Excerpt from The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America: An Alphabetical List of the General and Division Officers of All Railways on the American Continent, With a Record of Their Railway Service

It was desired to give the railway record of each person named, but in some cases this was not practicable in the first volume. Some failed to furnish the desired information, through the mistaken idea that the work was to be devoted to personal eulogy, instead of being, as will now be seen, a compendium of bare facts, without a qualifying adjective. Others feared that the publication of their records would make them too conspicuous. But considering. The fact that each name is but one of several thousands, and that every official, however high, finds his peers in these pages, this excuse is not well founded. On the other hand, those whose records are not given are rendered conspicuous by their absence. In many cases, however, the official career has been so brief or so little varied that there is really nothing to chronicle. For example, most of our presidents have occupied no other position in the service, and have no railway record to give.

The great majority of the sketches here published were furnished by the subjects, over their own autographs. In some cases, however, the information was obtained from other sources, hence several of the sketches are incomplete. We confidently expect that for the next edi tion the responses to circulars and letters asking for information will be so' general-that we shall be able to give every record in full. After an examination of this objections which some raised who did not understand its object will be found to be purely imaginary, while the usefulness of the work will be self-evident every day.

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