Fairfax Harrison
Encyclopedia
Fairfax Harrison was an American lawyer, businessman, and writer. The son of the secretary to the Confederate
President Jefferson Davis
, Harrison studied law at Yale University
and Columbia University
before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896. By 1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 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 8000 miles (12,874.7 km) 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
, 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
, but 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
horse, but he died three months later in February 1938.
and Constance Cary Harrison
. Burton had served as private secretary to Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America
during the American Civil War
, and Constance was a novelist. Harrison's brother, Francis Burton Harrison
, was Governor-General of the Philippines
from 1913 to 1921. Another brother was Archibald, and all three brothers attended Yale University. Fairfax Harrison graduated in 1890 from Yale University, where he was a member of the secret Skull and Bones
society. He went on to attend Columbia University, earning a Masters
in Arts.
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
to purchase bonds in the Southern to keep the company solvent. After the panic had subsided, Harrison was named president of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, later the Monon Railroad
, which was jointly owned by Southern and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. William Finley, president of the Southern Railway, died on November 23, 1913, and Harrison was elected as his successor eight days later. His election was considered to be a sign of change in the Southern United States
, especially in its railroads, both because he was a southerner and for his activism on behalf of the south.
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.
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
and Kilgo was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church
.
Harrison established a foreign trade department for the railroad, hoping to take advantage of the railway's ability to connect to the Mississippi Valley and Atlantic
and Gulf of Mexico
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.
to New Orleans. This brought Southern Railway's track total to more than 8000 miles (12,874.7 km), 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 a coordinating committee of railroad presidents, known as the War Board. Its five members were tasked with eliminating bottlenecks, and fostering cooperation between the various railroads.
The board's efforts failed to meet the government's expectations; in December 1917, Woodrow Wilson
, the President of the United States
, ordered the federal government to take control of the railroads, setting up a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) to run them. 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
to the holders of the common stock
, 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.
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. The roof of each engine was painted brick red. 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, and Cleveland down to Tampa
and St. Petersburg
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.
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. 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.
In 1926 the United States government forced the railroad to move out of its headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue
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
. 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.
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.
, 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-miles; 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.
Harrison chose not to be reappointed as president in 1937, and nominated Ernest Norris as his successor. 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.
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, The John's Island Stud, and Early American Turf Stock. The last came out in two volumes, the first on mare
s in 1934, and the second on stallion
s in 1935. Peter Willet, a later writer on Thoroughbreds, described him as an "indefatigable researcher in American pedigrees". Harrison also served on the Executive Committee of the Virginia Historical Society
, and was instrumental in the preparation of the 120-volume Virginia Historical Index.
. Harrison was described as "physically imposing", and gray-haired in his middle age. 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". He died on February 2, 1938, of heart disease, and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery
in Alexandria, Virginia
. On the day after Harrison's death, the New York Times 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
, who was still alive.
The College of William and Mary
in Virginia holds some of his papers. A selection of his letters was published in 1944 under the title A Selection of the Letters of Fairfax Harrison. The University of Virginia library has on loan another collection of Harrison's papers. 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
in 2003 and were still there in 2008.
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, Harrison studied law at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896. By 1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 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 8000 miles (12,874.7 km) 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
United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between 1917 and 1920. It was possibly the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken against a background of war emergency.- Background :On April 6, 1917, the...
, 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
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, but 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
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...
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 HarrisonBurton Harrison
Burton Norvell Harrison , was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis.-Early life:...
and Constance Cary Harrison
Constance Cary Harrison
Constance Cary Harrison , was a prolific American writer. She was also known as Constance Cary, Constance C. Harrison, and Mrs. Burton Harrison, as well as her nom de plume, "Refugitta." She was married to Burton Harrison, a lawyer and American democratic politician...
. Burton had served as private secretary to Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America
President of the Confederate States of America
The President of the Confederate States of America was the Head of State and Head of Government of the Confederate States of America, which was formed from the states which declared their secession from the United States, thus precipitating the American Civil War. The only person to hold the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and Constance was a novelist. Harrison's brother, Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison was an American statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and appointed Governor-General of the Philippines by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson...
, was Governor-General of the Philippines
Governor-General of the Philippines
The Governor-General of the Philippines was the title of the government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, governed mainly by Spain and the United States, and briefly by Great Britain, from 1565 to 1935....
from 1913 to 1921. Another brother was Archibald, and all three brothers attended Yale University. Fairfax Harrison graduated in 1890 from Yale University, where he was a member of the secret Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
society. He went on to attend Columbia University, earning a Masters
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Arts.
