Fairfax Harrison (March 13, 1869 – February 2, 1938) was an American lawyer, businessman, and writer. The son of the secretary to
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
President
Jefferson Davis, Harrison studied law at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
before becoming a lawyer for the
Southern Railway Company in 1896. By 1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 he helped secure funding to keep the company solvent. In 1913 he was elected president of Southern, where he instituted a number of reforms in the way the company operated.
By 1916, under Harrison's leadership, the Southern had expanded to an network across 13 states, its greatest extent until the 1950s. Following the United States' entry into World War I, the federal government took control of the railroads in December 1917, running them through the
United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken a ...
, on which Harrison served. An economic boom after the war helped the company to expand its operations; Harrison worked to improve the railroad's public relations and to upgrade the locomotive stock by introducing more powerful engines. Another of his concerns was to increase the amount of railroad track and to extend the area serviced by the railway. Harrison struggled to keep the railroad afloat during the
Great Depression, and by 1936 Southern was once again showing a profit. Harrison retired in 1937, intending to focus on his hobby of writing about historical subjects including the roots of the American
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
horse, but he died three months later in February 1938.
Background and early life
Harrison was born in New York City on March 13, 1869, to
Burton Harrison
Burton Norvell Harrison (July 14, 1838 – March 29, 1904), was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis. Harrison's support for the pro-slavery South countered a ...
and his wife
Constance Cary
Constance Cary Harrison ( pen name, Refugitta; April 25, 1843 – November 21, 1920), also referred as Mrs. Burton Harrison, was an American playwright and novelist. She and two of her cousins were known as the "Cary Invincibles"; the three sewed ...
.
[ Burton had served as private secretary to Jefferson Davis, the ]President of the Confederate States of America
The president of the Confederate States was the head of state and head of government of the Confederate States. The president was the chief executive of the federal government and was the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army and the Conf ...
during the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, and Constance Cary was a novelist.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 48] Harrison's brother, Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison (December 18, 1873 – November 21, 1957) was an American statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and was appointed governor-general of the Philippines by President of the United States Woodro ...
, was Governor-General of the Philippines
The Governor-General of the Philippines (Spanish: ''Gobernador y Capitán General de Filipinas''; Filipino: ''Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas/Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas''; Japanese: ) was the title of the government executive during the colo ...
from 1913 to 1921. Another brother was Archibald, and all three brothers attended Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. Fairfax Harrison graduated from Yale in 1890; he was a member of the Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
secret society.[Yale University "Obituary Record" ''Bulletin of Yale University'' pp. 56–57] He went on to attend Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, earning a Masters in Arts.[Swem Library staff "Harrison, Fairfax" ''Special Collections Research Center'']
Railroad career
Early career
Harrison was admitted to the New York State bar in 1892 and worked for the law firm Bangs, Stetson, Tracy & MacVeagh from 1892 to 1896.[ He then joined the Southern Railway Company in May 1896 as a lawyer, becoming an assistant to the company's president in 1903.][ He served as vice-president in charge of finance and accounting from 1906.][ During the Panic of 1907, Harrison successfully persuaded ]J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...
to purchase bonds in the Southern to keep the company solvent.[Bryan "Fairfax Harrison" ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' pp. 153–157] After the panic had subsided, Harrison was named president of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, later the Monon Railroad
The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway from 1897 to 1971, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Ra ...
(succeeded Ira G. Rawn after Rawn's death), which was jointly owned by Southern and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 49] William Finley, president of the Southern Railway, died on November 23, 1913, and Harrison was elected as his successor eight days later.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 51–52] Besides the chairmanship of the Southern Railway, he was also elected to succeed Finley on three subsidiary railroads.["Fairfax Harrison Elected President of Southern Ry." ''The Wall Street Journal''] His election was considered to be a sign of change in the Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, especially in its railroads, both because he was a southerner and for his activism on behalf of the south.[
]
First years as president
One of Harrison's first acts as president was to implement a new training program for college graduates hired by the company. Rather than being placed in supervisory roles, they were given regular entry-level jobs in the engine shops and on the building and repairing of railroad track, to give them an understanding of the basics of the railroad business. He also instituted a remedial education program for the regular workforce; they were trained in mathematics and other subjects to high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
level, as well as in engine and machine-shop basics. The program was designed to help train new supervisors in the skills needed to oversee other workers.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 53–54]
Another of Harrison's goals was to raise the morale of the workforce and locomotive engineers; crews were assigned to the same locomotives, and senior engineers were allowed to paint their names on their engines. When business declined in 1914 Harrison reduced his salary by 20 percent, but introduced smaller and graduated cuts for other staff, with the smallest percentages at the lowest pay scales. Other efforts to improve morale included rewards for fuel efficiency and the improvement of safety, including stricter investigation of accidents.[
Harrison oversaw changes in the railway's Board of Directors. Until 1915 most of the members of the board were from the northern United States but, after 1915, a majority of the board members were southerners. In 1914 there were two unusual appointments to the board: Edwin Alderman and John Kilgo. Alderman was the president of the ]University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
and Kilgo was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 55]
Harrison established a foreign trade department for the railroad, hoping to take advantage of the railway's ability to connect to the Mississippi Valley
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
and Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
and Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
ports.[ In 1915, when the railway lost 12 percent of its revenue owing to disruptions in trade caused by the start of World War I, Harrison was concerned about longer-term changes underway. In the annual report that year he warned stockholders that automobile ownership could severely impact railroad passenger revenues. His words proved to be prophetic, as automobiles eventually resulted in the disappearance of most passenger train traffic.][Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 56–57]
World War I
From 1913 to 1919, Harrison oversaw the extension of double-track on the railway's mainline between Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
. The project was hampered by the war effort, but eventually covered the complete distance between the two cities. In 1916, Harrison acquired a railroad line that ran from Meridian, Mississippi to . This brought Southern Railway's track total to more than , covering 13 states. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, some military training camps were located in the south and much of the construction material used to build them was hauled over the Southern Railway. Harrison was elected chairman of the Railroads' War Board The Railroads' War Board was a committee of US railroad executives, created voluntarily by the railroad industry in early 1917, in an attempt to improve railroad operations as the United States entered World War I.
