Charles DeLano Hine (March 15, 1867 – February 13, 1927) was an American civil engineer, lawyer, railway official, and Colonel in the United States Army.

[7] Leaving the Army in August 1895 to enter railway service,[6] Hine worked as freight brakeman, switchman, yardmaster, emergency conductor, chief clerk to superintendent, and trainmaster.

In 1910, Hine became temporary special representative of President Taft, planning ways to improve the organization and methods of the executive departments of the United States government.

On January 15, 1912, Major Hine became vice-president and general manager of the Southern Pacific Lines in Mexico and the Arizona Eastern, responsible for about 1,600 miles of railway.

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.

Ignorant of fundamental principles, intolerant of outside suggestions, unable to detect the analogy in other undertakings, they repeat the expensive experiments of the past.

[11]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.