Early career
Harrison was admitted to the New York State Bar AssociationNew York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association , with 77,000 members, is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States.-History:The State Bar was founded with a constitution that dates to 1877...
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
Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...
, Harrison successfully persuaded J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
to purchase bonds in the Southern to keep the company solvent. After the panic had subsided, Harrison was named president of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, later the Monon Railroad
Monon Railroad
The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway from 1897–1956, operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana...
, which was jointly owned by Southern and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. William Finley, president of the Southern Railway, died on November 23, 1913, and Harrison was elected as his successor eight days later. His election was considered to be a sign of change in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, 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 schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
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.
Another of Harrison's goals was to raise the morale of the workforce and locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
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
Edwin Alderman
Edwin Anderson Alderman served as the President of three universities. The University of Virginia's Alderman Library is named after him, as is in Wilmington and Alderman dorm at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
and John Kilgo. Alderman was the president of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and Kilgo was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
.
Harrison established a foreign trade department for the railroad, hoping to take advantage of the railway's ability to connect to the Mississippi Valley and Atlantic
Atlantic Coast
The Atlantic Coast is any coast fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The term differentiates the coasts of countries or continents with coastlines on more than one body of water, such as North America, South America, Africa and Europe.-See also:*Indian Ocean...
and Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
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.
World War I
From 1913 to 1919, Harrison oversaw the extension of double-track on the railway's mainline between Washington, D. C. and Atlanta. The project was hampered by the war effort, but eventually covered the complete 638 miles (1,026.8 km) distance between the two cities. In 1916, Harrison acquired a railroad line that ran from Meridian, MississippiMeridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
to New Orleans. This brought Southern Railway's track total to more than 8000 miles (12,874.7 km), 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 a coordinating committee of railroad presidents, known as the War Board. Its five members were tasked with eliminating bottlenecks, and fostering cooperation between the various railroads.
The board's efforts failed to meet the government's expectations; in December 1917, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, ordered the federal government to take control of the railroads, setting up a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) to run them. 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
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
to the holders of the common stock
Common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. It is called "common" to distinguish it from preferred stock. In the event of bankruptcy, common stock investors receive their funds after preferred stock holders, bondholders, creditors, etc...
, 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
Harrison attempted to increase the power of Southern's locomotives. In 1923, engineers under his direction created the plans for the P-4
4-6-2
4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
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
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
, 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. The roof of each engine was painted brick red. 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
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, and Cleveland down to Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
and St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
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.
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. 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.
In 1926 the United States government forced the railroad to move out of its headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...
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
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, Eye Street NW on the south, and 15th Street NW on the West; it is one block northeast of Lafayette Park. It is served by the McPherson Square station of the...
. 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.
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 1929Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, 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-miles; 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.
Harrison chose not to be reappointed as president in 1937, and nominated Ernest Norris as his successor. 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 CatoCato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
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, The John's Island Stud, and Early American Turf Stock. The last came out in two volumes, the first on mare
Mare
Female horses are called mares.Mare is the Latin word for "sea".The word may also refer to:-People:* Ahmed Marzooq, also known as Mare, a footballer and Secretary General of Maldives Olympic Committee* Mare Winningham, American actress and singer...
s in 1934, and the second on stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...
s in 1935. Peter Willet, a later writer on Thoroughbreds, described him as an "indefatigable researcher in American pedigrees". Harrison also served on the Executive Committee of the Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical Society
The Virginia Historical Society , 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...
, 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 ChurchEpiscopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
. Harrison was described as "physically imposing", and gray-haired in his middle age. 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". He died on February 2, 1938, of heart disease, and was buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery
Ivy Hill Cemetery
Ivy Hill Cemetery is a cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Burials began in 1811, and it received a charter as a community cemetery in 1856....
in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. On the day after Harrison's death, the New York Times 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
Association of American Railroads
The Association of American Railroads is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight railroads of North America . Amtrak and some regional commuter railroads are also members...
, who was still alive.
The College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Virginia holds some of his papers. A selection of his letters was published in 1944 under the title A Selection of the Letters of Fairfax Harrison. The University of Virginia library has on loan another collection of Harrison's papers. 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
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...
in 2003 and were still there in 2008.
See also
- Southern Railway 1401Southern Railway 1401Southern Railway 1401 is a steam locomotive that is the sole survivor of Southern Railway's Ps-4 class. Today it is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. It has a Pacific-type or 4-6-2 wheel arrangement and was built in 1926 by the American Locomotive Company at...
– single surviving locomotive from the P-4 class of Southern locomotives