Following the declaration of war ...
, a coordinating committee of railroad presidents. Its five members were tasked with eliminating bottlenecks, and fostering cooperation between the various railroads.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 58–61]
The board's efforts failed to meet the government's expectations; in December 1917, Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, the President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
, ordered the federal government to take control of the railroads, by establishing the United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken a ...
(USRA). Harrison worked for the USRA during the war and, under its regulations, was required to step down as chairman of the Southern Railway. By the time the USRA returned control of Southern in March 1920 its treasury was bare. A few years of operation returned a surplus to the company, which led to the stockholders requesting in 1923 that the railroad pay a dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-i ...
to the holders of the common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...
, something Southern had never done. Harrison managed to block the request, but in March 1924 a subsequent demand was successful, and a dividend of $5 (approximately $ as of ) per share was declared. That was increased to $7 (approximately $ as of ) per share in 1926 and $8 (approximately $ as of ) in 1928.[
]
1920s
An economic boom in the south following the end of World War I greatly increased Southern's revenues. Harrison spent a good deal of time traveling around the southern United States, endeavoring to increase southern industry. When he traveled, he used two private railroad cars, named the Carolina and the Virginia. Other railroad presidents used only one, which made Harrison's practice unique. The Carolina was a sleeping car and the Virginia was set up to serve members of the Board of Directors, with a kitchen, dining room, and observation area.
Harrison attempted to increase the power of Southern's locomotives. In 1923, engineers under his direction created the plans for the P-4 class of Pacific type locomotives, which became famous and a symbol of the Southern Railway. On a visit to England, Harrison had seen the paint scheme used by the London and North Eastern Railway, which used apple green-painted engines. Returning home in 1925, he ordered the newly delivered Pacifics painted a forest green, which he called Virginia, with gold lettering and silver trim. These engines pulled the newly refurbished passenger trains that Harrison had begun work on before the war. He also instituted new passenger lines. In 1921 the Suwannee River Special began to run between Chicago, Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, and Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
down to Tampa and St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in Florida. The Crescent Limited began service in 1925 between New Orleans and New York, with a scheduled time for the one-way trip of 37 hours and 50 minutes.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 62–64]
Harrison continued the public relations and advertising efforts of his predecessors; in 1924 an advertising campaign was launched with the slogan "The Southern Serves the South", which soon became well known.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 64–65] Harrison also spent long hours in negotiations to secure the legal foundations of the railway, consolidating the railroad's debt and acquiring majority control of some of the smaller lines that made up the railway.[Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 66]
In 1926 the United States government forced the railroad to move out of its headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4 ...
in Washington, D.C. Although Harrison threatened to take the company headquarters to Atlanta, in the end a new headquarters building was built on McPherson Square
McPherson Square is a square in downtown Washington, D.C. It is bound by K Street Northwest to the north, Vermont Avenue NW on the East, I Street NW on the south, and 15th Street NW on the West; it is one block northeast of Lafayette Park. I ...
. Harrison installed a private lobby entrance leading to a private elevator to the 10th and 11th floors.[ The railroad took occupancy of the building in the middle of 1929.][Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 67–68]
During these years, Harrison exhibited a number of personality quirks that became legendary. One was his habit of calling in subordinates to dine with him in the executive dining room by sending them a blue chip that had the meal's conversational topic written on it. Usually the topics were intellectual rather than related to the running of the railroad. Another oddity was his refusal to use his railroad pass, which entitled him to free travel. Instead, he personally paid for his commute between his home and the railroad's offices.[
]
Great Depression
Before the Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange coll ...
