Abstract: a Conventional for the time in his basic economic thinking, Charles Elliott Perkins was nevertheless enough of an intellectual to discern flaws in the philosophies of natural law and free competition. Creative, literate, retiring, dedicated to enlightenment but realistic about the limitations of public education, Perkins was anything but the conventional business figure of his generation. The personal background here set forth brings into sharp focus the hitherto hazy image of one of America's great railroad leaders.