we now mourn is a problem
which cannot be satisfactorily answered. It may be said that no man’s
place is impossible to be filled. But Methodism has never found another
John Wesley, and the Grand Trunk will look and wait for long before it
finds another Charles Melville Hays.” |
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