, Southern's stock sold for around $146 (approximately $ as of ), with an all-time high of just over $151 (approximately $ as of ).[ In 1932 the stock hit a low of $2.50 (approximately $ as of ).][ In 1929 Southern's freight traffic had been 8.4 billion ]ton-mile
The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications.
Transportation quantity
The currently popular units ...
s; it fell to 4.4 billion ton-miles in 1932. Southern's debt rose, and the company almost entered bankruptcy in 1932. Harrison ordered the payment of dividends to be halted in 1932, and many employees took pay cuts. Further efforts included a thorough check of expenses, with every item subjected to scrutiny to see what could be eliminated.[ By 1936 the railroad again showed a profit; this marked the turning point for the company in dealing with the Great Depression.][Davis ''Southern Railway'' pp. 69–70]
Harrison chose not to be reappointed as president in 1937, and nominated Ernest Norris as his successor.["South Server", ''Time''] Harrison, who was 68 at the time, planned to concentrate on his hobby of writing historical works, but he died three months after his retirement.[
]
Writing career
Harrison was an author as well as an industrialist, writing on Virginia history and genealogy. Among his works were a translation of the agricultural works of ancient Roman writer Marcus Porcius Cato and several books on the local history of Virginia, including ''The Landmarks of Old Prince William'',[ ''Devon Carys'', ''Proprietors of the Northern Neck'' and ''Virginia Carys''.][ He also wrote on the early history of the American Thoroughbred racehorse; his work includes ''The Belair Stud'', ''The Roanoke Stud'', ''The Background of the American Stud Book'',][ ''The Equine F.F.V's'',][Podeschi ''Books on the Horse'' p. 304] ''The John's Island Stud'',[Podeschi ''Books on the Horse'' pp. 329–330] and ''Early American Turf Stock''. The last came out in two volumes, the first on mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...
s in 1934,[Podeschi ''Books on the Horse'' pp. 343–344] and the second on stallions in 1935.[Podeschi ''Books on the Horse'' pp. 352–353] Peter Willet, a later writer on Thoroughbreds, described him as an "indefatigable researcher in American pedigrees".[Willet ''Classic Racehorse'' p. 107] Harrison also served on the Executive Committee of the Virginia Historical Society
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, n ...
,[ and was instrumental in the preparation of the 120-volume '' Virginia Historical Index''.][
]
Family, death, and legacy
Harrison married Hetty Cary in 1894. They had four children: three daughters, Ursula, Constance, and Sally, and a son, Richard. He was a member of the Episcopal Church.[ Harrison was described as "physically imposing", and gray-haired in his middle age.][Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 53] Harry DeButts, an employee and protégé, described him as "a little cold when you first met him, but underneath he was a very warm, admirable, capable and wise man".[Quoted in Davis ''Southern Railway'' p. 53] He died on February 2, 1938,[ of heart disease,]["Milestones", ''Time''] and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
.[ On the day after Harrison's death, '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' carried his obituary, but instead of a photograph of Harrison, the picture that ran with the obituary was of John Jeremiah Pelley, the president of the Association of American Railroads
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight Rail transport, railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional Commuter rail in North Am ...
, who was still alive.["Painful Pictures", ''Time'']
The College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
in Virginia holds some of his papers.[Swem Library staff "Fairfax Harrison Papers, 1736–1945" ''Special Collections Research Center''] A selection of his letters was published in 1944 under the title ''A Selection of the Letters of Fairfax Harrison''.[Weddell "Book Reviews: ''A Selection of the Letters of Fairfax Harrison''"] The University of Virginia library has on loan another collection of Harrison's papers.[University of Virginia Library staff "A Guide to the Fairfax Harrison Papers" ''Special Collections''] Correspondence and business files from his time as president of the Southern Railway are held by the Southern Railway Historical Society in their collection of president's files. They were loaned to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History
The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is a museum in Kennesaw, Georgia, that contains a collection of artifacts and relics from the American Civil War, as well as from railroads of the state of Georgia and surrounding regions. Th ...
in 2003 and were still there in 2008.[Southern Civil War Museum staff "Southern Railway Historical Association Collection of Southern Railway President's Files: Fairfax Harrison, 1931" ''Southern Civil War Museum'']
See also
* Southern Railway 1401 – single surviving locomotive from the P-4 class of Southern locomotives
Notes
Citations
References
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External links
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Open Library listing of Harrison's works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Fairfax
1869 births
1938 deaths
20th-century American railroad executives
Historians from New York (state)
Businesspeople from New York City
Writers from New York City
Columbia University alumni
Yale University alumni
Southern Railway (U.S.)
Burials at Ivy Hill Cemetery (Alexandria, Virginia)