Innsbruck, Mr. Graves,
a very enterprising reporter of a New York paper, suddenly burst
into my room and said: "I have been chasing you all over Europe
for an interview on the strike on the New York Central." This
was my first information of the strike.

As soon as I had left New York and was on the ocean, the young
and ambitious officers who were at the head of the operations of
the railroad and disapproved of my method of dealing with the
employees, discharged every member of the committee who had
called upon me. Of course, this was immediately followed by a
sympathetic outburst in their behalf, and the sympathizers were
also discharged. Then the whole road was tied up by a universal
strike. After millions had been lost in revenue by the railroad
and in wages by the men, the strike was settled, as usual, by a
compromise, but it gave to the Knights of Labor the control, except
as to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The early settlement
of the strike was largely due to the loyalty and courage of
the Brotherhood.

During my presidency I was much criticised by the public, but
never by the directors of the company, because of my activities
in politics and on the platform. For some time, when the duties
of my office became most onerous, and I was in the habit of working
all day and far into the night, I discovered that this concentrated
attention to my railroad problems and intense and continuous
application to their solution was not only impairing my efficiency
but my health. As I was not a sport, and never had time for games
or horses, I decided to try a theory, which was that one's daily
duties occupied certain cells of the brain while the others
remained idle; that the active cells became tired by overwork
while others lost their power in a measure by idleness; that if,
after a reasonable use of the working cells, you would engage
in some other intellectual occupation, it would furnish as much
relief or recreation as outdoor exercise of any kind. I had a
natural facility for quick and easy preparation for public speaking,
and so adopted that as my recreation. The result proved entirely
successful.

After a hard day's work, on coming home late in the afternoon,
I accustomed myself to take a short nap of about fifteen minutes.
Then I would look over my tablets to see if any engagement was
on to speak in the evening, and, if so, the preparation of the
speech might be easy, or, if difficult, cause m