Charles DeLano Hine

Charles DeLano Hine (March 15, 1867 – February 13, 1927) was an American civil engineer, lawyer, railway official, and Colonel in the United States Army. He receives academic credit for studying organizations as a separate field, rather than a "smaller sister of sociology.".

Early and family life Born in Vienna, Virginia, to former Union veteran Capt. Orrin E. Hine and his wife Alma, Hine graduated from United States Military Academy, West Point in June 1891, and served as a lieutenant in the 6th United States Infantry. While stationed at Newport Barracks in northern Kentucky, he completed a bachelor of laws degree at Cincinnati Law School in 1893. He married Helen Underwood on March 27, 1915. She was the daughter of former lieutenant governor of Kentucky John C. Underwood.

Career Leaving the Army in August 1895 to enter railway service,

Death and legacy Hine died in Manhattan in 1927. After a funeral at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in which pall bearers included the President of the Lackawanna Railroad, Orlando Harriman Jr. and various distinguished military officers, he was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, and his widow awarded a pension based on his military service.

Publications

Modern Organization: An Exposition of the Unit System, 1912 In the 1912 article "The unit system on the Harriman Lines" in the Engineering Magazine Hine wrote:

Organization has been termed a smaller sister of sociology, the science of human nature. Industrial organization, including that of transportation and commerce, reflects and typifies in a greater or less degree the sociological development of a people."

His series of articles were republished in the 1912 book, entitled "Modern Organization: An Exposition of the Unit System." In this work Hine also stated: The greatest present need is an antidote for the unwillingness of men to profit by the previous experience of others. It would be amusing, were it not so expensive, to watch the gropings of many corporation officers for methods to test efficiency. Ignorant of fundamental principles, intolerant of outside suggestions, unable to detect the analogy in other undertakings, they repeat the expensive experiments of the past.

A 1913 review in the Journal of Accountancy stated that Hines was "a firm believer in the personal equation in industry, commerce and all departments of business. Basing his argument to a great extent upon the successful operation of the unit system as applied on the so-called "Harriman lines" he goes step by step through the ideal method of management and operation to what he considers the practical solution of the difficulties which he encounters."

Selected publications Hine, Charles De Lano. Letters from an old railway official, to his son, a division superintendent. (1904) Hine, Charles De Lano. Letters from an Old Railway Official: Second Series. His Son, a General Manager. Vol. 2. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company, 1912. Hine, Charles De Lano. Modern Organization: An Exposition of the Unit System, by Charles De Lano Hine. Engineering Magazine Company, 1912.